It was an entertaining story that could be followed minute-by-minute.

It was funny that a single ship could get stuck with such a huge impact on the global shipping industry, so people were tuned in. And you could follow day by day with the plans and attempts made to dig out the ship. Great, simple fodder for the 24-hour news cycle, and memes probably made people more engaged with the story.

With the Houthis it's a big, complex geopolitical mess, and all the oxygen in the room is being taken up by the war in Gaza. No big countermoves have been made so all there is to be done is report on the strikes when they happen, the threats made by various powers, and speculate if the US is going to intervene in some significant way.

The Ever Given was an acute issue, and acute issues are attention grabbing. The attacks in the Red Sea are a progression of a war that the average person in the west doesn't really understand that's been going on for 9 years.