Can Home Field Advantage on the Web Win the Super Bowl?

OSLO, Norway, Jan. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Is there such a thing as a web home field advantage? In this month's State of the Mobile Web report from browser maker Opera Software, we take a look at the online popularity of the different NFL teams participating in the playoffs.

Using anonymous and aggregated data, we investigated the popularity of the different teams during the initial NFL playoffs. We measured the teams'  popularity based on the number of visits to official team websites from the Opera Mini mobile web browser.

In the initial rounds of analysis, we successfully picked three of the four winners, missing that the New York Giants would beat the Green Bay Packers.

In the semifinals, the analysis was spot on and the number of users visiting the team's websites accurately "predicted" the outcome of the games between the NFL teams New England Patriots vs. the Baltimore Ravens and New York Giants vs. the San Francisco 49ers.

So, with online popularity as an indicator for on-field success, Opera Software predicts that the New England Patriots will win over the New York Giants in their Super Bowl rematch on February 5th. The question remains whether it's wise to base one's bets on the online popularity of a team...

A solid round of office high-fives were in order when the predictions were spot on, and the optimism spread from analysts to other branches of the Opera offices.

"I'm betting everything I have in my online betting account at the moment on the Patriots," said Nils Brostrom, VP of Communications, Opera Software. "That means if the analysis is correct, I get a whopping USD 26 on the Patriots winning the Super Bowl." For reference, that's the equivalent of three Big Mac burgers in Oslo, Norway where Opera Software is based.

The whole report is available to read at www.opera.com/smw/.

Strong user growth for Opera Mini

In December 2011, there were over 152.6 million unique Opera Mini users, a 5.57% increase from November 2011. Since December 2010, the number of unique users has increased 78.45% on a global basis. A sharp uptick in number of pages transcoded is also noted, and Opera Mini users viewed over 103.1 billion pages in December 2011. Since December 2010, page views have increased 120.7%.

Data consumed

In December 2011, Opera Mini users generated over 1.6 billion MB of data for operators worldwide, up 17% over November 2011 and 135.5% year over year.

The Opera Mini browser features compression technology, advanced yet transparent to the user, making webpages available for all possible users globally.

About Opera Software ASA

The worldwide World Wide Web — any device, any platform, any bandwidth, absolutely anywhere in the world. Opera Software was founded in 1994, based on the idea that access to the Web should be a universal right. 220 million people (and counting) use the Opera web browsers for computers, mobile phones, TVs and other connected devices. Opera also delivers tools, distribution, engagement, monetization and market insights to developers, publishers and brands around the world. We are passionate about breaking down barriers, so everyone can share in the power of the Internet. Our vision of one Web for all remains at the heart of what we do, because we believe that participation changes everything. Opera Software ASA is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol OPERA. Learn more about Opera at www.opera.com.

SOURCE Opera Software ASA