Unfortunately Google Insights didn’t prove to be an accurate crystal ball for the 2010 BBC Sports personality of the year, unlike in 2009.
The award was won by AP McCoy with Phil Taylor second and Jess Ennis third. In fact Jess’ third place was the closest that Google Insights came to predicting the winner, with a late significant surge in the number of Ennis related searches on Friday and Saturday.
Google’s “interest” in David Haye, and Graeme Swann proved to be a pair of red herrings, and Google’s lack of interest in AP McCoy (and Tony McCoy) and Phil Taylor proved equally inaccurate.
Twitter fared somewhat better, on Sunday night (albeit during the show); Taylor, Haye and Ennis were "trending" in the UK – but nothing registering for AP McCoy.
After the programme @HonestFrank released the SPOTY voting figures..
1 AP McCoy 293,152 (41.98%)
2 Phil Taylor 72,095 (10.33%)
3 Jessica Ennis 62,953 (9.02%)
4 Lee Westwood 58,640 (8.4%)
5 Graeme McDowell 52,108 (7.46%)
6 Tom Daley 50,763 (7.27%)
7 Mark Cavendish 44,170 (6.33%)
8 Amy Williams 43,056 (6.17%)
9 Graeme Swann 13,767 (1.97%)
10 David Haye 7,538 (1.08%)
A runaway winner it seems, which didn’t even flick Google’s needle.
On the other hand at Google Insights can be used to get something right. #uksnow
