May
BBC Sign Off With Record Grand National Audiences
April signalled the final BBC coverage of the Grand National Festival, with the broadcaster signing off with record audiences on Grand National Day (dating back to 2002). The peak viewership reached 11.1 million as Neptune Collonges nosed his way past Sunnyhillboy. This represented almost 2/3rds of the network audience, and the highest peak audience on record.
Including the Grand National Festival, April featured 8 live terrestrial broadcasts with the cumulative programme audience exceeding 8.2 million, representing a 28% year-on-year increase. The strong month results in a year-to-date audience increase of 10.6% in comparison with 2011.
April
Fantastic Festival Records Highest Audience Since 2006
March included a high level of terrestrial TV coverage with the Cheltenham Festival taking centre stage. This year’s Festival attracted excellent viewership and witnessed the highest audiences since 2006. The cumulative audience was an impressive 28% higher than the 2011 Festival.
Including the Cheltenham Festival, March featured 9 live Channel 4 programmes with the cumulative audience exceeding 6.2 million, representing a 19% year-on-year increase. The strong month results in a year-to-date audience increase of 6% in comparison with 2011.
March
iGNITION - Why F1 still remains big business
Figures supplied by IFM Sports Marketing Surveys (SMS) show that Formula One has maintained a cumulative global audience of close to two billion over the last five years. Following a slight dip in the grand total during the 2009 season, viewers flocked back in 2010 with a record 1.87bn cumulative audience. Last season’s figures also tell a positive story with an impressive 119m people tuning in for the thrilling Canadian Grand Prix and a 2.4% year-on-year audience growth at the halfway point of the season.
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La crise est terminée
Following our Annual Sponsorship Business Survey 2012, Sponsoring.fr reports an end to the crisis!
Read the full article in French by clicking the link below:
Download entire article >>No Drama … as Riverside Theatre Returns in Style
February traditionally features some interesting and insightful racing as several horses complete their final preparations before the Cheltenham Festival. It was the victorious return to the racecourse of Riverside Theatre that caught the eye, comfortably defeating a strong field to retain the Betfair Ascot Chase, resulting in favouritism for the upcoming Ryanair Chase at ‘The Festival’.
Much like 2011, February featured 5 Channel 4 Racing programmes, including Newbury’s Super Saturday fixture being re-arranged and covered by Channel 4 the following Friday. The cumulative viewership in February 2012 results in a 1% year-on-year increase.
Download entire article >>IFM Sports Marketing Surveys joins RSMG Insights
RSMG Insights, a global leader in sports research, extends portfolio with strategic acquisition of IFM Group including IFM Sports Marketing Surveys.
Download entire article >>February
15 Consecutive Victories = Big Buck's!
Amongst some top class racing in January, it was Big Buck’s 15th consecutive hurdles victory which caught the eye, and in the build-up to the Cheltenham Festival, Big Buck’s will be a hot favourite as he attempts to become the first horse to win the World Hurdle for a fourth time.
Much like 2011, January featured 5 live C4 Racing programmes, although 2011 did include the re-arranged King George VI meeting. The ‘King George’ factor skews the cumulative broadcast audiences in favour of 2011 (5% higher), but January 2012 does record a total audience 19% higher than the more comparable TV coverage of 2010.
Download entire article >>Sports Sponsorship Sets a New Pace
Recent research from the IFM Sports Marketing Surveys (IFM SMS) Annual Sponsorship Business Survey 2012 and the PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) Outlook for the Global Sports Market to 2015 highlight the changing pace in sports sponsorship. These recent studies show that more than 80% of sponsorship heads are saying that accountability for their spend is greater than ever and sponsorship revenues are about to overtake that of ticket sales.
Sports sponsorship is big business, is here to stay and set to grow beyond
the rate of traditional advertising.
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Download entire article >>January
MARKETING WEEK: Rangers FC set sights on sponsorship deals to drive global expansion
Rangers FC has appointed a global partnerships director to find global sponsors that will help grow its 5 million-strong worldwide fanbase.
Misha Sher has been appointed to the newly created role, with the mandate to grow the football club’s revenue streams from strategic partnerships in markets such as North America and Australia.
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Download entire article >>Marketing Week: Sports sponsorship moves into the fast lane
The cash it generated from sport sponsorship will soon overtake ticket sales, however brands now need to form commercial relationships and strategic partnerships on the basis of shared objectives rather than awareness.
More than 80% of sponsorship heads say that accountability for their spend is greater than ever, according to a survey by IFM Sports Marketing Surveys (SMS), seen exclusively by Marketing Week. Fifty-nine per cent expect their investment to stay the same or grow this year. However, 85% of sponsorship heads say sports events need to be more inventive when trying to engage with fans.
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Download entire article >>Marketing Week: Sponsorship on the up as brands look for fresh ways to engage
Brands are spending more on sponsorship, according to new research, as marketers look for fresh ways to drive emotional engagement at a time when marketing budgets are under close scrutiny.
Research from IFM Sports Marketing Surveys found that 41% of brands across several industry sectors increased their investment in sponsorship against declines for many marketing channels in 2011.
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Download entire article >>Kauto the Christmas Star!
Thanks to better weather this December (2011), a number of top class national hunt meetings went ahead smoothly and provided some of the greatest racing seen for years; a fitting conclusion to an excellent year for UK Horse Racing.
With 7 live December programmes, compared to a weather restricted 4 in December 2010, the overall cumulative average audience for 2011 can be illustrated as an 11% increase on the 2010 equivalent.
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