[mythtv-users] Interesting results for MythTV on Google Trends

Matt S. skd5aner at gmail.com
Wed Feb 17 16:58:17 UTC 2010


I rediscovered Google Trends today, after forgetting about it for a
few years, and was playing around with various topics.  I thought it'd
be fun to see some data around mythtv related searches.

"MythTV" search trends since 2004:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=mythtv&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0

You can see that the "hay day" for seemed to have been in 2005, but
has slowly declined since then.  In 2005, the search index rating for
MythTV was ~1.5.  However, it's now reaching the ~.4 to ~.5 levels on
the index. I was wondering "why" that might have been, and it's hard
to speculate, but decided to throw some comparison data into the
mix...

"MythTV", "PVR", and "DVR" search overlays since 2004:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=mythtv%2C+dvr%2C+pvr&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0
It looks like 2005 was the highest for all terms, with a slow decline
after.  However, both PVR and DVR seem to be on the rise since Q2
20009

"MythTV" and "XBMC" search overlays since 2004:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=mythtv%2C+xbmc&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0

INTERESTING!  You can see both had a decline in 2006 and 2007, but as
soon as the multi-platform beta release was made available in Q3 2008,
the searches for XBMC skyrocketted  Another interesting trend is that
you can see at the end of every December, a little spike - my guess is
because people often have time off around the holidays and might have
just received a few tech gifts as well.

"MythTV" and "Windows Media Center" overlays since 2004:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=mythtv%2C+Windows+Media+Center&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0
Similar story hear, except for that Windows Media Center levels off at
2009 and is now trending upward ever-so-slightly.

"MythTV", "Boxee", and "Hulu" overlays:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=mythtv%2C+boxee%2C+hulu&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0
You can see Hulu coming up from nowhere.  Obviously the exposure for
hulu is drastically greater than myth (and boxee).

and, just for fun...
"MythTV" and "Recession" overlay since 2004:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=mythtv%2C+recession&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0
I'm assuming that since myth is typically more of a hobby than a
cost-savings measure that maybe less people are buying equipment and
peripherals for myth boxes.  Also, maybe people are getting rid of
cable, etc - I don't know,  but thought it'd be interesting to see if
there's any correlation (disclaimer: correlation != causation)

"Mythbuntu", "MythDora", "LinHES", "Knoppmyth" overlays since 2004:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=mythdora%2C+mythbuntu%2C+linhes%2C+knoppmyth&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0
It's interesting to see the "popularity" according to google of some
of the myth-distros out there and how that's changed over time.
However, when compared to searching against "mythtv" - the distro
specific searches are just a fraction:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=mythtv%2C+mythdora%2C+mythbuntu%2C+linhes%2C+knoppmyth&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0

What does any of this mean?  Not much - it could mean that people set
up their myth box, and don't need to google as much to find help.  Or
that they go directly to mythtv.org for help since we have the wiki
and better documentation now (traffic for mythtv.org has been up since
the .22 release:
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/mythtv.org#trafficstats) Or, It could
mean people aren't looking for mythtv or other DIY PVR solutions as
much as they used to since cable companies all have their own.  I just
thought the graphs were kind of cool, and tell an interesting story,
but I think that story is up for interpretation.  Anyway - just
thought I'd share :)

Thanks!
Matt


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