Channel 4’s new live interactive study of urban foxes in the UK attracted the equivalent web influx to the broadcaster’s website as a Big Brother eviction.
Foxes Live: Wild in the City, produced by Windfall Films, is investigating foxes over a four-part series to give viewers a better understanding of how the animals survive.
During the first live broadcast on Monday at 8pm, traffic to http://foxes.channel4.com/ peaked when presenter Anita Rani released a fox, Chico, back into Manchester and viewers were able to follow his progress.
Over 1,000 page views per second were recorded, the equivalent to a Big Brother eviction moment.
C4 is calling on the audience to help create a “census” of the number of foxes in the UK by asking them to report sightings. Since the broadcast, 4,500 sightings have been logged on the interactive map.
The producers are using CCTV cameras, GPS tags and “den cams” to track foxes at a time of year when vixens are giving birth and cubs are starting to venture outside their dens.
C4 multiplatform commissioning editor for factual, Kate Quilton, said: “We’re really encouraged by the level of viewer engagement which we expect to grow.
“We haven’t seen an interactive format perform so strongly at 8pm and are excited at the prospect of future interactive commissions in this slot.”