Brighton-based firm Victoria Real, which specialises in multimedia production and development, has been placed fourth in the Sunday Times' Fast Track 100 league.

The result is further recognition of the company's success, after it ranked eighth in last month's Tech Track 100 table.

Victoria Real is probably best known for designing the Big Brother web site. During the ten-week run of Big Brother 2, the site reported 745 million hits in ten weeks.

The firm's league position is based on sales growth of 183 per cent a year, from £293,000 in 1997 to £6.7 million in 2000, when it had 80 staff.

The company's clients include the BBC, Norwich Union and UEFA and it has joined the University of Brighton to develop a course in interactive television.

The company was founded in 1990 by Rob Love and Richard Daws while they were students.

After starting out making sports documentaries for ITV, Victoria Real became one of the first companies to produce an interactive football service, which enabled viewers to change camera and focus on a particular player.

It has now produced more than 1,800 hours of interactive television, which is, it claims, more than any other independent production company in Britain.

Victoria Real chose to partner with Dutch entertainment company Endemol Entertainment, part of the Telefonica group, which took a 50 per cent stake in the firm last year, rather than float on the stock exchange.

www.victoriareal.com