Full live coverage – a worldwide first for rallying – with 12 hours of live broadcasts on Eurosport TV
70% audience increase in reach compared to 2009 with record peak ratings
Eurosport Events, the promoter of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, is delighted to announce exceptional viewing figures for its world first full live coverage of the 78th Monte Carlo Rally, the oldest and most prestigious rally in the history of the sport.
A cumulative reach of 12 million different viewers (*) tuned in to Eurosport and Eurosport2 to watch the opening round of the 2010 IRC season, which featured over 12 hours of live coverage from the stages, a first for rallying.
The audience figures were particularly high on Thursday 21 January when an average audience of 810,000 viewers, and a peak of over one million, watched the snow-covered ninth stage (St Bonnet).
This year’s cumulative reach represents an increase of 70 per cent over 2009, when seven million viewers tuned in to watch last year’s rally. The audience profile was predominantly male, with men representing 68 per cent of viewers.
The IRC Monte Carlo Rally also attracted a comprehensive online following: the IRC website recorded over three million page impressions over the week, while the brand new IRC iPhone application has been downloaded 6000 times and registered 187,000 pages viewed.
Géraldine Filiol, Managing Director of Eurosport Events, commented: "We are very happy with our pioneering live coverage of this epic event, which marks a world premiere in the way that the sport of rallying is broadcast. The unprecedented audience figures reinforce the appeal of the IRC to a global television audience. It also confirms the value of the IRC, which intends to bring rallying closer to the fans and to provide rally organisers and car manufacturers with a dynamic TV and new media package. We look forward to continuing our development and innovative approach over the rest of the season."
The IRC will resume in Curitiba, Brazil, from 4-6 March for the second round of the season. This event will run alongside Brazil’s World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) round, held at the same venue and also promoted by Eurosport Events.
(*) source: Eurometrix – AGF/GFK, SKO, BARB, TNS Global, MMS, AGB Nielsen Media Research, TNS Gallup, ARMA/GFK Romania (TBC) / Nedstat for online figures.

Eurosport’s live IRC Monte Carlo Rally coverage attracted a record audience