The Industry Column – 14th December
Racing UK commercial director, Nick Mills, is optimistic about the horse racing season in 2010 despite the ongoing economic recession.
Accordingly to recent official figures, the racing industry remains in very good health.
Figures published in a recent Economic Impact Study by the Sports Business Group at Deloitte show that after football, horse racing is the second biggest sport in Britain. Through revenue generation and attendance, expenditure topped £3.7bn. Furthermore, four of the top eight sporting attendances were race events.
The figures certainly paint an optimistic future for the sport, despite the ongoing economic recession. But that’s not to say it’s without its challenges, as we found out earlier this year when our pay TV partner, Setanta, fell into administration.
After much contemplation, we made the decision to return to an independent broadcast status. I think the result of this decision is indicative of the enduring appeal of horse racing in this country, as we are already up to nearly 40,000 commercial and residential subscribers – 7,000 more than our pre-Setanta days.
While many industries appear to be in a ‘holding pattern’ in terms of marketing and development, the racing industry is continuing to move ahead quickly and we are still seeing significant investment right across the board.
On the broadcast side, we are seeing a push across both pay TV and terrestrial service to improve the quality of programming and coverage. From our perspective, the focus is on improving the experience for fans – we call it ‘Pure Racing Entertainment.’
From an advertising and sponsorship viewpoint, the industry is holding its own against many other sports – most will have seen that Hennessy renewed its sponsorship of the recent Gold Cup at Newbury. Certainly it’s been a turbulent year, but the Racing UK sponsorship and advertising streams have remained stable and we are starting to see some momentum in the market again.
Racing has a very defined audience, predominantly male, 35-65, ABC1. Feedback amongst our partners seems to mirror the industry – our retention is based on the very clear commercial benefits in maintaining communication with this target audience.
In addition, over the last 12 months our online business has witnessed massive growth from 12,000 unique monthly users to 75,000, while we also launched the iCard, the fully interactive and animated race card, which features in-depth statistical analysis, course information and an innovative predictor service alongside a video form and race replay archive.
It also includes a comprehensive database and provides viewers with the latest news on betting and results. This has been successfully syndicated to many leading bookmakers. We are also introducing an iPhone app which will be available in February.
Moving forward, stakeholders across the industry will shortly shift their focus to The Cheltenham Festival in March, the main highlight of the Jump season.
Typically the build-up will begin from January and the big rivalry will again be Kauto Star vs Denman, with both horses already having a win apiece this season. If, as I suspect, the industry remains buoyant, I believe the future of Racing UK, and Britain’s racing industry as a whole, is bright and will continue to flourish.
