Traffic review of the year
Posted by Huw,
Just before Christmas I like to take a look at website traffic and other figures for the year and compare them with previous periods.
The headlines are:
- Page views down by 4%, visits down by 2%, visitors up by 5%
- Alexa rank 25,500 down from 13,010 at the end of 2018
- Quantcast US rank 5,745, down from 2,568 at the end of 2018
- 22,000 new members joined in 2019
- 67,000 members logged in during 2019.
- 3,760 of you posted 40,500 comments on our home page articles
- 450 of you contributed over 1,400 user reviews
- Social media followers up by around 25%, mostly on Instagram
- Revenue from advertising and affiliate marketing up by 4% (Jan-Nov 2018 vs. Jan-Nov 2019)
Website traffic
Here's how this year compares with the previous six:
| 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Page views | 81,046,193 | 84,910,676 | 92,611,909 | 101,385,839 | 94,879,418 | 85,658,634 | 78,595,421 |
| Visits | 22,775,321 | 23,334,774 | 25,174,751 | 26,414,965 | 24,309,642 | 20,761,051 | 19,810,668 |
| Visitors | 6,781,522 | 6,446,014 | 7,268,174 | 7,431,089 | 7,242,884 | 6,624,114 | 6,187,944 |
Page views and visits are down a bit, but nothing to worry about. However, the number of visitors has increased slightly. All three metrics are well down on 2016's figures, the year I call 'peak LEGO', in the wake of the first LEGO Movie.
81 million page views over the year equates to 2.56 pages per second.
The following chart shows how we compare with our competitors, as ranked by Alexa. It's currently showing that, as was the case last year, Brickset is the third most visited LEGO-related site. LEGO.com (not on the graph) is ranked ~2,700 (2018:2,800), BrickLink ~17,000 (2018:10,000) and Brickset ~25,530 (2018:13,000).
All other LEGO fan sites, with the honourable exception of Rebrickable which looks to be catching up rapidly, are an order of magnitude lower.
Traffic peaks
As you would expect, traffic varies throughout the year, with November-January being the busiest time, corresponding to Black Friday, Christmas, the northern hemisphere winter and news and reviews of new sets.
This graph shows page views per day in 2019:
This next one is interesting, Can you guess what caused nearly 100,000 people to visit at the end of November?
No, not Black Friday but the news that LEGO was buying BrickLink!
Social media and membership numbers
Our social media followers have increased again this year: Facebook 34,000 likes (2018: 30,700), Twitter 32,700 (2017: 29,700) and Instagram 47,400 (2017:31,000)
On the website, member numbers are rising still, up from 200,000 to over 215,000, an increase of 7%.
However, that doesn't tell the whole story though because a number of dormant accounts (not used since 2010) and those of users who joined just to spam their profile pages were removed.
In total, 22,000 people joined in 2018 which is an average of about 420 new members a week. It's a slower rate of growth than in 2017 but, again, it can be partly attributed to prompt removal of spam accounts this year.
The forum now has 22,439 members, 1,400 more than last year.
Conclusions
We experienced another drop in most of our figures this year but then so it seems have many LEGO fan sites. I believe this is due to the increasing reliance on the large social media platforms and also that we are past 'peak LEGO' (2016) in popular culture, for now at least
However, despite this, Brickset is still the third most visited LEGO site, and is now the most visited independently operated site now that LEGO owns BrickLink.
But we will not rest on our laurels: we'll continue to update, inform, enhance and innovate to ensure it remains that way.
Thank you all for visiting and making the site the success it is. I hope we can continue to meet your LEGO-information needs and if you have any suggestions as to what you'd like us to do differently, we are always open to hearing them, either in the comments below or via the contact form at the bottom of the page.
Happy Holidays to you all!
171 likes
51 comments on this article
These figures make for interesting reading but I know lots of us will be here in 2020 and beyond!
Why was there a pick in 2016?
Looking at the Alexa traffic ranking I would wager to guess that Brickset will overtake Bricklink in 2020 now that the negative effects of the takeover are beginning to show.
Might be interesting to know how the BS site is being hit/used. For example, percentages using the Forum, reading articles, commenting in general, redirecting to Amazon/BL/etc. There might be other interesting and useful aspects regarding BS that I might like to use, but am not currently taking advantage of.
For me personally, I've backed off on using the Forum over the years, but to enjoy seeing what new Lego sets are (or will be) available including release dates (e.g., articles). I've also been searching sets and minifigs more than I used to for ideas on future purchases. Finally, I use BS to find specific colored parts for MOCs I am either working on or plan to work on.
I have to admit that part of the reason I've visited BS less over the past couple years is that Lego prices are really going up, so I've had to back off on my expenditures. And if I'm not purchasing, I'm less interested in spending time on Lego-related sites.
As I visit Brickset almost every day, I would like to say thanks to the people who work to keep this site as awesome as it is!
Also, I'm curious as to why 2016 specifically was a peak year and not 2014-2015. Anybody?
2016 was also the last year before we started plastering the site with adverts, which became necessary because eBay changed its payout structures which caused a massive drop in affiliate marketing revenue, so that no doubt had an effect too!
@Farmer_John said:
"Might be interesting to know how the BS site is being hit/used. For example, percentages using the Forum, reading articles, commenting in general"
I'll post a follow-up article with some additional info in a few days.
@Huw said:
"2016 was also the last year before we started plastering the site with adverts, which became necessary because eBay changed its payout structures which caused a massive drop in affiliate marketing revenue, so that no doubt had an effect too!"
I saw that the revenue has increased by 4% since last year. Has this increase been fairly consistent since 2016?
I find Brickset an invaluable resource and I appreciate all the work that goes into the website.
Regarding Bricklink, what negative affects have their been? I'm not as up to date as I should be, apparently.
@Huw. I know this is about Brickset, but any idea what Brickpicker did in December to give them the step change in Alexa traffic?
@guachi : MOCs based on IPs are not allowed any longer. They may still be set to be viewed only, but brick lists or stud.io instructions are forbidden.
Also all sales of pieces that have not been officially released in sets are no longer allowed to be sold. Such as custom printed or chromed pieces, custom pieces for railway or monorail tracks, custom minifig accessories etc. Or pieces that were prototypes, marble coloured bricks etc. Same goes for the S-Brick and other LEGO compatible stuff. Mind you no one is talking about counterfeit stuff but all fully legal alternatives as well as original rarities that TLG apparently doesn't want to see in the hands of AFOLs.
Whether or not regional exclusives, employee gifts and the like will be allowed to be sold on the platform in future is still undecided officially afaik.
Interesting article, thanks for sharing!
Well done Brickset.
You are still my go to site
Happy holidays everyone
Wow, such large numbers! :) Happy holidays!
@randomly_generated, @guachi, @jdm ... hear hear, thanks for all the hard work Brickset, long may you reign ....
@XIII said:
"I saw that the revenue has increased by 4% since last year. Has this increase been fairly consistent since 2016?"
No, we are at about 80% of the level we were in 2016, but there is now growth again.
@HUW - A great way to increase traffic (and revenue) would be to start a marketplace on BS. There will be a huge void in that area for Lego products after the completion of the BL acquisition by TLG. Just a thought...
@AustinPowers
Wow, a lot of those changes are terrible. Did no one at Lego corporate realize that such changes would make Lego look like the bad guy?
It didn't take long for Lego to open up a great opportunity for some other website to take all of their business.
Is worrisome to see a steady decrease on all Lego sites...hopefully it doesn't get worse. I personally prefer Brickset as I don't link to hear about all the rumors whether true or not on other sites. Thanks Huw and team for all you work, I appreciate it.
@AustinPowers said:
"Also all sales of pieces that have not been officially released in sets are no longer allowed to be sold. Such as custom printed or chromed pieces, custom pieces for railway or monorail tracks, custom minifig accessories etc. Or pieces that were prototypes, marble coloured bricks etc."
Almost. There are currently no problems with prototypes, test parts, Q-elements and so on. It's custom non-LEGO stuff and modified (as in chromed) parts that have been excluded. https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1170725
Sorry for being OT, I just want to limit panic (I'd panic if they removed test bricks!) (Okay, not really, but I would be slightly annoyed ;-) )
Meganl, Capn Rex, Huw and all Brickset team,reviewers, administrators and all the others : I don't know if Brickset is third or second or so, I just know it's the first to me. I come and check and read every single day, even several times a day, for news, reviews, articles and and so on, but also to help me find and manage, update my collection data, check minifigs I own to remind me of which set or year or wave they belong to, and so many other things that I cannot list them all here. A bit surprised by the decrease in some figures , as I personally never had used as much the site as I did this year. But you seem to have an idea of the main reasons of this tendency, which eventually appears to be connected to some global conjecture. When I first read the first stats and results I began to worry about it, but as it seems that it is not due to Brickset itself, I am confident that there are still good times to come for us all BS users and member in the coming years. And I can't see how it could be different as long as you,Brickset team, go on with the great amount of fantastic job you do and share with us all every day. I can understand that the global and worldwide space dedicated to Lego fans/AFOLs is more and more divided between more and more medias and possibilities for people to use, but I don't know many of those medias which provide such quality content as you do here. So keep it up, I appreciate your conclusion with high energy and strong words determined to keep this site running. Thank you once again for all the amazing things you do, and will be doing for sure.
Thank you, Brickset Team, for running this site. It is the best site of all sites I know (not only LEGO-related).
Lets hope this will remain an independently operated site. :-)
Thanks to all the people behind Brickset! This is one of my favourite websites.
I'd like to join the others above in expressing my gratitude for the team (including the commenters) running Brickset and providing us with reviews, random sets, fascinating articles, current news, inside jokes and Bionicle trivia for our daily fix of Lego reading. Thank you, wonderful humans, and thank you, Huwbot!
Great site, the only Lego fan site I visit.
I visit multiple times a day to read articles but rarely comment and don't use the forum as much as I did when I started.
A lot of this is Lego is getting more and more expensive with sub £200 sets becoming the norm.
This is shown when Lego are email out "free" next day pre xmas delivery with over £200 purchase!!
@Brick_t_ : I can only second your comment. I have said it many times over the years but will say it again, especially as some might think otherwise of me: I love building with LEGO bricks (and bricks in general) and to me there is no better website for fans than Brickset. The team does an awesome job. Which is even more commendable as the site is completely free.
I also think that I keep using Brickset ever more with every passing year so the decline in numbers to me can certainly not be attributed to a decline in quality.
What I do notice though is that the way TLG is going about their business in recent years is souring the experience associated with the hobby for many people so that they either change to other pastimes completely or at least broaden their scope to other manufacturers of bricks. It is a very noticeable change even in toy stores over here. Years ago there was always two major players with their products on display: LEGO and Playmobil. Over the last one or two years there has been less space dedicated to LEGO while that for Playmobil has remained about the same. The space originally only occupied by LEGO has now been divided between them and other manufacturers of bricks. Also exposure to alternatives has risen in the media as well as online. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why sites dedicated solely to LEGO products are seeing some decline.
I’m a daily visitor but not a contributor to reviews or comments or article likes. I’ll have to change that in 2029. While I adore metrics, I never really thought about how your traffic could affect your sites direction!
Before the main body of my comment, which got out of hand in length, I would like to say that even though I am increasingly jaded as an AFOL, I still come to Brickset every day. This is a great site. So here is my essay, titled "A Reflection on 2019 and Troubles in the 2020s for LEGO and its Consumers, and how the Company can Improve."
2019 was a bad year for LEGO, with their attack on fans such as taking down 3D Printers of custom compatible elements, and acquisition of Bricklink. Unfortunately 2020 looks even more bleak with the release of the much dreaded Trolls, Minions , and DOTS (i.e. new Clikits), rumored 5$ CMF pricetag and of course changes at Bricklink.
LEGO themselves are possibly dreading the new decade; Star Wars and Marvel, their strongest licenses, will have little to no source content in 2020 due to the conclusion of both the Skywalker and Infinity Sagas in 2019. The LEGO Movies as well have fizzled out. The LEGO Group may well be moving into another early 2000s crisis, and while it's doubtful they will come even close to bankrupt, they will almost certainly need to rethink their business practices for the better.
The competition from Chinese clones has not gone away either. The quality of the plastic of LEGO has gotten progressively worse and the quality of the ripoffs has gotten progressively better. Lepin has returned under a new brandname. LEGO will need to step up their game on security in Chinese plants to prevent new set designs from being stolen before release, as well as of course stop cutting corners everywhere in manufacturing, and get more reasonable with prices, especially if they want to compete and expand into Lepin's home turf.
However there is hope: the sets for City and the Bookshop are amazing, and the upcoming Ideas Playable Piano, Sesame Street and Pirate Bay are much anticipated. I hope there will be a third year for Harry Potter as well. LEGO will need to make many changes for the better to Bricklink so people will still use it. LEGO will need to rely less on licenses and return to strengthen their original core themes, the supposed "evergreens" which have been MIA since the first half of this decade. And if LEGO will need to be hurt to improve their products, so be it. They don't have us AFOLs in their palm anymore.
As others have already said - thank you - Huw and gang! For everything you do to keep Brickset continually interesting and up to date. Like many others I visit every day if I can and always find it fascinating and rely on the website so much for keeping our Lego collection in some sort of order! Long may it continue - have a good Christmas and an peaceful New Year!
What is the reason for not including Bricks.SE in the list of sites above? Does Alexa not rank subdomains? Or does the different format mean it is not in the same category?
I'm just asking because it is full of interesting questions and answers, like this: https://bricks.stackexchange.com/q/12940/3631
Hi Huw, I was kind of wondering if Brickset is actually your job, or a side thing? I always thought that it was a hobby thing, but seeing these statistics (and the number of site updates in the past year) I really doubt someone could manage all that one the side, as a hobby.
Apart from that, I was wondering if there is any way to donate to Brickset (eg. through Patreon or similar)? I use an ad blocker on all sites, and now realise that's really unfair to you. So I would like to still make a contribution if possible.
Finally, on the about page there is a typo, "advertisng".
Keep up the good work!
As a new user this year, I can say the greatest feature of Brickset is the collection management. With the added news and reviews, it's a good reference for content. I don't know if building a marketplace is the way to go, but for sure it'd be nice to see what Huw thinks, if the site is really starting to meet issues.
I'm not exactly surprised about the overall drop. It's probably due to social media that are attracting younger generations more, but it's also normal that there'd be a drop after the huge hit that was the first Lego Movie. It probably contributed to a huge increase in traffic overall, and that bubble, culminating in 2016, is probably deflating a bit. But from what TLG are saying themselves, overall, the line is doing quite well and reaching new markets by the day, so I wouldn't worry too much about the hobby. Them reaching out more and more to adults through Creator Expert and Ideas is also great news.
Thanks for the stats Huw, I love reading them every year :) I'll have the Rebrickable ones up in a week or so. The Alexa stats went a bit haywire the last 6 months with every site taking a major dive, perhaps a change in their algorithms. Congrats on being the new 1 independant fan site :)
Thank you all for your comments. I have no plans to build a marketplace: there's a viable alternative to BrickLink out there already.
@legofan, it stated as a hobby site in 2000 with no intention of making money from it, but that changed in 2007, when affiliate marketing became viable, and I left my day job to run it full time in 2012.
@nthom, thank you. I look forward to seeing your figures. At this rate, this time next year I could be congratulating you ;)
Congratulations on another successful year Huw and merry Christmas! See you in March.
As the hosts of the only Lego database I properly trust, and with comprehensive news and reviewing to boot, Brickset will always have my support.
I think that Brickset, apart from the set list function really lived up years ago when Eurobricks was down (server was attacked or was upgrading... Something that caused the site to be down for days...) and Brickset picked up the role of news portal. I remember operating the local forum (before LUGs became a big thing) and was using Eurobricks as main source for news, but also now and then using news from Brickset front page (because Brickset unlike Eurobricks at the time, didn't miss any new set, and by this I mean polybags mostly, that Eurobricks didn't seem to care about), and the boom was evident to me. I am talking about around 2010 (Toy story was released), and I am glad to see the charts show the same trend I picked up. However, also a trend I picked up this year, mostly with the advent days coverage, which I think you did not cover from the start in the same manner as previous years, but other things now and then, also represent the situation that the charts show (not sure it is the chicken or the egg in this situation). This could be also the ever growing grip of TLG and their lawyers, that regulate the news and rumors (that was also not a thing in 2010), the coverage of the toy fairs (or maybe the politics of presentation on the fairs, that I do not know), or such similar changes, but one thing is for sure, the reading habits are changed irrevocably... But I think you have a great website with a great base, and solid relationship with TLG, so here's to many more years in our favorite hobby
@SirZed said:
"What is the reason for not including Bricks.SE in the list of sites above? Does Alexa not rank subdomains? "
No it doesn't. I agree that's a useful site.
I suspect https://www.reddit.com/r/lego/ sees an order of magnitude more traffic than we do but, again, there's no way of knowing.
Besides, it tends to be the more casual fan that it attracts judging by most of the posts there!
I don't visit as much as the site is full of annoying adverts. I know the site has to be funded somehow and I have ad blocker on my laptop browser, but it's a nightmare on mobile devices they are all over the site and very distracting, there seems to be a lot more as well now. They load faster than the actual page I want to see!
^ Log in and they'll magically disappear...
@AustinPowers said:
" @Brick_t_ : I can only second your comment. I have said it many times over the years but will say it again, especially as some might think otherwise of me: I love building with LEGO bricks (and bricks in general) and to me there is no better website for fans than Brickset. The team does an awesome job. Which is even more commendable as the site is completely free.
I also think that I keep using Brickset ever more with every passing year so the decline in numbers to me can certainly not be attributed to a decline in quality.
What I do notice though is that the way TLG is going about their business in recent years is souring the experience associated with the hobby for many people so that they either change to other pastimes completely or at least broaden their scope to other manufacturers of bricks. It is a very noticeable change even in toy stores over here. Years ago there was always two major players with their products on display: LEGO and Playmobil. Over the last one or two years there has been less space dedicated to LEGO while that for Playmobil has remained about the same. The space originally only occupied by LEGO has now been divided between them and other manufacturers of bricks. Also exposure to alternatives has risen in the media as well as online. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why sites dedicated solely to LEGO products are seeing some decline.
"
To complete your comment, for instance my daughter turns more and more to Playmobil since last year, when she eventually chose for the first time not to have Friends Advent calendar but Playmobil's : we both had been stunned by the difference in the contents and gifts she found each day, when her previous Lego calendars offered her over the years so tiny builds or just a tiny pet, sleds more than twice in each edition,
when she had much more to play with and so to say "in volume" with each Playmobil gift. She has never chosen Friends calendar ever since. And I perfectly understand why! Hope Lego will change some of their wrong, strange or bad tendencies in the years to come.
@AustinPowers said:
" @guachi : MOCs based on IPs are not allowed any longer. They may still be set to be viewed only, but brick lists or stud.io instructions are forbidden.
Also all sales of pieces that have not been officially released in sets are no longer allowed to be sold. Such as custom printed or chromed pieces, custom pieces for railway or monorail tracks, custom minifig accessories etc. Or pieces that were prototypes, marble coloured bricks etc. Same goes for the S-Brick and other LEGO compatible stuff. Mind you no one is talking about counterfeit stuff but all fully legal alternatives as well as original rarities that TLG apparently doesn't want to see in the hands of AFOLs.
Whether or not regional exclusives, employee gifts and the like will be allowed to be sold on the platform in future is still undecided officially afaik. "
I think TLG is shooting itself in the foot by imposing all these limitations.
I love Brickset, however I would have hoped that more attention would have been given to the way TLG handles Brickset. More like Promobricks and Stonewars reported on the issue.
Keep up the good work, Brickset! There may have been a drop in numbers again, but there are still many of us who depend on Brickset for Lego news, reviews, and information.
Been in the hobby since 2016 (honestly coincidence with Lego Movie Peak year). Still learning tricks and history of the hobby. These stats are very interesting to see as a reflection of not just BS but Lego as a whole.
I visit a handful of other sites, but BS is my 1 for different reasons. Rarely a day goes by that I don't visit at least once. It is my 1 source to track my collection. Love the news feed. Excellent reviews. Also, love the forum.
Great job @HUW and team. Watching over 3 years now, I applaud your consistent stance to how you manage the site. You have a vision and run with it, but at the same time continue to try an improve as best as possible. Amazing this has been your "day job" for 12 years. I hope it at least allows you to live a comfortable life. Plus having a "job" that you are pasioniate about and has lots of fun aspects (yeah I know you face many challenges too). Here's to successful 2020 and beyond.
@Huw said:
" @SirZed said:
"What is the reason for not including Bricks.SE in the list of sites above? Does Alexa not rank subdomains? "
No it doesn't. I agree that's a useful site.
Besides, it tends to be the more casual fan that it attracts judging by most of the posts there!"
Right, the barrier to entry is practically non-existent, but that does not stop the more serious questions from being asked as well: https://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/12986/how-can-the-a-and-b-models-of-the-42055-bucket-wheel-excavator-be-modded-to-fit
Thank you!
@SirZed , sorry, I meant the subbreddit is for the casual fan, not stack exchange, which I agree can be useful and interesting.
*Runs to check Instagram*
Yep. On it.
Thanks for your work. How do these numbers compare to people following various Lego accounts on Instagram and the subscribers of r/lego? Is Lego becoming less popular, or are the big corporations like Facebook and Reddit dominating the discussion?
Bring back Pirates or Castle/Forestmen and watch the popularity crank back up. =P
@CopperTablet said:
"Thanks for your work. How do these numbers compare to people following various Lego accounts on Instagram and the subscribers of r/lego? Is Lego becoming less popular, or are the big corporations like Facebook and Reddit dominating the discussion?"
I don't believe we would ever be able to find out the figures but I suspect there is a significant shift to FB, YouTube, Instagram and Reddit, particularly for the more casual fan.