Genes Reunited Press Office

It’s been a record year since the nation’s favourite broadcaster, ITV, teamed up with the UK’s largest genealogy and ancestry website, Genes Reunited, just over a year ago.

In 2006, an explosion in popularity for family history coupled with successful sponsorship and advertising campaigns has seen the number of ancestors listed on Genes Reunited more than double from 50 million to in excess of 100 million as people seek to learn more about their ancestors and trace long-lost relatives.

High profile sponsorship of ITV1 programmes Prehistoric Park and You Don’t Know Your Born, and a successful advertising campaign has sent registrations and page views through the roof.

Prehistoric Park (July-August 2006), an epic journey following wildlife adventurer Nigel Marven to rescue lost creatures and bring them back to the sanctuary of the present, saw an 83% uplift in page views on site compared to the same period in 2005.

In the first hour alone of You Don’t Know Your Born (January-February 2007), which saw well known personalities delving into their family history and rolling up their sleeves to do their ancestor's job, Genes Reunited experienced a 450% increase in registrations compared to the same time on a normal day. This figure more than doubled for the same period in the second and third episodes, rising to 900%.

As a result, over 400,000 people joined Genes Reunited during the three week run of the show.

A successful advertising campaign, running throughout February, depicting a herd of elephants in search of their ancestors, resulted in the highest number of registrations in a single day at more than 30,000, up 400% on a normal day (30th January 2007).

Martine Parnell, head of Genes Reunited, said, "The popularity of tracing your family history continues unabated and programmes that delve into this topic satisfy the curiosity people have of discovering their ancestors. It’s fantastic to see people flocking to Genes Reunited to start their search and we believe this will continue for a long time to come, building on the great results we’ve already experienced."

For more information or to interview anyone quoted in the release contact Carolynne Bull-Edwards on: 020 79940110 or email press@friendsreunited.co.uk

Notes to the Editor - About Genes Reunited

Genes Reunited was launched in 2003 as a sister-site to the Internet phenomenon Friends Reunited. Since then it has grown to become the UK’s largest family-tree website. It marked a revolution in genealogy and ancestry by combining them with Internet social-networking. Members become ‘cyber detectives’, building their family tree by posting it on the site and investigating which ancestors they share with other members. It currently has over seven million members worldwide and over 110 million ancestors and relatives listed. One new name is added to the site every single second.

Notes to the Editor

About Genes Reunited
Genes Reunited was launched in 2003 as a sister-site to the Internet phenomenon Friends Reunited. Since then it has grown to become the UKs largest family-tree website. It marked a revolution in genealogy and ancestry by combining them with Internet social-networking. Members become 'cyber detectives, building their family tree by posting it on the site and investigating which ancestors they share with other members. It currently has over seven million members worldwide and over 110 million ancestors and relatives listed. One new name is added to the site every single second.