World Rowing reports impressive television and video streaming results for 2015

For immediate release
Lausanne, 21 March 2016

The World Rowing Federation, FISA, has compiled statistics for TV and video over the 2015 year and a large increase has been recorded, especially in total airings of World Rowing events.

This comes on the back of a successful television strategy change that was implemented in 2010. This strategy called for the creation of a well-structured and dedicated professional resource that has delivered improved and more consistent host TV productions. It has led to a far greater amount of coverage, a wider distribution of rowing programming and an improved service for all rights holders.

The total news airings for World Rowing events (including the European Rowing Championships) saw a 170 per cent increase on the 2014 figures. It is considered that the World Rowing Productions (WRP) 30 minutes’ News Service featuring the best races of the day helped contribute to these figures, along with the 2015 World Rowing Championships creating added interest from having been the main means to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Regatta.

Total television coverage (by time) at the World Rowing Championships increased from 2014 to 2015 by 43 per cent. Between 2010 and 2015 the coverage nearly doubled.  The number of television channels broadcasting the World Rowing Championships increased from 77 in 2014 to 181 in 2015 – a 103 per cent increase.

Continuing this trend, the World Rowing Cup series and the European Rowing Championships both saw substantial increases in their broadcast coverage since 2010, with the World Cup regattas achieving a 300 per cent increase and the European Championships 400 per cent.

In addition to television coverage, World Rowing provides both live streaming of racing and video on demand (VoD) free of charge through www.worldrowing.com. In 2015 there was a small increase in live streams and a significant increase in VoD with total video streams between 2014 and 2015 rising by 56 per cent from 830,108 to 1,297,723.

By nation, the United States was the biggest consumer of video streaming, followed by Great Britain, Germany and France.

“We want to share these outstanding figures in order to provide an appreciation of how much television and video coverage our sport is now achieving,” says FISA President Jean-Christophe Rolland. “We are especially proud of the increase in total television airings of World Rowing events.”

FISA’s long-running partnership with the European Broadcasting Union has continued to deliver increased coverage, channels and audiences for rowing throughout Europe. Out of Europe, strong results come from the rights-holding broadcasters in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Brazil and many others. The strategy  specifically called for the creation of World Rowing Productions  which is collaboration between FISA and sports production and distribution specialists Quattro Media of Munich, Germany.