Kiwis Captured By BigBrother.com.au

Nielsen//NetRatings Watches the Kiwis Captured By BigBrother.com.au

Auckland – 18 July 2001 – As the winner of Big Brother was announced – folks, it was Ben Williams - Nielsen//NetRatings watched those watching bigbrother.com.au in New Zealand.

“As bigbrother.com.au built towards its climactic eviction, New Zealand at-home surfers scrambled online to watch what was happening to the flatmates,” says Brian Milnes, Pacific Director, ACNielsen eRatings.com.

For those that have been spending winter down a byway in the Ureweras, Big Brother placed 12 strangers together in a house wired with web cameras back on April 24. The house is fully equipped but cut off from the outside world: no radio, TV, telephone or clock. Each week, viewers vote for their least favourites flatmate to “evict” one of the inhabitants. As last flatmate standing, Ben wins A$250,000.

“Bigbrother.com.au ranked number 11 in terms of audience concentration against under 25’s in New Zealand, behind such heavyweights like mtnsms.com, napster.com and xtramsn.co.nz,” says Milnes. “However, bigbrother.com.au was incredibly addictive in web terms, with an average of 5.26 visits per person and holding surfers for almost 26 minutes and viewing an average of 38 pages per person over the month. In comparison, napster.com, averages 2.34 visits per person and they average 5 pages and 8 minutes per person over the month.

“According to our data, the majority of kiwi bigbrother.com.au watchers were going for the live feeds. And our data showed that surfers were going from the bigbrother site to sites dedicated to individual flatmates, such as justjemma.com and savesaramarie.wxs.org.”

“As a model for media convergence, bigbrother.com.au has it all,” adds Milnes. “It offers video streaming, 24-hour a day content, biographies of the contestants, forums, chat rooms, news updates, diaries, cash competitions and even SMS updates to mobile phones and handheld devices. Whatever you think of the show, this format is a winner.”

Bigbrother.com.au has been so successful in establishing itself as an icon of popular culture that when ebay.com.au offered a cricket bat signed by the flatmates, it attracted more than 50 bids and fetched A$1,250.

ENDS

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