Professor Lyu Zhi, a faculty member from the School of Life Sciences, Peking University, sent warm congratulations on the broadcasting of the iPanda.com website. Distinguished zoologist Dr.George Schaller commented that the iPanda.com website broad-casts were significant events in the effort to increase the world’s comprehension and dedication to giant panda conservation.
On iPanda.com, the high-visibility programs are obvious but what is not always forefront is the generous giving and hard work put in to making it a success. Twenty-four hour support from the staff at CNTV and Hanyastar Corporation make this endeavor possible. Staff members unanimously agree that all the hard work and long hours are worth it to help the precious giant pandas.
Since its launch, the iPanda.com website catalogued impressive statistics. After just 10 days of live broadcasts, there were 50,000 hits on the site per day. Viewers watched the live coverage, with August 5 tallying an impressive 170,000 hits. 51% of the hits came from outside of China as viewers watched live coverage after the website officially began broadcasting. This was an 18% increase in foreign views from the testing period. Repeat visits surpassed 50% with the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada as the top three foreign countries in number of views. During the second week of August, iPanda.com was selected as the world’s best website by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
With such a successful start, iPanda.com is well on its way to becoming the favorite website and daily fix for millions of giant panda fans. May it continue to have such great success.
