So Google has trawled the billions of searches made by UK users this year and found that crocodile hunter Steve Irwin, Big Brother and Lost were some of the fastest growing subjects people were looking for online.
As a gauge of what topics have consumers turning to the world's biggest search engine, it is perhaps interesting to note that of the top 10 "fastest growing queries", four of them are searches based on good old-fashioned TV (or a TV personality):
1. video 2. world cup 3. steve irwin 4. prison break 5. wiki 6. euro millions 7. big brother 8. lost 9. tfl 10. weather
But then that is probably to be expected. After all YouTube wouldn't be facing potential legal issues over copyright infringement that it is if licensed content from music, film and TV companies hadn't proved to be major winners online already.
With Christmas 2007 once again hailed as a massive winner for online retailers - cue daily press releases of record setting digital sales - comScore has produced UK statistics showing that between them Amazon and Argos account for almost 25% of all online shopping visits.
However there is always someone ready in the wings with a message of caution.
Unisys has published the findings of a global survey into consumer trust of online shopping and, apparently, 31% of the UK sample decided not to use the web to buy due to fears over credit card safety.
This amounts, possibly, to a missed £1.6bn loss in online sales. Time to toughen up systems and stop ID fraud says Unisys, which is all very convenient given it is a "leading technology and solutions" company.
A walk down Oxford Street or through any shopping centre should be enough to convert all but the most hardened of shoppers to online buying, in my view.
