Vans released numbers today saying that the Triple Crown of Surfing served 10.4 million live streams during the 13 days of competition for the 2011 season.
Even if you figure that many of the people (like us) signed in at least 30 times during those days that’s still a lot. in fact, Vans says 1.8 million unique individuals tuned into the events. They’re calling it an action sports record.
“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,” says Vans Vice President of Marketing, Doug Palladini. “Hawaii also helps us to reach a broader audience than any other surfing event given it’s incredible scenery, dramatic waves and rich beach culture.”
Now, if we figure that one day of modern surf webcasting costs roughly $55,000 (on the low end), then Vans, Reef, and Billabong and the rest of the sponsors of the Triple Crown ended up spending about 40 cents to reach each viewer. That may not seem all that expensive considering the brand bath viewers are immersed in while watching surf broadcasts. On the other hand, if Boardistan.com charged those ad rates then we’d definitely have someone else typing these words right now.
Follow the jump for the official word from Vans.VANS TRIPLE CROWN OF SURFING WEBCAST
SETS ACTION SPORTS RECORD:
10.4 MILLION OVERALL STREAMS
* Billabong Pipe Masters Generates 6 million streams over 3 days
* Mobile users made up 25-30% of overall viewership
* Unique visitors to VansTripleCrownofSurfing.com rise to 4 million
from 2.6 in 2010
The Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, presented by Rockstar Energy Drink, set an action sports industry record with more than 10.4 million live streams across 13 days of competition between October 28 and December 11 on www.vanstriplecrownofsurfing.com and on mobile devices. Series viewership, which includes the 3-day HIC Pro, peaked with more than 6 million streams were initiated over the three consecutive days of the Billabong Pipe Masters alone from December 8-10.
Overall VansTripleCrownofSurfing.com visitors during the contest period rose from 2.6 million in 2010 to just more than 4 million this year.
This year’s live streams were viewed by more than 1.8 million unique visitors versus 800,000 during the 2010 Vans Triple Crown Season. Results also showed a dramatic shift to hand-held devices with an estimated 25-30% of streams being viewed on mobile devices, many via the Vans Live 2.0 App for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. IPhones alone generated 1.1 million streams, or roughly 10% of viewership.
The Vans Triple Crown of Surfing takes place on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, and consists of the Reef Hawaiian Pro, the Vans World Cup of Surfing, and the Billabong Pipe Masters. The most prestigious series in surfing, the Vans Triple Crown rounded out the 2011 ASP World Tour season, and will celebrate 30 years in 2012.
“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,” says Vans Vice President of Marketing, Doug Palladini. “Hawaii also helps us to reach a broader audience than any other surfing event given it’s incredible scenery, dramatic waves and rich beach culture.”
Vans webcasts are professional full HD productions simultaneously broadcast on television via Oceanic Time Warner Cable in Hawaii, Time Warner Cable in Southern California and the Desert Cities, and on Fuel TV in Australia.
The Vans Live 2.0 app is now available for Android devices, so surf fans can now enjoy watching all of the 2011 Vans Triple Crown of Surfing heats on demand, photo galleries and highlight videos wherever Android apps are available.
www.VansTripleCrownOfSurfing.com
