• by Steve Smith , Staff Writer @popeyesm, January 27, 2011

Is the hit MTV series "Jersey Shore" experiencing the same breakaway success online it enjoys on cable? Fuggedaboutit! MTV reports that after dropping two new episodes of the reality TV series on-air last week, the online video views went ballistic. More than 1.6 million unique visitors hit Snooki and friends in a single week, the best results ever for an MTV series. The viewers gobbled down streams like they were free canole, 15 million streams in a week. The next best week of streaming tied to an MTV show had been 12.3 million views off of the 2010 Video Music Awards.

Just as "Jersey Shore" on TV is defying the usual reality show dynamics and growing rather than losing audience season-to-season, the Web performance is growing this year. MTV tells us that the streaming begins the next day after the premiere run and as soon as the episode is made available. They are seeing a 32% increase in streaming this year over the typical day-after metrics in the last season. Overall on a weekly average, the new Jersey Shore season is attracting 39% more unique users than last season and 52% more streams.

MTV says it is leveraging that cross-platform success to extend not just repeat the on-air experience online. "Jersey Shore begins first on television and then moves to digital where we extend the experience well beyond full episode streaming to include co-viewing experiences, after shows, information on the music showcased in each episode and more. It's this symbiotic relationship between the content offerings that is driving such strong growth."

But are advertisers coming along with Snooki, Jwoww and the whole drunken crew as they careen across platforms? Most of the clips we saw at the site were fronted by the recent Honda parade of pre-rolls they seem to be buying everywhere at a massive rate. For the full episodes, however, we spied a custom intro involving the" Jersey Shore" brand and the new "No Strings Attached" film from Paramount.

According to Kristin Frank, General Manager, MTV/VH1 Digital, the ad clients are coming into the Jersey Shore phenom from a number of directions. Paramount's new film was the sponsor of a special 10 Minute New Year's Eve Sneak Peak. Sony's release of "The Roommate" sponsors the online poll. Are the bronzer manufacturers not interested in a piece of this?