As any sailor knows, yachts and yachting is not cheap.
For sponsors of the international Extreme Sailing Series, which kicked off in Oman this month, the cost is likely to be in the millions – each boat alone is €285,000 to buy.
The one thing all the brands that invest in the event demand as payback is exposure through the media – a prism that is rapidly evolving, says Andy Tourell, the Extreme Sailing Series event director.
“The media landscape has changed almost out of recognition. While the social media has not yet caught up with the media value of traditional broadcasting, you have to build it into your media strategy, without dropping the traditional media aspect.
“But TV is still really, really important.” The series commercial director, Scott Over, says being able to measure the effectiveness of media coverage is a major part of attracting and keeping sponsors. “One of our kpis [key performance indicators] is being consistent in the reporting of our media value; gone are the days when you can just attach a million figure to media value. More relevant is who you’re targeting, the demographic you’re hitting. Are you targeting people who the sponsors want to talk to, is the message clear, is it getting to the markets that the sponsors want it to?”
Still, according to the founder and operator of the series, OC Sport, the media value of the competition has grown year on year since the first series in 2007, from €1.8 million (Dh7.1m) to €49.5 million in 2015. Media value is basically what it would cost to place advertising with the same amount of coverage, across TV, print and social media.
Measuring TV media effectiveness is, in part, fairly straightforward. “Our broadcaster is IMG, who literally counts [audience] numbers,” Mr Over says. IMG is a global sports and entertainment events management company headquartered in New York City.
This year, the Extreme Sailing Series finishes in Los Cabos, Mexico, and the requirements that venue had were different from those of others such as the penultimate destination, San Diego. “Mexico, even more than San Diego, requires a large [amount of coverage] in the States, so we have taken a change in our broadcast to have a digital-first approach, that will be underlying TV broadcast as a standard,” Mr Over says.
Part of the digital push will be through the promotion of the free Extreme Sailing Series app and live streaming on social media platforms such as Facebook. “We’ll also have the TV broadcast going out live, there’s highlight reels and connections with major news stations. Los Cabos wants exposure in its key market, which is the States. They see us a great way to expose their brand to their key market.
“For the States we’re going to ramp up our commercial activity. For instance a change to the distribution of TV. The TV broadcasters take the rights, we try to put our coverage out through the broadcasters that we [and sponsors] want . For the majority of our sponsors we have major kpis, which we need to fulfil, of which broadcast would be one.
“We have a kpi for [the sixth venue] Cardiff, for instance, for economic impact and we need to have an economic impact study for the investment they make in us so they trust us to bring the numbers to Cardiff Bay. Whether that’s through marketing, promotion, we need to know that we have a platform that will deliver those kpis.
“We also need to have a media strategy – is it as easy as just putting an advert in a broadsheet? What message do we put through our broadcast coverage, through our online coverage? We need to be very clear about that; we want to provide quality, exciting content and we have quality, exciting partners that can help us promote our sport,” Mr Over says.
And, as Mr Tourell points out, the digital aspect also works as a tool for education, explaining what the courses are, the boats and what they can do as well as the physical nature of the racing the sailors have to master. “It is extremely physically demanding. Those elements of the social media offering are important regarding the public awareness of the sport and the series and of course its ongoing ambitions to grow commercial viability.
“But it all has to be presented in the appropriate way for the modern consumer. What we are doing more this year is putting more social media content out. But that area is changing, too – people don’t go so much to their laptop anymore, everything has to come to their phone.”
chnelson@thenational.ae
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'Morbius'
Director: Daniel Espinosa
Stars: Jared Leto, Matt Smith, Adria Arjona
Rating: 2/5
Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
- Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
- Rational thinking: Breathe and avoid emotional decision-making; let logic and planning guide your actions.
- Strategic patience: Understand why you’re investing and allow time for your strategies to unfold.
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'Outclassed in Kuwait'
Taleb Alrefai,
HBKU Press
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Stamp duty timeline
December 2014: Former UK finance minister George Osbourne reforms stamp duty, replacing the slab system with a blended rate scheme, with the top rate increasing to 12 per cent from 10 per cent:
Up to £125,000 - 0%; £125,000 to £250,000 – 2%; £250,000 to £925,000 – 5%; £925,000 to £1.5m: 10%; Over £1.5m – 12%
April 2016: New 3% surcharge applied to any buy-to-let properties or additional homes purchased.
July 2020: Rishi Sunak unveils SDLT holiday, with no tax to pay on the first £500,000, with buyers saving up to £15,000.
March 2021: Mr Sunak decides the fate of SDLT holiday at his March 3 budget, with expectations he will extend the perk unti June.
April 2021: 2% SDLT surcharge added to property transactions made by overseas buyers.
In The Heights
Directed by: Jon M. Chu
Stars: Anthony Ramos, Lin-Manual Miranda
Rating: ****
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Duterte Harry: Fire and Fury in the Philippines
Jonathan Miller, Scribe Publications
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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About Okadoc
Date started: Okadoc, 2018
Founder/CEO: Fodhil Benturquia
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Healthcare
Size: (employees/revenue) 40 staff; undisclosed revenues recording “double-digit” monthly growth
Funding stage: Series B fundraising round to conclude in February
Investors: Undisclosed
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
Manchester United v Liverpool
Premier League, kick off 7.30pm (UAE)
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Destroyer
Director: Karyn Kusama
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Toby Kebbell, Sebastian Stan
Rating: 3/5
UAE release: January 31
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
The biog
Name: Dhabia Khalifa AlQubaisi
Age: 23
How she spends spare time: Playing with cats at the clinic and feeding them
Inspiration: My father. He’s a hard working man who has been through a lot to provide us with everything we need
Favourite book: Attitude, emotions and the psychology of cats by Dr Nicholes Dodman
Favourit film: 101 Dalmatians - it remind me of my childhood and began my love of dogs
Word of advice: By being patient, good things will come and by staying positive you’ll have the will to continue to love what you're doing
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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How to help
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
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