MANILA – While the “Fight of the Century” transformed the Philippines’ congested streets into ghost towns last Sunday, it spurred enormous traffic online even weeks before the bout.
Google Philippines shared a series of five infographics on Twitter about how Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. trended on Google Search.
Exactly how much traffic both fighters generated can’t be revealed based on Google Trends rules but is instead shown as an index on a scale of 0 to 100 called Search interest. An index score of 50, for example, means that it represents half the relative search volume for that time frame.
Google Trends show how big both Pacquiao and Mayweather are as people search for them online. #PacquiaoMayweather pic.twitter.com/f9mYSlgAB5
— Google Philippines (@GooglePH) May 3, 2015
Pacquiao set the standard at 100 for search interest in the Philippines, with Mayweather still hot on his heels with 75. The opposite happened in the US, however, with the People’s champ scoring an index score of just 11 points. While not as commanding as Pacquiao’s score in his home country, Mayweather took the lead with 64 points for search interest in the US.
Top questions on Google people search for on the biggest fight of the century. #PacquiaoMayweather pic.twitter.com/zjZMe0P9Zs
— Google Philippines (@GooglePH) May 3, 2015
The last 4 hrs saw Filipinos asking @GooglePH where to watch #PacquiaoMayweather. Are you now there ready to watch? pic.twitter.com/hiPXbNCuL0
— Google Philippines (@GooglePH) May 3, 2015
Pinoys were searching for delivery #PacquiaoMayweather @Jollibee @McDo_PH @pizzahutphils @KFCPhilippines @PHShakeys pic.twitter.com/J0hNPQFCUe
— Google Philippines (@GooglePH) May 3, 2015
The rest of the infographics are about search trends during the Pacquiao-Mayweather bout, asking Google an assortment of queries from where to watch the boxing match, how much will the fighters earn to even fast food delivery options – the latter being a six-way shoot out won by Jollibee.
Filipinos normally search for NBA more. But not during the past hour. #PacquiaoMayweather #result #FightOfTheCentury pic.twitter.com/K5Dq8v4p0S
— Google Philippines (@GooglePH) May 3, 2015
Basketball is a cherished sport in the Philippines, even more so than boxing. But this last infographic shows how anticipated the fight really was, wresting the search lead from the NBA for an hour. Mayweather Jr. may have won, but based on Google data, both were clear champions online.