DIGITAL STRATEGY DELIVERS RAPID AUDIENCE GROWTH

The Isle of Man TT Races is experiencing unprecedented levels of audience growth across its digital and social platforms since the implementation of a new Digital Broadcast Strategy with a 228% increase in audience size since the start of 2022.

A fundamental part of this broadcast strategy has been the introduction of the streaming platform, TT+. Now in its second year, having launched in April 2022, the channel is improving awareness and accessibility for international fans. With a 66% increase in the total number of subscribers this year so far, TT+ has now accumulated 220,000 subscribers from across 180 countries.

Broadcast – Live and Highlight Shows

288% INCREASE IN GLOBAL AUDIENCE FOR THE ISLE OF MAN TT RACES SINCE THE START OF 2022

Fans around the world were able to access full live coverage of every race and qualifying session for the second year in a row thanks to the TT+ Live Pass. Available as a one-time purchase for £19.99 (€26.99/$29.99 USD/$38.99 CAD/ $42.99 AUD) the Live Pass delivers fans with a visceral experience from around the entire 37 and 3/4mile Mountain Course including insights, analysis and exclusive pre and post-race interviews.

Continuing to establish its place within the market, the 2023 TT+ Live Pass saw an 11.9% increase in uptake achieving 64,000 purchases. Peak viewership of the live coverage was on Sunday 4th June for the RST Superbike Race, followed by Saturday 10th June for the Milwaukee Senior TT Race. European viewers accounted for 81% of the total live viewership with America and Australia taking up a large proportion of the remaining market share. While the UK audience grew, its overall market share compared to other territories has dropped by 11%, highlighting the increasing global reach of the TT+ Live Pass.

The TT+ Live Pass is now available to purchase for the discounted price of £9.99 offering the opportunity to relive 40 hours’ worth of broadcast coverage on-demand.

Fans were also able to access the ever-popular package of highlights shows on ITV4 and ITVX in the UK. The highlights shows attracted a cumulative audience of nearly 4.5 million, with a peak viewership of 0.5 million for the RL360 Superstock Race show. The highlights shows were also available to view across a range of International TV broadcast networks.

Free to Access - Radio, Live Timing and Podcast

29% INCREASE IN UNIQUE REACH FOR RADIO TT

In addition to the paid coverage via the TT+ Live Pass, fans were able to follow the races via a number of free to access channels including the official Live Timing Service. Having undergone redevelopment prior to 2022 to improve the user experience and including additional features such as ‘favourites’ to allow fans to easily follow their chosen riders, the TT’s Live Timing Service saw a 25% increase in the number of sessions with an increase in the proportion of global users accessing the service.

Meanwhile Radio TT continued a long established history of providing TT fans around the world with up to the minute reporting over the event. Relaunched in 2022, the new-look service was able to provide near-complete and continuous oversight of all the action thanks to the introduction of the live television broadcast, which was supplemented by split-second timing data to provide a new level of immediacy and accuracy to the radio broadcasts.

Continuing the theme of growth this year’s Radio TT coverage saw a 29% increase in unique reach and although the UK, Isle of Man and Ireland held the majority share in terms of listenership, Radio TT continues to establish itself as a popular choice across the USA, Germany, Australia, Netherlands, Spain and France.

Meanwhile the daily edition of The TT Podcast returned for a second year, as the ever-popular Chris Pritchard and Steve Plater once again engaged in in-depth discussions and analysis of the fortnight’s main talking pointsat the TT, offering access all areas coverage from the riders’ motorhomes to the startline. The Podcast was available at 10am each day from Monday 29th May through to Sunday 11th June.

The daily edition of The TT Podcast featured in the UK Top 20 Sports Podcast Charts for a second consecutive year, peaking at position 13, and topped the charts in some European countries.

Series one and two of The TT Podcast are now complete and series three will commence at the end of July.

No Room For Error – Brand New Docuseries

OVER 1 MILLION VIEWED NO ROOM FOR ERROR ON ITV4 AND ITVX

An addition to this year’s broadcast schedule was ‘No Room For Error’ – a brand new high-stakes documentary series that followed some of the leading riders that competed in the 2022 Isle of Man TT Races.

The series was available exclusively on ITV4 and ITVX over four consecutive evenings from Monday 22nd May for viewers in the UK and Ireland and viewers outside the UK, were able to access the series for free via TT+.

No Room for Error received consistently positive reviews from both fans and the motorsport media with one leading title describing it as ‘better than F1 DRIVE TO SURVIVE - grit versus gloss - and immeasurably better than MotoGP UNLIMITED.’ The docu-series provided a never-before-seen insight into the TT and achieved more than 1 million views on ITV4 across the full series, with Episode 3 seeing a peak in viewership of more than 309,000.

Filming for the second series of ‘No Room For Error’ is already underway with more details to be announced soon.

Free Content Year Round

An essential aspect of the TT’s Digital Broadcast Strategy is the year-round delivery of free to access digital content via TT+ and the TT’s official social media channels across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.

The quality of this content is the key driver in the increase in followers and subscribers to the TT’s channels with ‘Between The Hedges’ an 8-part mini-series produced and published for TT+ and also shown on YouTube generating more than 1.8 million views alone.

OVER 1.8 MILLION VIEWED BETWEEN THE HEDGES ON YOUTUBE

Social Media Platforms

Outside of Formula 1, the Isle of Man TT Races has now established itself as the fastest growing motorsport property in terms of audience size in the British Isles. Since January 2022 the Isle of Man TT Races social media channels have grown more than 180% with a total audience size of now more than 1 million from a near standing start 18 months ago.

Video based platforms are primarily responsible for the high levels of growth. TikTok was the fastest growing platform during the event period achieving an increase in followers of more than 110%. The TT’s YouTube channel has also grown its audience size by 90% in the last 12 months, achieving an increase in impressions of more 123% compared to the previous period.

Paul Phillips, Head of Motorsport, Isle of Man TT Races commented:

’Through the TT’s Broadcast Strategy, we have managed to remove geographical barriers to fans around the world wanting to access the Isle of Man TT Races. This level of visibility will bring wider benefits for the Isle of Man as well as ensuring the long-term sustainability of the event itself.

As the TT gains more fans, followers and customers from around the globe, the event becomes increasingly sustainable and allows us to plan for the long term, continually improving the experience for everyone involved including fans, competitors, teams, officials and our commercial partners.

It is extremely promising to see such strong growth across all areas for a second year and we are confident that we will see this trend continue over the coming years through the delivery of some of the best and most accessible motorsport content available globally.’