Exclusive: Extreme Sailing Series Unveils Record Media Coverage

OC Sport has revealed that the media coverage of the Extreme Sailing Series has increased five-fold from 2009.

The amazing rise highlights the growing interest in ESS, as their brand of exciting stadium sailing continues to change the general niche perception the sport has.

Havas Sponsorship Insight Surveys also recorded a significant increase of 37% in value of media coverage of the first 4 Acts in 2012 compared with the first 4 Acts in 2011.

Mark Turner, Executive Chairman of organisers OC Sport said: “We are always totally transparent on the methodology used by Havas Sponsorship Insights to evaluate our property.

“Ultimately there are a few different ways to do the maths, so the relative year on year performance remains the most important measure for us. We have today more than 5 times the coverage that we had in 2009, and have progressed every single year, using the same measurement methodology – that progression is the key result for us.

“Extreme Sailing Series offers many great opportunities for businesses and host venues in B2B, consumer and internal spaces, and the media valuation aspect is only one measure of the value of the event, but it remains an important one for our different stakeholders.”

The media valuation certainly indicates great exposure for the events, which can only be good news. However, cost of tracking media coverage globally determines that print and TV coverage was monitored over a specific period of time. Print media is monitored for a month over the course of the event, whilst TV coverage is monitored during the week of the event) and in the countries the events are held.

Speaking exclusively to iSportconnect, Turner added: “We monitor thousands of online media around the globe throughout the year and we rely on each of the Host Venues and their agencies, participating teams and our own personal contact with media and journalists to get hold of print and TV coverage outside of the event periods as media monitoring around the world and across all platforms is very costly.

“We are transparent and conservative with the methodology applied to the media valuation using Havas market place advertising rates, which are considerably less, as opposed to standard rates. This is why Havas Sponsorship Insights applies a conservative 10% of unmonitored coverage which is inevitably missed outside of the events periods we monitor.”

In terms of attracting more media coverage outside of the monitored time period, it has proven not to be so much of a problem due to number of races the ESS holds.

“The circuits is hosted in 7 iconic cities over 10 months which doesn’t allow much down time in between each of these Acts. Other news in between events, such as team or venue announcements, new developments in the Series or plans for the following season and media evaluation reports also get reported so there is no real problem on that front, and it’s not a bad thing to have some breathing space in between each event like most sports do. We have very active content platforms such as the official event website and social networks, that fuel the media and fan base,” concluded Turner.

Alastair Macdonald, Director at Havas Sponsorship Insights commented: “The volume of media coverage that the Extreme Sailing Series has gained after four events in 2012 has increased for the third year in succession, as detailed in the mid-season media evaluation report.

“The Extreme Sailing Series remains popular in Europe and Asia, and has made an immediate impact in Portugal – a new addition to the 2012 calendar – where there has been significant media coverage of the event.”

“Projections for exposure for the full seven-event series, and the value that this media coverage may deliver, have been made. Total media value for the 2012 series is forecast to be in the region €30m. This projection is based on the amount of coverage gained so far this year, and the actual cost of advertising in the territories in which this exposure appears.”

“Actual marketplace advertising buying rates as opposed to standard rate card have been used in all calculations to ensure the media values published comply with OC Sport’s policy of remaining conservative on media values.”