North One Television has retained the contract for the production, sales and distribution of the Isle of Man TT Races and Classic TT Races television content.
The company, which is part of international media group All3Media, has won a two-year contract following a competitive tender run by the Department of Economic Development which holds the rights for the Isle of Man TT Races. The contract has been awarded following a rigorous tender process including independent evaluation by industry experts The Sports Consultancy.
North One Television has produced TV coverage of the Isle of Man TT Races since their original appointment ahead of the 2009 TT Races. During that time the worldwide TT audience has grown from 8.1 million in 2010 to 24.4 million viewers in 2013* in more than 130 countries (*source: audited actual viewing figures from Kantar Sport Report 2013).
In 2013 the Isle of Man TT Races received over 400 hours of global coverage, through the 11 one-hour international highlight shows and 15 programmes shown on ITV4 in the UK, Discovery Velocity in the United States and Channel Ten in Australia.
The Minister for Economic Development Hon John Shimmin MHK commented:
‘The television contract is one of the most important that we make for the TT as the resulting international television coverage greatly increases the image and awareness of the Isle of Man. This helps to promote not only the TT races, but also the Island as a year round tourism destination and for wider business opportunities.
‘Many people have commented to me about how impressed they have been by the quality of the TV coverage, produced and marketed by North One, which has shown both the races and the Island in a very positive light to a global audience.
‘North One's tender demonstrated strong business credentials, a robust international distribution platform and strong revenue potential. To date the company has successfully built a valuable commercial rights market for the TT Races TV coverage and we will be looking to them to build this further over the next two years and continue to enhance, grow and protect the Isle of Man TT event brand.
‘My Department has worked hard to improve the event in recent years including greater international marketing. I am pleased to note that this has borne fruit: Treasury estimates that since 2009 visitor numbers for the TT and Classic Races have grown by 33%, the economic benefits by 35% and the return to the taxpayer by 46%. As a result the races are making an important contribution as we seek to grow our economy while balancing Government’s budget.’
The Chief Executive of North One Television Neil Duncanson commented:
‘The TT Races is truly a unique event in the world of motorsport and we enjoy the challenge of conveying it to a worldwide audience. During the next two year period we will look to further innovate in terms of our production as well as introducing new broadcasters and countries to the existing roster.’
North One has an impressive track record of producing high-quality motorsport programmes including 12 years covering Formula One, during which time it won three BAFTAs, 11 years of the World Rally Championships, which was BAFTA nominated and won four Royal Television Society awards. It has also recently won the contract to cover MotoGP on behalf of BT Sport.
The company has been nominated for each of its last five years work on the TT at the Broadcast Awards. It has also produced the popular Guy Martin programming on BBC1 and Channel 4.
