Big Brother: It was IT wot won it

Amid the clouds of doom being generated by miserable company results at the moment, we might be forgiven for missing actual examples of technology radically changing business processes.

But Channel 4 is expecting to make £3m tonight (Friday). And it's doing it by using technology to change its business processes.

It's no longer just broadcasting TV programmes and flogging adverts in between them. It's using technology to fundamentally alter the way it interacts with its audience or customers.

We are talking, of course, about Big Brother.

Last night saw the eviction of no-one's favourite web designer, Elizabeth Woodcock. Over 3.5 million votes were received by Channel 4's interactive phone lines. At 25p per call, that's not bad - especially for a programme that has already more than paid its way in terms of airtime sold. The phone lines provide bonus money in the bank. It must be said at this point that 5p from each call does go to charity.

Interactive TV has played a big role this year, as has a website which actually works a bit.

The truly keen or desperate fans are even following events using SMS messages. The introduction of premium rate messaging will add another revenue stream to next year's event.

It isn't just about a website, but about a full media offering. The combination of interactive TV, mobile technology, phone lines, press coverage and websites massively increases the effectiveness of these media.

The content also introduces large numbers of people to the technology for the first time. Last year's eviction of Nasty Nick for cheating was probably the first time thousands of people used, or tried to use, live video streaming technology.

We're taking bets that Big Brother 2004 will be the first killer app for 3G phones.