Clipper Race audience exceeds 3 billion worldwide, and growing

by Julia Wall-Clarke 10 Oct 2014 14:05 BST 10 October 2014

Record numbers of people have followed the exploits of the latest Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, with a cumulative audience of more than 3.3 billion people in over 200 countries seeing news coverage in the press, radio, TV and online. Countless more have engaged through social media.

That audience is set to grow even further with the forthcoming release of two new television series which will be distributed to international broadcasters by BBC Worldwide. The shows are being previewed at Sportel, the world's largest annual sports TV market, this week in Monaco.

40,000 miles long, taking eleven months to complete, the Clipper Race is the world's longest ocean race. Established by legendary UK sailor, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first man to sail solo, non-stop round the world, the Clipper Race is the only event of its kind for amateur sailors. 40 per cent of crew members have never sailed before they sign up.

More than 670 people from over 40 nationalities took part in the 2013-14 race, the only place where students, teachers, bankers, housewives and truck drivers join together to take on one of the world's toughest endurance challenges.

"We are receiving an extremely positive response to the new TV series," says Global Business and Communications Director, Jonathan Levy, who is participating in the Sportel convention. "We have created two different series to capture both sides of the Clipper Race. "One follows the adrenaline fuelled fierce competition between teams as points are claimed in the 16-race series, building to the final champion's podium; while the other focuses on individual crew stories as they take on the immense human challenge, confronting Mother Nature in the raw."

The latest independent evaluation of media coverage of the 2013-14 edition by Kantar Media shows a huge growth in global audiences, virtually trebling the news media reach of the previous race. The media report is only an interim evaluation and with more than a thousand news items still to be added and the TV series yet to air, it's projected that the final audience achieved could be well in excess of 4.5 billion. The full report will be published later in the year.

"The Clipper Race is capturing the imagination of audiences around the world, not only because it is compelling viewing but also because it could be them. Our crew members achieve something remarkable, racing across oceans and, for many, circumnavigating the planet – no experience necessary as we provide all the training. It's very inspiring!"

The Race of Their Lives is eight half hour programmes which capture the emotional rollercoaster in an adventure series which sees this challenge through the experiences of key characters on the race.

Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is nine half-hour sports TV shows following the fierce competition around the world in the 2013-14 edition.

Details of when the series can be seen will be posted as the shows are scheduled by international broadcasters.