Horseracing broadcaster Racing UK celebrates its fifth birthday this weekend by offering its first 10,000 subscribers free tickets to race days at York, Goodwood and Haydock.
The company serves what is still one of Britain’s biggest spectator sports, but one that is under increasing pressure from an aging fanbase, and falling attendances and media interest. Racing UK has been supporting it by developing revenue streams beyond its core subscription television business, which boasts around 3 million subscribers today.
Around 60 per cent of Racing UK’s £70 million revenues now come from other activities, including international media rights sales (30 per cent), internet broadcast subscriptions (12.5 per cent), pub subscriptions (12.5 per cent), and advertising sales and sponsorship (5 per cent).
The pub business is one which emerged unexpectedly, Racing UK commercial director Nick Mills told BritSport Weekly – it has quickly grown to 2,500 subscriptions since its launch in April 2008.
The profits are returned to the 30 – out of 59 – UK racecourses for which Racing UK controls the media rights. The other courses' media rights are controlled by -racing broadcaster At the Races
Mills says his company does not believe there is a need to bring all the UK’s courses under one roof. Nevertheless, Racing UK has extended to working with the Ascot racecourse – not one of its 30 member courses – to launch betting shop service Turf TV, which Mills says is now in 95 per cent of UK betting shops.
Mills says the company is also working to address one of horseracing's biggest problems – the aging demographic of its fans. He says the average age of the television channel’s audience is between 45 and 50, and that the bookies – which provide so much of the sport’s wealth – say if people don’t start betting on horse-racing before they are 25, they never will.
The problem is clear, and Racing UK is attempting to solve it with, among other things, a host of multimedia features on its website, including the creation of a social networking service for racing fans, and video content.
Racing UK representatives are also sitting on committees leading the planned rebranding of the sport in the UK. It was announced this month that brand consultants Harrison Fraser had been hired to develop a new image for the sport and broaden its fanbase.
The consultants said, "If racing came to life as a person, we think it would be a bit of a Brian. Brian is traditional and British and thinks in quite an old-minded way. He's got a group of friends that are very loyal, and when they get together they have a fantastic time, but then talk in a language that no one else can understand.
"Five years in the future, if you have created the ideal racing experience for everybody, the picture is of a Ben industry. Ben is younger-minded than Brian, more worldly, in touch with a new generation but the nice bit about him is that he can talk to your grandmother but equally he can talk to your teenage kid."
Although Racing UK is actively trying to bring new fans to horse racing, Mills says it pays close attnetiont to those core, 'Brian' fans, who are catered for by an upgraded 'club' subscription service, which includes a quarterly magazine and free passes to racing events. Club members currently number around 55,000, and Mills says there is enough demand to grow the service to 80,000.
Racing UK is currently in discussions with Channel 4 about extending its television rights deal beyond this year. Mills is confident that the free-to-air broadcaster will maintain its 85 days per year of UK racing coverage, despite the fears that have been aired in the media for many years that racing on terrestrial television was doomed.
Nevertheless, developing alternative media rights sources - like Racing UK does - looks like a good hedge bet for the race-courses involved, particularly in a media world which seems increasingly unable to see past the sports with wide fan demographics.
