Google Santa Tracker
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Santa heading to Christchurch, New Zealand on the tracker of 2015. | |
Type of site | Santa tracker and entertainment site |
|---|---|
| Owner | Google, Inc. |
| Website |
santatracker |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Launched | 1 December 2004[1] |
| Current status | Active |
Google Santa Tracker is an annual Christmas-themed entertainment program by Google, Inc. that allows users to track Santa during Christmas Eve and before that allows users to play, watch, and learn through little activities that are added daily from the start of December. Most of the year, Google Santa Tracker gets an average of 30,000–45,000, views, but around the holiday season from early October, it increases to around 150,000, which is more views than Google's rival santa tracker, NORAD Tracks Santa.[2]
History
In 2004, Google saw the NORAD Tracks Santa service and they said they "felt like it could be better for users to "visualize" where Santa is currently at". So, in 2004, after Keyhole, Inc. was acquired by Google, they followed Santa in the "Keyhole Earth Viewer" (Google Earth's original name) and they called it the "Keyhole Santa Radar". The audience was small due to Keyhole being a "pay-for" service.[1]
As of 24 December 2015, a TV show based on the app, called Google™ Santa Tracker: Live!, aired on ITV starting from 10:30 am to 11:00 pm, and is hosted by Elliot Turner.