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The Force Is Online

Most Star Wars Fans Rely on Website Performance to Get Ready for New Star Wars Movie
Ann Ruckstuhl

The greatly anticipated Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens in theaters December 18, and geeks and R2D2 and sci-fi fans around the world will be lining up to see the latest addition to the iconic series.

And they are well prepared for the full Star Wars experience, according to the findings of the latest survey from SOASTA. The survey found that Star Wars fans are counting on website performance to watch movie trailers (45 percent), get updates on the movie (33 percent), and read movie reviews (33 percent).


Using its Consumer Performance Index (CPI), SOASTA also tested the performance of websites where fans would most likely watch previews before seeing the movie itself and found that all popular online movie trailer sites out-perform the official Star Wars website.

Star Wars Fans Take to the Internet

The survey results also revealed a curious geographical division of activities among Star Wars fans based in different parts of the US. While fans across the country are depending on website performance to watch movie trailers (45 percent), Star Wars fans in the West are more likely to be relying on it to read movie reviews (41 percent, compared to 27-33 percent elsewhere).

Star Wars fans in the Northeast and South are more likely to be relying on web performance to learn about The Force Awakens stars (24 percent each, compared to 9-14 percent elsewhere).

Star Wars fans in the Northeast are relying on online retail outlet performance to guide purchases of Star Wars toys (17 percent compared to just 8 percent in the West and 10 percent in the South).

Care About Website Performance, Millennials Do

The SOASTA survey also revealed that among Star Wars fans, Millennials (62 percent) are more likely than their older counterparts to say online performance matters when preparing for the new Star Wars movie.

Millennials are relying on online performance to:

■ Watch movie trailers (61 percent)

■ Get updates on the movie (43 percent)

■ Read reviews of the movie online (40 percent)

■ Watch past Star Wars films (33 percent)

■ Learn about the movie’s stars (30 percent)

■ Buy Star Wars toys (18 percent)


Meanwhile, the Force Does Not "Awaken" on the Official Star Wars Website

Considering how many Star Wars fans said they are counting on online performance to watch the Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie trailers, fans should be advised that while Starwars.com may be the most logical go-to website, they would be better off watching a preview at Lucas Film (CPI score: 84.6), Rotten Tomatoes (CPI score: 83.6), or Moviefone (CPI score: 82). In fact, any other popular purveyor of online movie trailers offers a more reliable performance experience than the eponymous StarWars.com.

This research is about Star Wars and its fans, on the face of it. But it is truly about website performance, as fans rely on the Internet to, for example, watch previews and buy toys. Performance is now the critical differentiator for brands across the globe in all industries — and web and mobile app performance matters now more than ever before as a result.

Ann Ruckstuhl is CMO of SOASTA.

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The Force Is Online

Most Star Wars Fans Rely on Website Performance to Get Ready for New Star Wars Movie
Ann Ruckstuhl

The greatly anticipated Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens in theaters December 18, and geeks and R2D2 and sci-fi fans around the world will be lining up to see the latest addition to the iconic series.

And they are well prepared for the full Star Wars experience, according to the findings of the latest survey from SOASTA. The survey found that Star Wars fans are counting on website performance to watch movie trailers (45 percent), get updates on the movie (33 percent), and read movie reviews (33 percent).


Using its Consumer Performance Index (CPI), SOASTA also tested the performance of websites where fans would most likely watch previews before seeing the movie itself and found that all popular online movie trailer sites out-perform the official Star Wars website.

Star Wars Fans Take to the Internet

The survey results also revealed a curious geographical division of activities among Star Wars fans based in different parts of the US. While fans across the country are depending on website performance to watch movie trailers (45 percent), Star Wars fans in the West are more likely to be relying on it to read movie reviews (41 percent, compared to 27-33 percent elsewhere).

Star Wars fans in the Northeast and South are more likely to be relying on web performance to learn about The Force Awakens stars (24 percent each, compared to 9-14 percent elsewhere).

Star Wars fans in the Northeast are relying on online retail outlet performance to guide purchases of Star Wars toys (17 percent compared to just 8 percent in the West and 10 percent in the South).

Care About Website Performance, Millennials Do

The SOASTA survey also revealed that among Star Wars fans, Millennials (62 percent) are more likely than their older counterparts to say online performance matters when preparing for the new Star Wars movie.

Millennials are relying on online performance to:

■ Watch movie trailers (61 percent)

■ Get updates on the movie (43 percent)

■ Read reviews of the movie online (40 percent)

■ Watch past Star Wars films (33 percent)

■ Learn about the movie’s stars (30 percent)

■ Buy Star Wars toys (18 percent)


Meanwhile, the Force Does Not "Awaken" on the Official Star Wars Website

Considering how many Star Wars fans said they are counting on online performance to watch the Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie trailers, fans should be advised that while Starwars.com may be the most logical go-to website, they would be better off watching a preview at Lucas Film (CPI score: 84.6), Rotten Tomatoes (CPI score: 83.6), or Moviefone (CPI score: 82). In fact, any other popular purveyor of online movie trailers offers a more reliable performance experience than the eponymous StarWars.com.

This research is about Star Wars and its fans, on the face of it. But it is truly about website performance, as fans rely on the Internet to, for example, watch previews and buy toys. Performance is now the critical differentiator for brands across the globe in all industries — and web and mobile app performance matters now more than ever before as a result.

Ann Ruckstuhl is CMO of SOASTA.

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According to Auvik's 2025 IT Trends Report, 60% of IT professionals feel at least moderately burned out on the job, with 43% stating that their workload is contributing to work stress. At the same time, many IT professionals are naming AI and machine learning as key areas they'd most like to upskill ...

Businesses that face downtime or outages risk financial and reputational damage, as well as reducing partner, shareholder, and customer trust. One of the major challenges that enterprises face is implementing a robust business continuity plan. What's the solution? The answer may lie in disaster recovery tactics such as truly immutable storage and regular disaster recovery testing ...

IT spending is expected to jump nearly 10% in 2025, and organizations are now facing pressure to manage costs without slowing down critical functions like observability. To meet the challenge, leaders are turning to smarter, more cost effective business strategies. Enter stage right: OpenTelemetry, the missing piece of the puzzle that is no longer just an option but rather a strategic advantage ...

Amidst the threat of cyberhacks and data breaches, companies install several security measures to keep their business safely afloat. These measures aim to protect businesses, employees, and crucial data. Yet, employees perceive them as burdensome. Frustrated with complex logins, slow access, and constant security checks, workers decide to completely bypass all security set-ups ...

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Cloudbrink's Personal SASE services provide last-mile acceleration and reduction in latency

In MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Episode 13, Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, Network Infrastructure and Operations, at EMA discusses hybrid multi-cloud networking strategy ... 

In high-traffic environments, the sheer volume and unpredictable nature of network incidents can quickly overwhelm even the most skilled teams, hindering their ability to react swiftly and effectively, potentially impacting service availability and overall business performance. This is where closed-loop remediation comes into the picture: an IT management concept designed to address the escalating complexity of modern networks ...

In 2025, enterprise workflows are undergoing a seismic shift. Propelled by breakthroughs in generative AI (GenAI), large language models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP), a new paradigm is emerging — agentic AI. This technology is not just automating tasks; it's reimagining how organizations make decisions, engage customers, and operate at scale ...

In the early days of the cloud revolution, business leaders perceived cloud services as a means of sidelining IT organizations. IT was too slow, too expensive, or incapable of supporting new technologies. With a team of developers, line of business managers could deploy new applications and services in the cloud. IT has been fighting to retake control ever since. Today, IT is back in the driver's seat, according to new research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) ...

In today's fast-paced and increasingly complex network environments, Network Operations Centers (NOCs) are the backbone of ensuring continuous uptime, smooth service delivery, and rapid issue resolution. However, the challenges faced by NOC teams are only growing. In a recent study, 78% state network complexity has grown significantly over the last few years while 84% regularly learn about network issues from users. It is imperative we adopt a new approach to managing today's network experiences ...

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