WTCC Break TV Audience Record

World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) have revealed they have hit their ambitious mark of breaking its record TV audience and exceeding 500 million viewers worldwide.

This goal was achieved, doctor according to the final report issued by IFM, story the Germany-based sports research firm.

In 2012, therapy  144 TV channels aired at least one of the WTCC events and this amounted to 1081 hours of broadcasting hours.

A total of 512 million viewers watched WTCC on TV, which represented a 12% increase compared to 2011 figures.

Ulrich Lacher, Managing Director of IFM, explained: “Despite the Olympics and Euro 2012, WTCC – unlike many other series – increased in audiences and overall impact again. It showed a healthy increase, continuing the trend from previous years. We reckon that the growing popularity is a result of the good TV distribution of the series, whichexpanded beyond pan-continental broadcasters like Eurosport and Star Sports.”

Antonios Argyropoulos, Head of Media Rights Distribution, Eurosport Events, commented: “WTCC achieved another record and exceeded the mark of half-billion viewers. The championship’s TV coverage included regular programming in Europe, the Americas, Japan and the Asia-Pacific regions through 144 broadcasters and reached 180 countries around the world. This proved that WTCC it is not only an entertaining sporting show, but also a powerful communication platform, thanks to quality programmes and extensive television coverage.”