2011 Vans Triple Crown of Surfing sets new record for webcast audience
The 2011 Vans Triple Crown of Surfing webcast viewership exceeded the 10.4 million mark during the course of the series, setting a new action sports industry record.
With the option to stream the heats live on the competition’s official website and mobile devices, an astonishing number of audiences followed the three legs of the series online.
According to the competition’s viewership data, the maximum number of online audience was reached during the three consecutive days of the third and final stop of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing Series, Billabong Pipe Masters, with the figure for the number
of streams initiated rising above 6 million.
The total number of visitors to the contest’s official site had been 2.6 million in 2010. However, this year, the number had increased by 1.5 million, taking the new count to above 4 million.
In contrast to 2010 where 800,000 first-time visitors to the official site of Vans Triple Crown of Surfing had viewed the proceedings of the events online, 2011 saw the number of unique visitors cross the 1.8 million mark.
With the trend of online streaming on hand-held devices increasing in recent times, 25-30% of the audiences who watched the events online watched it via the competition’s application for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Nearly 10%, or in other terms 1.1 million,
of the total streams was generated by iPhone alone.
Talking about the record number of live streaming generated during the 13 days of 2011 Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, Van’s Vice President of Marketing Doug Palladini said, “Surfing’s audience is passionate, active and adventurous, and, if they cannot watch
in person, they’re finding Vans Triple Crown of Surfing events on their computers and mobile devices.”
Association of Surfing Professionals’ (ASP) Dave Prodan recognised online broadcast as a key link between an ASP event and surfing fans, stating that, “It's what makes a marketing spend to send a group of surfers to a remote locale worthwhile and brings
the world's best surfing to fans live around the globe. Without the webcasts, you would likely see most surf events held in metropolitan areas where in-person viewing is possible.”
The large number of audiences who viewed Triple Crown series online also went on to show the growing popularity of surfing. With the sport gaining more recognition every day, it would not be surprising to see the record of 10.4 million get broken in the
near future.
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