More than Snow Fell: How an Early Winter Storm Brought Down Internet Traffic in Connecticut

With the Internet being a key source of information in emergency situations – as seen in our previous posts on the recent earthquakes that hit the East Coast and Japan – we wondered what impact the loss of power and Internet service had on Connecticut residents. Without the ready means to access the Internet at home, there would evidently be a noticeable change in digital media consumption for the region. To better quantify and understand the implications of the snowstorm on Internet use, Comscore analyzed Internet traffic based on browser-based page views in the Connecticut local market in the days leading up to the storm and immediately following it.

Overall Internet Traffic Falls During the Snowstorm
In the chart below, we noted that following October 28, the level of overall (both classic web and mobile) Internet traffic, measured by page views, decreased by 37 percent going into October 30. What is most interesting in this chart, however, is a significant spike of 34 percent in mobile and computer Internet traffic seen on October 27 – two days before the storm itself. A closer look into what caused the spike in traffic revealed that the number of views for pages whose URLs included the key word “weather” increased by 81 percent from the day before (October 26), indicating that people were checking the forecast for the weekend at an unusually high rate.

Reinforcing these findings are data from Comscore AdXpose’s aggregate online ad impression volume for the Hartford – New Haven region during the snowstorm. The ad impression data reveal an even steeper decline, with a 41-percent decrease in ad impressions viewed online from the October 28 to October 30.

Despite an Overall Decline in Internet Traffic, Mobile Internet Use Remained Stable
On closer examination, we can see that the overall decline in traffic was caused, unsurprisingly, by a decline in classic web use during the snowstorm. A comparison of classic Internet traffic in the region for the weekend of the snowstorm (October 28-30) reveals a staggering 41 percent decline relative to classic Internet use from the previous weekend (October 21-23).

In contrast, mobile Internet use remained at a relatively stable level, even when compared to the previous weekend. When people across the region lost the ability to access information on their computers, they likely relied on their mobile phones for information.

These data illustrate, once again, how mobile devices are become increasingly indispensable to people in times of emergencies, not just as a communication channel, but also as an alternative method of gathering information via the Internet when fixed line computers are unavailable. Yet, it is important to note that even mobile phones have their technological limitations as devices that rely on power sources to recharge and the availability of wireless signals. In areas where mobile carrier networks were disrupted in Connecticut due to the storm, mobile phones may not have been that much more helpful.