By analyzing search volume in the three days since the teams were decided on March 31, 2013, Chitika Insights looked to quantify the search interest for each team in the 2013 NCAA Final Four.
As Chitika is a data analytics company, before we filled out our bracket this year we wanted to develop a statistical method that would predict the outcome of each game. Then we read that Nate Silver was working on the same thing, and considering his track record, we backed off and concentrated on public perception – quantifying the search interest for each team in the 2013 NCAA Final Four. By analyzing search volume in the three days since the teams were decided on March 31, 2013, we’ve come to the following results:
These results can’t be explained by school size alone, for example, University of Michigan has almost twice as many students as the University of Louisville. We also filtered out queries most directly related to the much publicized injury to Louisville guard Kevin Ware (e.g. keywords like “leg”), but the Cardinals are still generating the largest share of Web search interest within North America. We’ll know this weekend whether public interest has hinted at the eventual championship matchup!
