the buzz log
Searches Soar on the Final Four
So much for the little guy. This year's Final Four features a quartet of 800 pound gorillas. Top seeds North Carolina, Memphis, Kansas, and UCLA all survived the road to San Antonio. With no clear favorite on the court, we decided to look at each squad's performance in Search.
If championships were determined by searches, the Tarheels of UNC would be cutting down the nets. Not only do they draw the largest online following, the perennial powerhouse has one of the most popular players in the tourney. Searches on the bug-eyed Tyler Hansbrough are steadily rising as are related queries on "tyler hansbrough jersey" and "tyler hansbrough girlfriend."
But, hold up—it's not like UNC won our Search showdown in a rout. UCLA is right behind the Tarheels, and numerous queries for their cheerleaders show that not everyone watches hoops for the same reasons. And don't count out Kansas and Memphis. The Jayhawks and Tigers aren't as popular as the Heels and Bruins, but the two schools are drawing plenty of searches from fans in the Center of the Known Universe. That's right kids, both Kansas and Memphis are huge in New York City. Just like another big gorilla we know...
Filed under: March Madness, College Basketball
Where the Heck Is Davidson College?
During 2006's college hoops tourney, the role of Cinderella was played by George Mason University. In 2008, Davidson College has stepped into the glass slipper. Searchers are clearly digging their performance.
The liberal arts school with a student population of 1,700 is in the Sweet 16 and drawing searches by the thousands. Lookups on "davidson college," "davidson basketball" and "davidson wildcats" have all posted tremendous gains.
Fairweather fans looking to jump on the bandwagon pushed queries on "davison wildcats tshirts" and "davidson gear" to new heights. Other folks are more curious about where Davidson College is located. Queries on "where is davidson" and "davidson college location" are on the rise (answer: North Carolina).
While Davidson may not boast a marquee program, the sharp shooting Stephen Curry is making a name for himself. The son of ex-NBA star Dell Curry is on fire both on the court and in Buzz. Queries on the scoring machine are up 343% and will likely climb higher should Davidson pull off another upset over Wisconsin.
If you asked 100 people why they love March Madness, we'd guess at least 90 would say (in their best Dickie V voice), "it's the upsets, baby!" We'd have to agree. Seeing Davidson buck the odds has us excited enough to forgive 'em for busting our bracket.
Filed under: Basketball, March Madness
'Tis the Season for Madness
The World Series is about tradition. The Super Bowl is about hype. March Madness, on the other hand, is all about buzzer beaters and busted brackets. The college hoops tournament inspires fans from UConn to UCLA to predict (often incorrectly) which squads will go to the Final Four.
Just as soon as the teams were announced, searches surged on terms like "printable ncaa brackets," "2008 ncaa basketball picks," and "college basketball brackets." These queries aren't just from college-aged slackers, either. Over half the lookups on "2008 ncaa brackets" came from fans 35 and older. Additionally, women are way into the game. Nearly a third of the lookups came from the ladies.
A big part of the tourney's appeal is the inevitable (but nonetheless shocking) upsets. Every year, it seems like one low-ranked Cinderella team defies the odds and makes a run. We have no idea who will wear the glass slipper this year, so we turned to Search to see which squads are drawing the biggest buzz. Below are the top searched teams with a 12 seed or lower. Lookups don't equal victories, but if they did, the folks from Temple would be pretty pumped. Game on and let the madness begin!
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Filed under: March Madness, College Basketball
Ready for the Madness?
It's that time of year when brackets and bubbles fast break their way to the forefront of sports fans' minds. Yes, it's March, and we're ready for March Madness (+147%). Searches on "ncaa basketball" slammed the Buzz with a 42% increase and promises to rise as we head into all-important Selection Sunday.
We saw a bevy of spikes after a busy weekend in college basketball. Here are a few that filled our net...
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Filed under: Sports, Basketball, March Madness, College Basketball
Madness Encircles Buzz
Interest in the NCAA Basketball Tournament just continues to grow, year over year. Without the Web and your insatiable thirst for college hoops, we would likely be in the dark ages of bracketology, simply guessing at what would take place when brackets were announced. Even the once-staid boardroom boredom of "selection sunday" (+472%) has become a capital 'E' Event on the sporting calendar.
With Sunday's enormous hoops hoopla and the blossom of millions of office pools, we were inundated with college basketball search spikes. Here's a sampling of the madness...
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Filed under: Sports, Basketball, March Madness, College Basketball
Contagious Viral Videos
Viral videos continue to infect the Buzz, passing from inbox to inbox. Fevered searches on "viral video" jumped 51% this week, and productivity went down the tubes as searchers sought out the next funny forward.
This week's roundup of viral highlights kicks off with the goofball rap phenomenon started by SNL's Lazy Sunday clip. Attempting like mad to cash in on its newfound cred, Live has increasingly given way to pre-taped digital shorts. A spot featuring actress Natalie Portman doing a goofball rap of her very own triggered searches on "natalie portman snl" and "natalie portman rap," while boosting Buzz on the brunette beauty 27%. NBC later spoiled the party for YouTube fans when it demanded that the clip be pulled from the video repository and posted it to their own "official NBC viral site," taking the vitality out of the viral.
An amazingly detailed live action re-enactment of the opening sequence of Buzz fave The Simpsons also proved popular with searchers. Queries on "live action simpsons" jumped 128% on Sunday as the video spread person to person across the nation.
Finally, a timely clip from the wilds of March Madness slammed onto the Buzz this weekend. It wasn't an outrageous dunk but a horrific injury. Searches on "allan ray video" and "allan ray eye video" jumped after the Villanova guard was poked in the eyeball during the Big East tourney. Thankfully, Ray will probably be able to play in the NCAA tournament, while the images of his poor eye getting smushed will live on forever on the Net.
Filed under: TV, Actors, Viral, Videos, March Madness
top movers
| Rank | Subject | 1-Day Move |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ford 400 | Breakout! |
| 2 | Indonesia Ferry | Breakout! |
| 3 | Jordan Chandler | 3481% |
| 4 | Evan Chandler | 2322% |
| 5 | American Music Awards | 1841% |
| 6 | John F. Kennedy | 1529% |
| 7 | Turkey Stuffing Recipes | 1361% |
| 8 | Liam Hemsworth | 1172% |
| 9 | Lou Dobbs | 1142% |
| 10 | Hendrick Motorsports | 888% |
top leaders
| Rank | Subject | Move | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Black Friday | +340 | 1290 |
| 2 | NFL | +489 | 670 |
| 3 | Jennifer Lopez | +451 | 515 |
| 4 | New Moon | -67 | 250 |
| 5 | American Music Awards | +236 | 249 |
| 6 | UFC | -36 | 239 |
| 7 | Miley Cyrus | +66 | 169 |
| 8 | Hulu | -11 | 154 |
what's the buzz?
A subject's buzz score is the percentage of Yahoo! users searching for that subject on a given day, multiplied by a constant to make the number easier to read. Weekly leaders are the subjects with the greatest average buzz score for a given week.
For more detailed information, visit our FAQ.