The Dakar TV Distribution Strategy
The Dakar TV Distribution Strategy
The Streaming Lab - MENA #33
Hey streamers 👋
Welcome to the 33rd edition of The Streaming Lab - MENA. Thanks for reading me!
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Agenda
This week, I’m having a look at the TV distribution strategy of the biggest rally-raid in the world: The Dakar.
The Dakar for newbies
What content are we talking about?
Where to watch The Dakar?
The future of Dakar TV distribution
BONUS: my Dakar in Saudi Arabia
The Dakar for newbies
The Dakar is an annual rally-raid created in 1978 by the French motorbike rider Thierry Sabine.
The race consists of one stage per day with at least one “special” over a period of 10 to 15 days. Drivers compete on time and navigation via a roadbook provided at the start of each stage.
There a five main categories: motorbikes, quads, cars (T1/T2), lightweight vehicles (T3/T4) and trucks (T5).
After 2 chapters in Africa and South America, the race takes place today in Saudi Arabia, where competitors can enjoy all types of terrain: fesh-fesh, soil, stones, dunes or chotts.
Here are the key figures from the 2023 edition:
820 competitors
634 drivers and co-drivers entering the Dakar
188 drivers and co-drivers entering the Dakar Classic
68 nationalities
54 women in the race
5 female-only crews
455 vehicles in total
125 motorbikes
19 quads
73 cars
56 trucks
47 T3
46 T4
76 Dakar Classic cars
13 Dakar Classic trucks
Top 3 nationalities
194 from France
119 from Spain
90 from Netherlands
What content are we talking about?
A video is worth a thousand words. Enjoy the highlights of the 2023 edition ↓
There are different types of video content available. Most of them are available here: https://www.dakar.com/en/home-gallery
Extended highlights
Top moments of the day
Landscapes of the day
Dakar portraits
Interview of the day
Dakar explore
Briefing of the day
Educational videos
And here is a summary of the media coverage during the race:
TV Broadcast
3,000 hours of TV broadcast
15 hours of content broadcast every day, right from the bivouac
More than 600 media professionals accredited on the entire rally
135 media from 34 nationalities
Digital
11.6 million visits to the website dakar.com
198.9 million video views on official platforms: Instagram, Dailymotion, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube
411,000 active users of the Dakar App for iOS & Android
Social Media
Facebook: 2.5m fans
Instagram: 1.8m followers
Twitter: 531,000 followers
YouTube: 530,000 subscribers
TikTok: 878,200 followers
Where to watch The Dakar?
During the last event in 2022, 190 countries received content of The Dakar for an audience of 1 billion television viewers.
Here are the official 70 broadcasters:
As you can see, BeIN Sport acquired The Dakar media rights for Middle East. You can find the main highlights on their streaming service TOD:
The Dakar produces daily and weekly 26-minute programmes with commentary in English. These programmes highlight the high points of the race and the best stage of the day.
The organisation can also produce programmes dedicated to a specific team or competitor, with several clips delivered during the rally or at the end of the rally, with or without image editing.
The race summary videos and personalised videos may be used on television, either in programmes dedicated to the Dakar Rally, or in general and/or sporting news bulletins.
The future of Dakar TV distribution
I’m convinced the Dakar could become a successful FAST channel in the future, for the following reasons:
A very large fan base with 1 billion television viewers
Every January during the race, the channel could offer near live content and highlights
Summaries are already available in English, French and Spanish
Documentaries about the drivers and their preparation throughout the year
Thousand of hours of archives from 45 editions
Educational videos explaining the Dakar for newbies
Discover the route with amazing landscapes videos
Documentaries about new countries, cultures and historical sites
Sponsored content from the main partners: RedBull, Motul, BFGoodrich, Honda, Rebellion Timepieces, etc.
The Dakar FAST channel could complement a limited offer of motorsport channels on the main FAST platforms
That’s all for today, the TV distribution strategy of The Dakar Rally. Congratulations to the 2023 winners!
Kevin Benavides (Bikes)
Charan Moore (Original by Motul)
Nasser Al-Attiyah (Cars)
Alexandre Giroud (Quads)
Janus Van Kasteren (Trucks)
Austin Jones (LW Protos)
Eryk Goczal (SSV)
BONUS 1: My pictures of the Dakar from the middle of the Empty Quarter last week
BONUS 2: If you want to know more about The Dakar and discover Saudi Arabia, follow the adventure of Zoé, Tim and Maximus (The Jeep) here ↓
See you online next week. Until then, enjoy The Last Of Us on OSN+.
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