Television and Website Hits Reach All Time HighLast weekends Round Seven of the Yokohama V8 Ute Racing Series at Mt Panorama delivered the series highest television ratings and website hits since the series began in 2001.
V8 Ute fans from as far wide as England watched Channel Seven’s live coverage from Mt Panorama in Bathurst over the weekend, 9 – 12th October.
Long time V8 Ute British fan, Brian Bullock wrote to the V8 Utes Team with such enthusiasm after watching the live coverage through Motors TV.
“We had a good crowd and we joined in with a bunch of Aussies, so we all had a good time, even if we did fall by the wayside after 3.00 am during the big race. As a spectacle it was to use an overused word, awesome,” wrote Bullock.
According to official Oztam data from Channel Sevens coverage of the V8 Supercar Bathurst weekend, the audience reach for Saturday afternoons telecast which included Race 2 of the Yokohama V8 Ute Series was 1,961,817 viewers and Sunday mornings telecast which included Race 3 (and was the V8 Utes 200th race) delivered a reach of 1,223,715 viewers.
The V8 Utes website is also boasting some interesting statistics with a daily average of 42,556 hits so far in October.
Craig Denyer, of V8 Ute category manager, SPHERIX , believes that the website is seeing more hits due to the popularity of the series and also the new additions to the site, including the online merchandise store, video clips, podcast interviews and track map talks.
“The Utes are popular all over the world for their bump and grind action so we have tried to make the website as interactive as possible and I think the new products have definitely boosted the interest in the site,” Denyer said.
“Racing at such a high profile event as Bathurst with live television is also great for the category and drives significant rating and web site hits for the series. It was a real buzz to be standing in pit lane during the Sunday morning race and receive numerous text messages from European fans watching the Utes live.”
The TV schedule for Europe, NZ and Australia for the final Oran Park round is available on the V8 Utes website along with all the new exciting products. The series is currently in negotiation with Speed Channel for replays of all V8 Ute rounds to the Latin American market, and to a potential audience of 10 million homes.
Round Eight and the final round of the 2008 Yokohama V8 Utes Racing Series will be held at Oran Park, Sydney 4 – 7 December.
