Channel 4 Heralds The IT Crowd An Online Hit

Channel 4 is claiming success for the online screenings of new sitcom The IT Crowd, with over a quarter of a million users watching episodes via its website.

The show, which was re-commissioned for a second series earlier this month (see Channel 4 Reloads IT Crowd For Second Series), saw its next episode made available through the Channel 4 website a week in advance for the duration of its run, a first for the broadcaster.

According to Channel 4’s figures, in the week before the series started almost 150,000 viewers had watched the first episode online.

Across the entire series, Channel 4 reports over 371,000 people watched episodes on channel4.com, more than ten times as many as watched the BBC’s Mighty Boosh online in last year (see BBC To Premiere Award Winning Sitcom Online).

Welcoming the statistics, Rod Henwood, new business director at Channel 4, said: “A key goal for Channel 4 is to make our TV content available over as many platforms as possible. The IT Crowd was the first time we’ve premiered a made-for-TV show online and these fantastic results demonstrate that a huge appetite for online broadcasts exists.

“The content of The IT Crowd made it ideal for online viewing, and to be able to use such a strong and relevant series for our first online premiere has given us a really good starting point to develop in the future.”

The encouraging results are likely to spawn more online screenings in the future. BBC Two recently announced the new series of The Apprentice would be made available on the internet, along with other content from its schedule, forming part of the Corporation’s TV Plus trial (see BBC Launches New Web TV Trials).

Channel Four: 020 7396 4444 www.channel4.com