Extending the footprint of the race into new territories has taken the appeal and fascination of the race to unprecedented levels. The race has drawn 2,350,392 visitors so far.
Sunday 5 April 2009, 16:15 GMT
As a prelude to the presentation of plans for the future of the Volvo Ocean Race, a mid-race report was issued, showing results to date for the 2008-09 event.
The mid-term report card shows a significant increase in the areas of spectator numbers, media exposure and return on investment.
Extending the footprint of the race into new territories, particularly Asia, has taken the appeal and fascination of the race to unprecedented levels. The race has drawn 2,350,392 visitors to race villages so far. That represents a 156% increase over the 2005-06 race (2.5 times the number of spectators in the last race after 5 ports).
The footfall figures for the stopovers in India and China are 811,677 and 363,700 respectively. The peak day crowd for India was an impressive 107,287.
For 2008-09, two initiatives have helped to expand television coverage of the event: the switch to High Definition programming, and the introduction of the Media Crew Member.
Broadcast coverage has touched a significantly wider global audience. To date, the 2008-09 race has attracted a cumulative audience of 547,251,706. News coverage is seen in 200 countries. In China alone, the audience has reached 268,968,000.
Through a partnership with online distributor Newsmarket, there have been over 6,000 downloads of news clips worldwide. A total of 319 outlets from more than 55 countries have taken those news feeds.
Up to January 2009, there were 1,556 media accreditations - an increase of 30% over the 2005-06 event.
There have been 6,624 press cuttings in 14 monitored territories with a cumulative readership to date of 680.4 million. The race's audio partner, World Sports Communications, delivers daily news reports, interviews, features and weekly podcasts in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. 24 territories take the race's monthly audio feed.
Global distribution photographic agency onEdition, has ensured that race imagery reaches 5,000 picture desks around the world.
In 2008-09, syndicates will generate in the region of US$65 million in media value alone.
In multimedia terms, the race delivers an unparalleled experience - from multilingual websites to a dedicated broadband TV channel, mobile capability and a phenomenally successful online sailing game.
From the period of October 2008 to February 2009, the official web site has attracted 2.41 million visitors - a 39% increase on 2005-06 and there have been 13.95 million visits (51% increase) and 29.07 million page views.
Since the start of the race, 738,000 unique visitors have been recorded on VolvoOceanRace.tv. Two million videos have been viewed with the average viewer tuned in for 49 minutes. On Youtube, there have been 655,821 views from 300 videos in first five months since launch.
The Volvo Ocean Race Game has 180,000 players from over 180 countries, making it the biggest online sailing community in the world. That figure may well double by race end.
Meanwhile, on the mobile channel, there has been a 180% increase in mobile traffic over 2005-06 race.
For the syndicates and sponsors, the commercial success story is the same. Corporate guest numbers are up according to a Deloitte survey. The report shows 5,000 corporate hospitality visitors in Alicante.
One sponsor recorded 1,990 guests (474 Cochin, 623 Singapore, 893 Qingdao) in Asia. Representatives from both PUMA and Telefonica report that media exposure and return on investment has "surpassed expectations". Delta Lloyd, despite an indifferent campaign to date, have reaped the rewards.
"We have far outstripped our media targets at this stage and I expect the returns to be even better in the second half of the race as we enter Europe," Niek Hoek, CEO Delta Lloyd Group, said. "The Volvo Ocean Race gives us the chance to compete against the best companies and sailors in the world."
Dave Kneale/Volvo Ocean Race