It’s no longer enough to make a great TV ad–now you have to have a good website to match.

iMedia Connection: The Score: TV Sweeps Drive Web Traffic
from comScore Media Metrix

Consisting of loyal viewers and active internet browsers, the “American Idol” fan base became a haven for advertisers. The show’s three main sponsors, Ford, Cingular Wireless and Coca-Cola, received prominent display on the main page of IDOLONFOX.COM. The two most successful sites of the three belonged to Coke and Cingular, which created sites centered on more interactive content. Coca-Cola created a website called COKEMUSIC.COM featuring music downloads, games and a music mixer. During the final week of the “Idol” season, traffic to this site jumped 147 percent from 30,000 during the week that ended May 22 to 74,000 during the week that ended May 29.

Meanwhile, Cingular’s sponsorship of the show’s text-messaging voting system had an impact on its site traffic. During the final week of “American Idol,” traffic to the Cingular site reached 5.5 million, a six percent jump over the previous week. More impressive was the season-long growth on the Cingular site, as traffic surged 74 percent from 3.5 million visitors during the week of “Idol’s” debut on January 18 to 5.5 million during the week of the season finale on May 25, 2005.