CALIFORNIA: Reality TV shows are not simply hooking US viewers to the idiot box, they are also driving them to the web. The finding is contained in an independent research conducted by Feedback Research.
 

The company is a division of online behavioral marketing Claria Corporation. Feedback Research analysed the actual online traffic of Claria's Gain Network. This includes 38 million users. The aim was to obtain an insight into the most popular Reality TV shows and consumers correlating Web habits. The research group conducted an online survey asking participants about their interest in Reality TV shows. The company also monitored user traffic on top reality TV related Web sites from 10 September to 3 October 2003.

The most popular reality TV shows at the time of the survey were Survivor (37 per cent), Paradise Hotel (23 per cent), Trading Spaces (14 per cent), Extreme Makeover (8 per cent) and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (7 per cent).

Results also indicated that Reality TV viewers preferred official web sites such as Survivor's page on CBS.com or Queer Eye for the Straight Guy's page on Bravotv.com. This accounted for 77 per cent of all Reality TV site traffic. Of the independent web sites that include information on multiple reality shows, Fans of Reality TV and RealTV Planet were the top performing sites with 60 per cent and 30 per cent of total reality TV Web site traffic, respectively.

For marketers interested in leveraging this active group of consumers, the best time to reach them is right after work before the shows begin, since 78 per cent of all traffic for the top five shows was generated from 6 am to 7 pm. Reality TV sites were most visited on Wednesdays and Thursdays, with more than 43 per cent of traffic visiting on those days. Thursday was the most popular day with 29 per cent of that traffic.