The bedrock of participative support
Competitive owners
A spell binding story for media
Innovative marketing
THE ENGINE TO GROWTH - WHAT IS FUELLING THE SUCCESS?
Sport has become big business, not just in the UK, but across the world. And horse racing has been able to capitalize on that growth too, implementing strategies to strengthen its base and trumpet its flagship events and personalities.
Racing’s two principal events, The Grand National & Derby, still retain “Crown jewels” status in broadcasting terms, preventing them from being sold other than on terrestrial channels. And the John Smith’s Grand National retains a position as one of the country’s most recognized sporting moments of the year.
However, most brand building is conducted from the bottom up, and a consistent theme of Jump racing’s success is grass roots support.
The bedrock of participative support
Racing is not generally perceived as a participative sport. Cricket enthusiasts need only a ball and bat to create a wicket and set up an impromptu game. Racing requires the ability to ride, and to ride well at speed, attributes not easily learned.
That said, racing’s success, and Jump racing in particular, relies to a considerable degree on its accessibility to the amateur ranks, aspiring to be the next Richard Dunwoody or Tony McCoy. Point-to-Point racing, run by Clubs or local hunts, has shown a hardy resilience in recent years, with nearly 4,000 horses running nearly 12,000 times in the winter season. Despite the hunting ban removing the primary motivation of hunts to stage meetings to fund their activities, the 200 meetings attract a remarkable audience of around 750,000 spectators, and illustrate the robust nature of the rural community.
The support stretches still deeper into younger age groups. In an effort to generate a new generation of British bred riders, the Pony Racing Authority was set up to regulate and organize pony races for children aged 9-15. Over 250 races are now staged each year at Point-to-Points and at licensed racecourses, encouraging over 400 children to participate in the racing experience.
Notable among success stories is Felix de Giles, now conditional rider at Nicky Henderson’s Lambourn yard, and Rhys Flint, the stable amateur rider for West Country based Philip Hobbs.
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Competitive owners
A leading reason for the success of the sport recently has been a steady increase in the numbers of people investing in ownership of a horse or horses. Over 9,000 individuals own a horse in training, up 5% over a five year period. Importantly, whilst the vast majority of owners own one horse, most relative growth has occurred among those investing in teams of 6 or more horses.
It is this group of owners, for whom the sport is a hobby, that is a key driver to the success of the sport. For money won is not their motivation. The kudos and buzz of a big stakes winner is their adrenalin rush, and they relish the chance to take each other on in pursuit of that success. It is this competitive edge that offers spectators the opportunity to see stable mates like Kauto Star and Denman compete against each other in the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup, even though those horses could easily avoid each other and win more money overall.
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A spell-binding story for broadcasters and media
The buzz word among broadcasters when talking sport is “narrative”. Guiding novice viewers through the sport needs a simple explanation of the sport, and its momentum from the start of the season to its conclusion. For a year round sport like racing, this has not been as straightforward as one might imagine, but with broadcast partners in Radio 5 Live and Channel 4 every weekend, there is an easy dialogue to present to both the diehard fan and passing listener.
With key staging posts in the Jumps season from the start of its winter season in November to Kempton Park’s mid winter festival built around the Stan James King George VI Chase, to the Festival and subsequent John Smith’s Grand National, there are clear signs to indicate the stage of the season, and duration to its thrilling conclusion in April.
There is every indication that this compelling narrative has helped the terrestrial channels to retain their audiences in a fragmenting television market, while racing helps drive sale among newspapers and especially online. It is no coincidence that two of the leading red tops in the country vie for Saturday readers through publication of a racing supplement. Both the Star and Sun place a huge emphasis on this market, accelerated by the growing betting appetite of readers for both horseracing and non horseracing products.
Jump racing’s appeal can be measured in a variety of different ways in terms of its media appeal. Wall to wall coverage of the sport on television has allowed space for two digital subscriber channels to flourish. Attheraces is free to air, broadcasting racing from 30 UK courses, 23 of which stage Jumps meetings, and a further 27 Irish courses. In 2007, the channel’s reach extended 30% to over 1.3m monthly.
By contrast, the remaining UK courses are broadcast on a subscription channel, Racing UK. Racing UK’s operation now services over 50,000 subscribers and has a monthly reach of nearly 350,000 viewers. The audience for the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup, of 176,000, was double an average Saturday, despite being available on a terrestrial channel.
New Media
Increasingly sophisticated technology means that more and more spectators are enjoying their sport through the internet. Gambling is a medium to which the internet is well suited, and much of the coverage of Jump racing has been accelerated by content-rich sites created by news organizations aligned to bookmaker partnerships, or direct by bookmakers themselves, as well as the racecourses staging those events. A leading newspaper portal will receive just over 650,000 daily page impressions. Compare this to a high street bookmaker with 28m daily page impressions, or Sportinglife.com, with 2m. This exposure for the sport, together with its sponsors, is a key driver to media and public interest.
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Innovative marketing
Increasingly, racing is perceived as more than merely a conduit to betting. Whilst the frisson of a winning bet is undoubtedly a motivation in attending the racecourse, the 41 Jumps venues have had to progress their product offerings to appeal to a broader audience with more diverse interests.
In last year’s edition, we reported on the growth of Ladies Days, with more and more exotic prizes for glamorous women, supported by brands like Citroën, Jeep, Per Una and Woodford Reserve. Contrast the Ladies Days planned for the 2008-9 season at Aintree, which attracts a young, sassy audience of modern girl power from Liverpool, with Cheltenham, who has sought an alliance with the Jam & Jerusalem brigade from the Women’s Institute, with an affluence typical of the so-called grey market. Together, they will add an additional 100,000 spectators from two age & socio-demographic profiles poles apart.
And there is a growing trend in pursuit of the younger market to integrate music with the sport. At a whole host of well populated venues, spectators can enjoy an afternoon of top class sport followed by leading bands and entertainers. Girls Aloud, Ray Quinn and Ben Mills from X-Factor, and the Saw Doctors are just some of the acts that have performed at racecourses around the country, generating noticeably higher footfall than previous sport only occasions.
Adding events that create additional publicity will almost always help fuel spectator attendance. Among the more extraordinary events of the past year have been Huntingdon’s Mascot Grand National in October, now in its tenth year, and the John Smith’s People’s Race, both using a charitable focus to draw support.
One of the most innovative approaches of all has come from Towcester racecourse in Northamptonshire, which offers free admission on 16 of its 18 fixtures. Over the period 2003-7, spectator attendance has risen 25% to 75,000, making the course a leading performer in relative terms. Compare this to Cheltenham, with 18% attendance growth over the same period, from 351,000 to 416,000, operating a completely different business model, where spectators are charged according to the quality and status of the event, peaking with the Festival in March, the sport’s annual jamboree.
In short, racecourses are creating innovative marketing platforms to encourage spectators to follow their sport and enjoy the social and sporting excitement of the races on a more and more frequent basis.
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