Research findings from University College London (UCL) revealing a gap between what consumers buy and how much they think they drink were published on 27 February.
This prompted 21,000 consumers to log on to the group's website on the same day, to find out more about units and check their drinking. People who arrived at the site by searching for "how many units in a bottle of wine" rose sharply by 467%.
The charity’s animated graphic which illustrates how many units are in popular drinks has been played more than 90,000 times.
The group’s website noticed a significant spike in visits to its tools that help people calculate their unit intake. Compared to the previous Wednesday:
· The unit calculator received 22,059 page views, a 128% increase from 9,655.
· Drinkaware’s unit information page had 942 views, a 166% jump compared to 354.
· Searches for "units of alcohol" rose by 250% and "alcohol units" by 175%.
· Overall, searches containing the term "unit" went up 178%.
Drinkaware's head of Digital, Ben Butler, said: “Units can be confusing and these findings highlight the importance of having clear information and simple tools to help people understand how much they drink. Last year more than four million people came to drinkaware.co.uk to get an accurate picture of what they are drinking and support to make a change.”
The charity has re-platformed its website in early February following research showing over half (64%) of visitors surveyed felt encouraged to cut down their drinking as a result of visiting the site.
The new site is said to give visitors a more personalised experience to help them evaluate and change their drinking behaviour.
It features an updated version of MyDrinkaware, the healthy lifestyle tool, drink diary and unit calculator which currently helps 300,000 registered users see their drinking in units, track their intake and get tips to cut.
