OPENTV ANNOUNCE 1.4 BILLION TV GAMES PLAYED

TELEVISION and media company Static 2358TM (Static), a wholly-owned subsidiary of OpenTV have announced that 1.4 billion games have been played on the PlayJam channel during its first year of operations.
PlayJam was launched on BSkyB's digital satellite platform on December 11, 2000. It has since expanded rapidly and is now distributed in three European countries, across a total of six cable and satellite platforms. It has also secured distribution on the US operator, Cablevision.
In May 2001 PlayJam became the first interactive TV channel to be independently rated by the Broadcast Audience Research Board (BARB). In the first week of reporting PlayJam was rated the eighth most popular commercial channel on BSkyB's digital satellite platform in terms of audience size.
In a recent customer survey, over 93 per cent of users claimed they like the channel, with 73 per cent claiming they love it.
The user profile differs markedly from other gaming providers. Over 55 per cent of users are female and 61 per cent of users are aged between 16 to 34. Thus, PlayJam has been successful in attracting an audience that gaming providers previously have found difficult to reach.
The channel has attracted over 750,000 registrations in the UK alone, and users have made over 10 million minutes of premium rate calls. The average number of games per visit is three, with each visit lasting roughly 30 minutes.
To date 'EastEnd Arrows' has been the most popular game, being played over 70 million times. On a regular basis new games are added and existing games are refreshed. (CD)