NISSAN UCI Mountain Bike
World Cup Audience
Hits 1.75 Million on
Freecaster.TV
Aigle, Switzerland
The UCI is proud to announce that the
free access online webcasting of the NISSAN UCI Mountain Bike World Cup
offered by Freecaster.tv has been watched by a total of 1.75 million viewers
around the globe, during the opening five rounds of the DHI and 4X, and four
rounds of the XCO. Viewership is rising rapidly as more and more people
rediscover the excitement of mountain bike racing, with over 400,000 people
having tuned in for the LIVE coverage alone. 2009 marks the second year that
Freecaster.tv has broadcast LIVE and delayed the NISSAN UCI World Cup and
World Championships. This year is the first time the partnership between the
UCI and Freecaster.tv has been exclusive, and the strategy is already
delivering impressive results which continue to grow as the 2009 season
progresses and the World Championships approach.
Freecaster.tv, a well known online
broadcaster, has increased awareness of the NISSAN UCI Mountain Bike World
Cup by including special productions to support the races. These features
include pre-race teaser clips, the Fox Racing Shox coursewalks, VholdR
helmet cams, rider interviews, team profiles, technical explanations and
regular highlight shows. All this entertainment is offered free of charge
and is readily embedded by the event web sites, fan sites and main stream
portals who are all keen to support the resurgent interest in racing that
the live coverage has spawned.
"This is really great news for the
sport of mountain biking and our partners who support it" states Pat McQuaid,
President of the UCI. "After only six World Cup events we are barely at the
halfway stage of the season yet have already reached an audience of well
over a million, many of which are experiencing live mountain bike racing for
the first time. We are very happy that together with Smaragd's TV
production, Freecaster.tv have been able to provide this service and allow
fans to follow every round of the season from the comfort of home!"
"The UCI’s TV production team and
Freecaster.tv have put in an unbelievable amount of technical development
work and now the goal is to reach 3 million viewers by the end of the
season. This is truly a new era for mountain biking, not only for the fans,
but also for the athletes, the teams and their sponsors" The teams, the
athletes and their sponsors are also recognizing the importance of the live
coverage:
"There has been a huge expansion in
the video medium for mountain biking," observes Martin Whiteley, Team
Director for Trek World Racing. "Freecaster.tv has led the renaissance in
World Cup race coverage and made it a success. I feel that video is key to
engaging and maintaining the interest of our target market, who would much
rather watch the action as it unfolds than read a written press release."
"Having Freecaster.tv broadcast live
coverage on top of great highlights and complete race runs is amazing," says
Fabien Barel, winner of the last round of the DHI in Maribor. "It is easy
for the fans to stay on top of the action from each round and the drama of
racing is pure entertainment."
"Freecaster.tv has used more bandwidth
for the first few rounds than we forecast for the entire 2009 season! With
countless web sites and forums now covering MTB racing LIVE, the fans are
tuning in for 1 hour in average for DHI, 30 minutes per XCO and 30 minutes
per 4X," says Raymond Dulieu, founder of Freecaster.tv. "We’d like to thank
our partners for the faith they’ve had in this project and for helping us
achieve our goals at a time when much of the industry’s support was less
forthcoming. Thanks to their belief in the LIVE coverage, we’ve been able to
help MTB racing reach more people on the Internet than ever before...and
we’re convinced the best is yet to come."
LIVE Webcast NISSAN UCI Mountain Bike
World Cup Calendar
July 25-26 - Canada - XCO DHI 4X
August 1-2 - Canada - XCO DHI 4X
September 13 - Switzerland - XCO
September 19-20 - Austria - DHI 4X
LIVE Webcast NISSAN UCI Mountain Bike
World Championship
September 5-6 - Australia - XCO DHI 4X
Source:
Bike Magazine Online
Click here for to visit the Article Source
Posted By: Diesel
Date: 07/26/2009 |