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ABC's TGIF 'Wrap Party' Chat Generates AOL's Largest Chat Audience Ever
May 20, 1998 |
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More Than 20,000 Teens Chat with ABC Stars at One Time
Dulles, VA, May 20, 1998 - An all time high of 20,000 fans simultaneously chatted with cast members from ABC Television's TGIF Friday program line-up in AOL Live during the live end-of-season "TGIF Wrap Party" chat (Friday, May 15th, 10 P.M. to 1:45 A.M ET). AOL traffic patterns over the past few months indicate that ABC "after-program" chats have become tremendously popular with the teenage audience. The chat grew by more than 100 persons each second (on average) and peaked at 10:00pm ET when traffic in the chat room jumped from 5,000 to a high of 20,000 people in three minutes. A total of 117,000 AOL fans participated in the chat during the course of the event. ABC promoted the "TGIF Wrap Party" chat to the mainly teen audience during commercial breaks throughout the evening's TGIF program line-up, indicating that the audience complemented television viewing with interactive chat and online activities. The previous record was held by Rosie O'Donnell for more than 15 months, who now holds the second highest chat record with a high of 16,000 simultaneous members on February 4, 1997. Rounding out the top ten are: Michael Jackson Hanson Michael Jordon Koko the Gorilla O.J. Simpson Verdict Alicia Silverstone WWF's Undertaker The Artist formerly known as Prince To celebrate the TGIF season finales, Sabrina The Teenage Witch's Melissa Joan Hart (Sabrina), Nate Richert (Harvey), Jenna Leigh Green (Libby), Lindsay Sloane (Valerie), and Boy Meets World stars Alimi Ballard (The Quizmaster) and Lindsay Ridgeway (Morgan Matthews) hosted the special end-of-the season chat. Chats began at the end of ABC Television's Friday TGIF line-up (10 PM) in each time zone. ABC sponsored chats on AOL are produced by ABC.com, the interactive entertainment web site for the ABC Television Network with content from every daypart, including Prime Time, Soaps, Talk, TGIF and One Saturday Morning children's programming, and entertainment specials. ABC.com's Online Properties include Oscar.com; Oprahshow.com; ABC.com/Miss America; Oprah Online on AOL; and ABC Online on AOL, which includes Kidzine and ABC Soaps. Patricia E. Vance is Senior Vice President and General Manager of ABC.com, a unit of Buena Vista Internet Services.
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