Far from stemming internet use, television is increasingly proving to be a driver of web activity. During last weekend’s television broadcast of the Super Bowl in the US, concurrent use of the game’s website, SuperBowl.com, showed that TV viewing can help drive traffic across new media.
Daily traffic to the Super Bowl site rose 269% during the game on Sunday, peaking at 359,000 unique visitors compared to 97,000 the day before. Fans watching the TV broadcast were encouraged to visit SuperBowl.com at the end of the game to vote for the most valuable player. During this period traffic quadrupled as viewers logged on to cast their vote.
“As the web and TV exist as disparate forces in today’s global media stage, it takes a strong call to action to transform viewers into surfers,” said Allen Weiner, VP of analytical services at NetRatings. “At the start of the fourth quarter, CBS urged viewers to go to the web to vote for the Super Bowl’s Most Valuable Player. The web’s ability to give fans the opportunity to cast their cyber ballots obviously hit a nerve and sets the tone for other similar TV-to-web interactions.”
The best UK example of concurrent web and TV usage occurred last summer during the Big Brother phenomenon when viewers caught up with the house inmates during the day from the Big Brother website (see Big Brother Website Makes It Into August Top Ten). Channel 4 is planning to follow up this success with the launch of E4.com to accompany its new entertainment channel, E4. A full launch of the site, due in March, will allow parallel and follow-up television-to-web usage.
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