NetAid is an online hit, say its

ORGANISERS OF NetAid, the concerts broadcast on the Internet to campaign against Third World hunger and debt, claimed last night to have had a "very good response" from a global audience.

ORGANISERS OF NetAid, the concerts broadcast on the Internet to campaign against Third World hunger and debt, claimed last night to have had a "very good response" from a global audience.

Despite a sluggish start as three live shows in London, Geneva and New York failed to capture the public excitement and idealism generated by the Live Aid concert in 1985, its backers were pleased by the level of online interest.

NetAid's promoters will today announce whether their global viewing figures have reached their target of one billion people and how much money has been donated to the website. Larry Lang, marketing vice-president of Cisco Systems, the technology firm which is underwriting the campaign, said: "We are happy that there has been a very good response to the appeals to call up the NetAid website."

Organisers say NetAid is intended to be a long-term effort to raise money, mobilise ideas and expertise and create a "virtual community" to campaign for change. The website is 10 times bigger than any previous site and was designed to handle one million "hits" a minute and 1,000 payment transactions a second.