10 Year Anniversary Data Dive

If you are a data junkie, this post is for you. My admittedly small reader base has gone up and down and up again over the years. Sometimes it is clear why, a good movie year will drive readers to your site. Sometimes it is a mystery, large numbers show up and you wonder if Russian Bots have taken over. For this review I have simply used the data that Google has given me for my blogger site. I have not attempted to include the data from the second site on WordPress, even though there are more subscribers there. Blogger is where I started so I feel I should stick to that for a lookback on this Anniversary.

The first set of numbers for you was the easiest to obtain. This comes straight from the analytics of the KAMAD Site.

All Time Numbers

I see inconsistent numbers between the summary that Blogger provides and the individual numbers on the separate posts. Rather than argue about it, I will simply show you the numbers as I found them. I can say that the Post Most Visited on my site is consistent between the above total and the individual post total. You might wonder why "The Deep" is the most popular post in the ten years I've been working on this blog. My guess is that it is because of one of the pictures included in the post. Jacqueline Bisset in a wet T-Shirt probably comes up in an image search and perverts everywhere can't resist. Click on the link provided and check for yourself.

The Original Project

I started this blog with a project, writing about the films I saw as a youth in the 1970s, in particular, Summer releases. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, about 95 films were included in that project. The numbers for that series of posts looks like this:

I have already explained why I think "The Deep" did so well. "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" is a perennial favorite with film fans so I'm not too surprised it drew a crowd. It is also a very personal reflection so I'm happy it made the list. The other three films are oddities that most people won't remember, and this may be one of the few sites that bothers with them.

2011 The Launch of the Blog in It's Current Form

When the new year came around, I switched the format of the blog to a review site, with the intention of posting a review of every movie I see in a theater. I don't always post on second or third or more viewings of contemporary films, but I do often have a fresh post on classics, regardless of the number of times I have seen them [JAWS and Lawrence of Arabia come to mind].

I'm proud to say that "Jaws" makes it's second appearance on the blog with the most popular post from 2011. This was part of a Robert Shaw Film Festival Event I ran on the site.  "Rubber" was a film I saw on the USC Campus. I was generous in my initial response by not hating it, but by the end of the year, I had put it in it's proper place. The Robert Shaw Film Festival scored another spot on the most popular posts on the site with a James Bond Film, "From Russia With Love".  "The Captains" is actually a VOD film that I went ahead and posted on because of the subject. We also went to three separate screenings of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, a Fathom Event that was an advertisement for the Blu-Ray release. "The Two Towers" got the most attention from my audience.

2012 Hitting My Stride

Once I got rolling, the blog became a ritual. I posted immediately after the film screening. I hated not having the review up as soon as possible. 2012 has the second largest number of entries of any year that I have done the site. It also contains one of my favorite film experiences of the whole decade, the lead up to "Skyfall".

Although there are several 007 posts this year, it was my controversial review of "Cabin in the Woods" that got the most eyeballs. I was disappointed and everyone else was enthused. So maybe it is the counter direction that made it the post to see this year. I'm not sure why the Gothic horror film starring Daniel Radcliffe was number two, but it does feature scary little girls. Two of the thirteen James Bond posts that I did in relation to "Skyfall"  made this top five list. "Countdown to Skyfall Part Five" featured the Roger Moore era of James Bond films. "Countdown to Skyfall Part Four" featured the 007 outings of Pierce Brosnan.  "The Archlight Poster Wall" was a visual essay of envy.

2013  We Start Getting Serious

This was the year that I saw my first big jump in numbers and I think it had to do with the films rather than any internet trend or technology glitch. There is one film on the list that surprised me by it's inclusion, but it does contain a reference to a major female star and near nudity, so that is probably the explanation.

One of the things that happens when you go on line is that you meet people. I started reading another blog and as I posted on his site, we started to become friendly. He told me of his childhood Thanksgivings being centered around "King Kong" on a New York TV Channels. That Inspired a Triple Feature on the Three major "King Kong Films". Eric Friedman, you are responsible for my number one post this year. Simon Pegg's starring role in Edgar Wright's "The World's End" made my end of the year list, so that combined with it's cult status probably explains these numbers. "We're the Millers" is the odd film out here. As I explained above, Jennifer Aniston has to be the reason. When I was a kid I followed baseball, but that was a long time ago. The Story of Jackie Robinson however is timeless ans it was also on my end of the year list so that is why "42" scored so many runs on this site. The timeless question we all ask each other, "What's your favorite movie?" was answered by me this year. I had dozens of students ask the question so I created a post for them to find out. My love letter to "The Adventures of Robin Hood" makes the top five for entries of this year.

2014 The Blog Flatlines

For a three year stretch, the blog visits remained fairly static. It may be that people moved to Podcasts and I was not doing one at the time. Maybe the films were not as great, I don't see many memorable blockbusters. I covered some offbeat films, and I did a year long project on another site, so maybe I was over extended. Here are the numbers that show what I mean.

"Annabelle" is the only one of my video posts to make the top five list in any year. However, I always enjoy watching myself so maybe others did as well. "GumbyFest" was a special event that took place here in my current Hometown. It may have drawn non-film buffs to the post because of the location and subject. "Once Upon A Time in the West" is maybe my favorite Western, so It makes me happy that it is here, the screening was a classic revival at the Egyptian Theater. "When the Game Stands Tall" is an odd film to make the top spots, but it was close to being a faith based football movie so maybe I should not be blindsided here (LOL). Finally, the "Lawrence-a-palooza" post is a hub for several posts on one of my favorite films, so go look.

2015  Normalcy Returns

The numbers here make a little more sense. They are consistent throughout the whole year, and the highest numbers are associated with the two most frequent topics I cover on the blog. I suppose you always want the biggest audience you can get, I just hope that the folks who find their way to the site get something they can appreciate, learn from, or laugh at.

This year featured the last James Bond film to be released ["No Time To Die" I'm waiting for you]. In the run up to that film, I did another series of 007 posts. The leading post this year was a top 007 things I love about "From Russia with Love". 2015 marked the 40th anniversary of the greatest Adventure film of the century. We love this movie and we went a little overboard this summer. We had four screenings of "Jaws" in theaters, in the same week. There were also a lot of posts on the subject. I put together a list of quotes, focusing on the less celebrated lines, from a terrific script that still gets quoted regularly. It was popular enough to be the second most visited post on my blog this year. Another marathon at the Egyptian Theater brought fans of Marty McFly to the site in swarms. Another post on the fish story, featuring a visit to a Westside Movie Palace was number Four on my list for the year. Rounding out the top five was the 007 Countdown for Roger Moore's best outing as Bond.

2016 Another Dip

The visits remained relatively stable but lower for all of the top slots this year. I have no explanation as to why things went this way, but I do appreciate that three of the top five spots went to retrospective film experiences rather than a new blockbuster. I really need to do some more film festival style posts for the next ten years.

My favorite Charles Bronson film took the top spot among my 2016 posts. If you like a 70s slow burn, watch this movie. I cannot explain the appeal of readers for "Allied", it was a kind of bomb and very old fashioned. I sort of liked it but not passionately. The reason for the high numbers for the Vitaphone Shorts post is simple. Ron Hutchinson, the late curator of the Vitaphone Project, shared my post with his followers. It was a kind gesture and I hope it continues to bring fans to this classic film format. Strother Martin cracks the top five for the year with his role in the second Charles Bronson film on this list. "Hard Times" is a great 70s film that was the debut of director Walter Hill. The last of the top five for this year was a post that included three movies that we saw in one day so I put all of the reviews in a single post. "Everybody Wants Some", "Sing Street" and "Elvis and Nixon" are the featured films.

2017 Big Bounce

Russian Bots or good films? It is hard to figure which resulted in a tripling of the numbers for the top five posts in this year. I did see steady growth in the numbers through the year and the high points all hit when it was awards season, so maybe I should stop being overly suspicious and just accept that it was a good year for the blog.

The top post this year was on a film that was my least favorite of the Academy Award Nominees for Best Picture that season. "Call Me By Your Name" was the most boring film I saw since "The Tree of Life". I am delighted on the other hand that the second most viewed post this year was my commentary on "Darkest Hour", the well crafted and spectacularly acted film on Winston Churchill. I cannot explain why "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" is on this list. The post was brief and there was not a lot to say about the movie. Maybe the hashtags brought people to my site. I had to change my Top Ten list for the year when I saw "I, Tonya" at a late night screening on December 31. "White Christmas" is not my favorite Holiday film, but this year it was my favorite Holiday experience and the audience for this blog appears to have felt the same way.

2018 Suspicion

All of the top five for this year were in the first quarter. There was a drop off in numbers after March, so maybe European Crackdowns on internet sites had some impact on the numbers to my site. I do get traffic from around the world so policies in the EU might very well impact me. I can't get data for the Worldwide audience for 2018 but this week's audience for my site looks like this:

I wish I had kept track of the data for prior years but the Alltime numbers on the right list a suspicious category "Unknown Region" . This worries me a little. 

Here are the top five posts by views from 2018:

The top post is a freeform article I did on Physical Media. Inspired by a Twitter Post, I shared my views on collecting physical media with several illustrations. I do think that pictures often bring eyeballs to the sight through Google images. "Den of Thieves" was a testosterone driven piece of January Action, not sure why it would be near the top. On the other hand, "The Florida Project" was a well respected indie film that I saw at an Egyptian Screening wit star Willem DaFoe. The next post is another unique one so I am not that surprised by it being here. It is an Unboxing Video for a James Bond Lootcrate style box. One of the dogs makes a guest appearance and that probably helps. I have a continuing series on the blog for "Movies I Want Everyone to See" [MIWETS], this is a carry-over from the series I did in 2013 for "Fogs Movie Reviews", a defunct site that I wrote article for over a five month period. The numbers for the "Ishtar MIWETS" likely reflect that it was a Movie of the Month on the Lambcast, and I hosted and promoted that show with this post. I've included one other post on this list because I know why it was widely viewed. "The Assassin's Code" was a film starring a podcaster/radio host that I follow, and I left links to my post on those social media sites.

2019  Back Where We Belong

The numbers settle down and are consistent throughout the year. It is possible that since I became co-host of the Lambcast, more people visit my site because I can promote new work each week on a media platform for movie fans. Every week all the guests get an opportunity to talk about what they are working on, and since I am on 90% of the shows these days, I get plenty of facetime. I recognize that all views do not equal a red of the material, but it is the one measure I have and it makes me happy to think there are a few hundred people listening while I go off on a rant or rave.

In similar fashion to the previously mentioned "Call Me By Your Name", the most popular post from this year was maybe my least favorite film of the year. Having bitched about it frequently on the podcast, "The Lighthouse" drew a lot of spectators, just as a traffic accident does.  For a completely opposite reaction, I can proudly point to the post on a special screening of my wife's favorite movie, "The Right Stuff" . The writer/director Phillip Kaufman spoke at this event. The political Documentary "No Safe Spaces" shows up on the list I'm sure because the groups who share it's perspective certainty shared the post when they found it. I think some people want to live vicariously through the site, I mean I get to do some cool things because of where I live. The American Cinematique at the Egyptian Theater hosted a marathon of the three "Lord of the Rings" films in their extended editions. What self respecting geek would want to miss out on 14 hours of Hobbits, elves and Wizards? Finally, there was a lot of looking at a retrospective screening of "Meet Me in St. Louis", another Fathom event that went over with my audience.

2020 Who Knows?

We were barely two months in, when the roof caved in on the theater business and everything else that was normal. It will be hard to assess this year when the time comes. There have only been 18 posts, and most of those are not on new films. For the record the top 2020 posts at the moment are

1. My Top ten List of Last Years Films

2. "Bad Boys for Life"

3. "Underwater"

4. "Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in his own Words"

The number one post is three times as visited as the others and they are all grouped together.

So that closes this navel gazing post. I have a few more 10 Year Anniversary posts that will be going up. Hope everybody will come back for the next ten years.