FIA WRC Continues to Capture New Audiences
International Sportsworld Communicators Ltd. (ISC), the global media and commercial rights holders for the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), today announced a wide range of positive media statistics relating to 2007 which serve to highlight the continued growth of the WRC during recent years. These demonstrate strong yearon- year improvements, including a 40% increase in the amount of dedicated broadcasts, 20% more hours broadcast and a further 10 million viewers (almost 1.5%) tuning in to WRC around the World.

The global sport and media landscapes continue to change rapidly due to the proliferation of new platforms, technologies and viewer choice. For a sport as content-rich and technologically enabled as WRC, this represents a genuine opportunity to which ISC is responding by further evolving its portfolio of programming to keep it eyecatching, relevant and accessible. Worldwide TV and internet figures during recent years show that WRC is on a steady upward curve. The facts speak for themselves.

• Total cumulative worldwide television audience of the WRC has increased almost 1.5% since 2006, to 816 million; a rise of almost 20% in the last five years.

• Total number of dedicated broadcasts is up 40% since 2006 to 12,445, a figure which has quadrupled in the last five years

• The total number of hours of coverage has increased 20% to 5,457 from 2006.

• A significant increase in the volume of WRC programming throughout 2007 was available in over 180 countries worldwide via more than 250 different TV channels.

• Agreements in countries new to the 2007 WRC saw significant increases in audience figures from 2006; agreements with RTE in Ireland and RTP in Portugal saw audiences increase by 206% and 443% respectively.

• Other countries also saw a significant increase in audience figures as a result of new agreements; a new deal with SVT in Sweden saw audiences up an impressive 772% and a new agreement with Rai in Italy saw figures rise 49%.

• 15 hours of live TV programmes were produced in conjunction with host broadcasters and 10 event organisers and were distributed to broadcasters across Europe, Asia, South America and the Middle East. Live programmes were also streamed live on WRC.com, the official website of the WRC, with live commentary from the World Rally Radio team

In response to the TV stats, Simon Long, CEO of ISC commented: “These latest statistics are a tremendous reflection of the continued global and local appeal of WRC in what is an incredibly competitive and fast changing marketplace. They are also testament to the enthusiasm and creativity of everyone involved in staging the extraordinary spectacle which is the WRC.”

2007 was also a year of positive evolution for ISC including its acquisition by North One Television, part of the All3Media group. This opens up exciting opportunities for both ISC and WRC by accessing the expertise and resources of a global media company. ISC also extended for a further three years its agreement with SPORTFIVE, which will continue to work closely with ISC to secure new distribution agreements via its extensive international TV sales network.

Long adds: “All things considered, we can look forward to another year of healthy development as we leave no stone unturned in our efforts to promote WRC to an ever wider community of fans.”

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