The number of visitors to TV station websites increased by 400 percent in the past year, according to a new report by MMXI Europe.

In the UK, BBC.co.uk attracted 1.5 million unique visitors in August 2000, an increase of 33 percent from October 1999. Channel4.com’s Internet audience for August 2000 stood at 1.3 million, up from 271,000 in March. The websites of other European TV stations also showed significant increases. France’s most popular TV channel, TF1, received 267,000 visitors to its website in August, up 50 percent from October of last year. In Germany, RTL.de increased its audience by 385 percent from 204,000 in October 1999 to 991,000 in August 2000. The two Swedish TV station websites covered in the report, SVT.se and TV4.se, have been consistently popular over the past year. Both sites have reached 10 percent of Sweden’s total Internet population each month since January 1999. According to MMXI, TV station websites are popular because they allow people to take part and provide instant feedback on the latest news and programs. TV channels can use their websites as a way to strengthen their brand and provide more value to their audience.