Robert Peston, the BBC's business editor, is one of the biggest hits on the web at the moment, according to figures from monitoring firm Hitwise.

Describing him as "the hardest working man in the BBC", Hitwise's Robin Goad points out that Peston seems to be on TV from morning until night every day, explaining the ins and outs of the current 'credit crunch'.

"He makes several appearances on other TV and radio programmes, while somehow also finding time to update his blog daily with analysis of the latest episode in the ongoing saga of the financial crisis," said Goad.

It seems Peston's excitable nature and ubiquity are beginning to afford him cult status. Searches for 'Robert Peston' have shot up in the past four weeks, said Goad, with 35 per cent of them ending up at his Wikipedia entry and 30 per cent at the BBC's Blog Network.

Described by comedian Armando Iannucci as someone "who looks like he's doing live TV for the first time ever", Peston also has his critics, it would seem.

The sixth most popular search for Peston is 'Robert Peston annoying' and the eighth is 'I hate Robert Peston'.

www.hitwise.com
www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston

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