According to ITV Local commercial director Craig Nayman - whose home town of Henley-on-Thames has also been affected by the floods - ITV Local sites usually attract between 10,000 and 11,000 unique users, but "information on a real local level" has caused people to flock to the site and post their own experiences online.
Nayman said: "People are starting to realise our value in disaster situations. We've had more than 160 clips or pieces of video from people caught up in the floods and have gone national with footage that has come from areas where it has been hard to gain access."
In a separate development, ITV Local Meridian has announced Landrover Freelander is to sponsor its dedicated channel for Cowes Week. The sponsorship deal includes branding, pre-roll ads, and a competition. The portal is also in the process of finalising a deal with a local media partner for this year's Notting Hill Carnival, which is being streamed live over three days on the ITV Local site during the August Bank Holiday.
ITV Local - whose recent pre-roll advertisers have included Niquitin, Honda, Lucozade, Co-op and Panasonic - has now launched across the Meridian, Central London, Granada and Wales regions. Yorkshire Tyne Tees is set to roll out at the end of August, with Anglia and the West Country to follow in November.
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