The Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) has commissioned YouGov Sport to provide an analysis of the media and economic impact for the organisation’s inaugural flagship event – The Collins Cup.
The Collins Cup is a new race format modelled after the Ryder Cup, which will see teams of International, European and USA athletes pitted against one another. It aims to create and leverage the excitement, rivalry, drama and personalities of the sport of triathlon to attract a wider fan base. It is scheduled to take place on August 28th, 2021 at the x-bionic sphere sports resort in Šamorín, near Bratislava, Slovakia, with a prize purse of US$1,500,000.
The YouGov partnership will cover the projected economic impact assessment for The Collins Cup including media exposure, indirect impact, direct impact, induced impact as well as post event media reporting including audience, coverage, partner exposure and value across linear TV, OTT streaming, online press and social media and TV news.
YouGov Sport delivered analysis of the PTO 2020 Championship at Challenge Daytona on December 6th, 2020 which was broadcast to a global audience in over 120 countries around the world. Live coverage of the event was shown on Peacock, NBC Universal’s streaming service, in addition to a PTO live stream and a number of countries broadcasting the 48-minute highlights show.
The analysis of the PTO 2020 Championship at Challenge Daytona showed a total audience of 4.2 million across live and highlights broadcast coverage, live OTT streaming and social media video views.
The NBC coverage on prime time produced 605k average viewers and 1.1m unique views. The PTO’s own OTT live stream had a total of over 100,000 registered users with an average watch time of 32 minutes across all platforms. This increased to over 1hr 20 minutes for users on the PTO mobile apps. There were 666 online press articles generating a cumulative potential readership of over 94.3 million plus over 30k social media mentions gaining over 60m impressions.
Charlie Dundas, Commercial Director at YouGov Sport, said “It has been fantastic working with the PTO on the PTO Championship at Challenge Daytona. It has given us the opportunity to deliver a host of meaningful information, from audience insights to commercial understanding and we look forward to continuing our partnership for the Collins Cup”.
Sam Renouf, CEO of the PTO, said “These are encouraging numbers for the PTO’s first broadcast offering, especially given the challenges of operating in a pandemic. Our strategy is a two pronged approach, with a combination of the full live production being available through digital platforms and a cut down highlights being broadly distributed through linear channels by our partners IMG.
“In both formats, the market showed there is a pent-up appetite for engaging triathlon content, with average watch times for digital significantly exceeding industry averages. The viewership figures for the highlights program put triathlon on par with more established broadcast sports like golf, tennis and cycling.
“This gives us a fantastic foundation as we build towards the Collins Cup and we are delighted to partner with YouGov Sport to deliver further data and analysis for our inaugural flagship event.”
