IMG expands SailGP's global broadcast roster for season three
SailGP, the international sailing series, has increased its global portfolio of international broadcast partners for the upcoming third season of the championship.
Notably, new broadcast deals have been secured with cable sports networks TSN and RDS in Canada and pay-television operator Blue in Switzerland as two new teams join the league from their respective countries.
They join the other key broadcasters in SailGP home-team markets, including Sky in the UK, CBS Sports (US), Foxtel and Kayo Sports (Australia), Canal Plus (France), JSports (Japan), Sky Sports (New Zealand), RTVE and TV3 (Spain), and TV2 Sport (Denmark).
Also, new for this season, SailGP events will be available in Turkey and across Southeast Asia on BeIN Sports as well as through a pan-Asian deal with Eclat.
In Italy, fans can watch on new Italian broadcast partner Eleven Sports and continue to watch selected events live on Sky Italia.
Sport24 in Portugal will also carry the next two seasons of the championship, while all of the action can again be viewed on SailGP’s app, as well as YouTube and Facebook.
In addition to live global broadcasts, SailGP highlights will be available in a new pan-regional deal with sports broadcaster Eurosport.
The new deals were facilitated by international sports marketing agency IMG, SailGP’s global agency for media rights, sponsorship, and host venue rights.
Last week (May 9), SailGP announced its total broadcast audience (dedicated and secondary) saw an increase of 220% to 823.4 million viewers for season two, with the dedicated broadcast audience of 39.2 million representing a 131% increase on season one.
There were also 16 million event live stream views on SailGP’s digital platforms, including YouTube and Facebook, with a total watch time of 2.5 million hours.
The series has today also announced that the global production strategy for season three will be overseen by its new chief content officer, Melissa Lawton.
Lawton will lead the team delivering SailGP’s global broadcast offering, from the live broadcast production and host broadcast feed to non-live content creation including SailGP’s docuseries Racing on the Edge.
Lawton was previously responsible for sports production at Meta. Before that, she spent five years as the head of live content at Red Bull Media House, while her 20-year career has included long-term production roles on events such as the Beijing and Sydney Olympics, FIFA World Cup in Korea and Japan, and Commonwealth Games in India.
SailGP’s broadcast will once again be supported by US software giant Oracle, which will deliver real-time data to the championship’s broadcast partners through its Insights offering.
Andrew Thompson, SailGP chief commercial officer, said: “It’s a fantastic achievement that in just its third season SailGP is forging lasting partnerships with some of the biggest global names in sports broadcasting.
“Our championship is a truly global league with fans around the world able to enjoy the most exciting racing on-water live and in full wherever they live.”
Adam Kelly, IMG co-president of media and events, added: “In its third season, we are proud to help bring SailGP to more viewers than ever through a number of new broadcast deals signed in key international territories with Eurosport, TSN, RDS, and BeIN Sports.
“SailGP is a thrilling spectacle to watch and this weekend fans around the world will be transported to Bermuda as top global broadcasters bring the intense, high-speed action to life.”
The third season of SailGP gets underway this weekend and features another global calendar of events, starting with the Bermuda Sail Grand Prix on May 14 and 15, culminating in the Grand Final in San Francisco in May 2023.
In between, the championship visits destinations including Chicago, Plymouth, Copenhagen, Saint-Tropez, Cádiz, Dubai, and Christchurch.
