By Melissa Kimball
Internet traffic has declined since the war started in Iraq, according to a recent report by a Web-analysis company.
Omniture, an Orem-based company, reported that since President Bush issued his ultimatum to Saddam Hussein on March 17, traffic has declined 15 percent below expected levels.
“In all content and commerce segments other than national news there has been a steady decline in web traffic,” the company said in a press release.
Omniture analyzed data from hundreds of sites for the report. They viewed similar days in previous months or years to determine where normal traffic levels could be.
The company said drops were similar for all types of Web sites.
“There are many factors that affect the level of web traffic to a particular site,” said Josh James, chief executive officer of Omniture, in a news release. “What is interesting about this event is that we are seeing a global affect across all types of Web sites including e-commerce sites and local news/media sites. It is rare to see an event translate across the board.”
The company will continue measuring the possible affects of the war on Internet traffic.
“We are getting a fair amount of interest in it, so we will probably continue to follow it to see if things level out,” said Kristi Knight, public relations specialist for Omniture.
