By Alex Woodson
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) -
The midseason return of
"American Idol" helped double Fox Broadcasting's online traffic
in January compared with December.
Nielsen Online said Fox had 4.6 million unique visitors in
January, up 101% from December, surpassing CBS (4.5 million,
down 24%) for the month. But both network sites still are
behind ABC and NBC, which had 8.1 million and 7.9
million visitors, respectively.
In addition to "Idol," the Fox site benefited from the
return of "Prison Break" and the premiere of "Terminator: The
Sarah Connor Chronicles," according to Bill Bradford, senior vp
content strategy at Fox.
Although Fox does not stream episodes of "Idol" on its
site, it still was the most-visited part of the property, with
an estimated 1.1 million visitors.
ABC's month, which saw an 11% increase, was keyed by
"Lost's" January 31 return. Even though the streaming numbers
for "Lost" count toward February's numbers, the network
aggressively promoted the show on the site through the month.
The strategy involved making "Lost's" first three seasons
available and showcasing features connected to the show. The
popular ones included "Lost Theories," where fans uploaded
videos to the site attempting to decipher the mysterious
series, and an offering in which an automated version of the
wisecracking Sawyer gave users customized nicknames.
Even though NBC's numbers dipped slightly from December,
the network said it had expected the Hollywood writers' strike
to have a deeper impact on traffic.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
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