[Hooly One]

London, June 4 2004, (netimperative)



by Gareth Vorster

The official Big Brother website is the most visited site in its category according to Hitwise.


The online competitive intelligence service reported that BB has taken a 12% share of the online TV sector, while also becoming the 35th most visited website in the UK.

The intelligence service continued that Channel 4's idea of arranging an 'explosive household', including the 'retribution eviction' caused by one of the housemates outrageous behaviour, has brought in a television audience ratings peak of 5.2 million with internet visits have increased 770% since the opening day.

The current data is an upswing from last year's performance, where almost half of the Big Brother online viewers "clicked off" after the first week This year, the site has shown strong growth throughout the week according to Hitwise.

Average session time rose to 11 minutes and 23 seconds on Sunday, dipping back to just under 11 minutes yesterday, while Big Brother 4 saw an average session time during the same period of 9 minutes.

On the downside, year-on-year, the opening day of the current series drew less than a third of the online audience of the fourth series.

www.channel4.com/bigbrother