Audience is set to break the half-billion wall

TV audience for the 2010 FIA World Touring Car Championship improved by ten percent compared to the previous season. The figures were unveiled by Eurosport Events, the championship promoter, following the annual broadcast report published by independent German Institute IFM.

Despite the championship was run on eleven events, one less than in 2009, audience figures of the WTCC HD programmes during the 2010 season recorded a gain of 40 million viewers compared to the previous year.

During 900 hours of coverage, the cumulative global reach totalled to 470 million viewers worldwide, against the record figure of 430 millions achieved in 2009.

The IFM index (media impact) increased by 32 per cent, raising the TV advertising equivalent value for the winning manufacturer to over 100 million euros for the first time in WTCC history. The TV advertising equivalent value increased by 40 per cent on the average for series’ sponsors and events’ title sponsors.

Especially good performances were delivered by free-to-air channels in Germany (RTL) and Japan (TXN network, which includes TV Tokyo and TV Osaka).

Overall, 51% of broadcast duration has been delivered in Asia, whereas Europe still represents 65% of cumulative audience.

The TV distribution of WTCC is increasing year after year, with 86 channels under contract in 2010. On top of this, Eurosport, the "host broadcaster" of WTCC and its live umbrella coverage throughout Europe and Asia Pacific, reached 38.9 million different viewers thanks to its innovative HD production.

Overall, Eurosport’s viewership now represents less than 9 per cent of WTCC’s worldwide cumulated audience. An evidence that WTCC TV coverage is steadily expanding all around the world.

Ulrich Lacher, managing director of IFM, commented: “Despite the FIFA World Cup was dominating sports global coverage for about two months, the WTCC continued to grow just like in the previous years. This was due to the growing popularity as a result of the good TV distribution of the series, which has made its way onto a number of major national networks in key motorsport markets like Japan, USA, China and Germany. Meaning that the series is expanding beyond the pan-continental broadcasters like Eurosport and Star Sports.”

WTCC can now look at another record breaking season in 2011, with the conservative aim of exceeding the symbolic mark of half-billion viewers.