Hitwise
reports that whilst the Google IPOÊwebsiteÊsaw a surge in visitor traffic in the beginning of the two-week bidding process, traffic to theÊsite dropped considerably during the final days.

Ê
According to Hitwise dailyÊdata between the opening and closing bidding days, the Google IPO website (www.ipo.google.com
) received up to 2.3 times more visits on July 31st than it did on average for the following bidding daysÊ(August 1st throughÊto August 13th).Ê

The IPO Google site experienced subsequent traffic spikes on August 5th and August 10th, however both these days were 26% and 32% lower than levels experienced on July 31st.

Average time spent on the Google IPO site also decreased, from 7 minutes 49 seconds on July 31st to an average of 6 minutes 40 seconds on successive bidding days (peaking on August 11th at 10 minutes and 20 seconds).

“This is a great example of how online behaviour can be used to predict the outcome of a web-based IPO auction,” according to Bill Tancer, V.P. of Research at Hitwise.Ê “In this case, registration at the Google IPO website was required to participate.Ê ÊThe decrease in visits that we detected leading up to the close of bidding correlates with Google’s decision to decrease target price and shares offered due to lower than anticipated demand.”Ê
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