fis winter sport report 2016

Insights by Repucom II xxxxxxxxx II 1

1XXXXXX

Winter sport

report

©2016 FIS II Repucom

2Introduction

Winter sport

Gian Franco KasperFIS President

2016Winter sport has established itself as a profitable industry, and not only in

countries traditionally known for such pastimes. Resorts benefit more than just the athletes and media involved. Numerous event organisers and the wider travel and tourism sector take similar advantage.

In the majority of cases, television viewership and on-site attendance have been on the rise in recent years, and thanks to digital media, long-standing partners and sponsors have more interesting opportunities than ever to engage fans in the realm of winter sport. Year after year, FIS takes on the challenges in order to market attractive rights packages and emotionally evocative competitions.

Winter sport entertains fans around the world who are not only large in number, but also advantageous in terms of their structure. Research conducted by Repucom, the trusted advisor in sports and entertainment intelligence, has shown that many of these fans have a positive image of sponsors and corre-sponding activities in their sport of choice.

This is just one of the reasons why the FIS’ winter sport disciplines offer an attractive and international communication platform through which marketing and advertising firms alike can effectively engage their target audiences.

This report is designed to provide insight into the interesting ways in which

FIS disciplines are marketed and how the emotional aspects involved are sup-plemented with quantifiable data from different winter sport markets. Potential partners can thus learn more about how they can profit from collaborating with one of FIS’ platforms.

contents03 I introduction

04 I Global development

06 I Global media coveraGe

10 I Winter sport sponsorship

20 I Winter sport – multimedia event

22 I FocusinG the Fans

24 I marketinG oF Fis events & campaiGns

31 I outlook – trends & developments

3Introduction

Insights by Repucom

the attractivity of Fis winter sport

Source: Repucom Market Intelligence

estimated sponsorship volume of top 4 winter sport markets & worldwide (in %)

Swit

zerl

an

d16%

auSt

ria

28%

wo

rld

wid

e

29%

uSa

15%

Ger

ma

ny14%

More than half of the sponsorship investments in winter sport worldwide are made in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. The US market is the third strongest with a share of 15%. Sporting goods companies are the industry with the highest investments, followed by automotive brands.

estimated winter sport sponsorship volume of top 5 industries (in %)

FIS and Audi are reliable and long-standing partners. Their common interests include

promotion and strengthening of skiing in America and Asia – the regions where the awareness level is not high as in Europe. A bundling of a range of events and disciplines provides synergies for both partners. thomas Glas // head of sports marketing, audi aG

introduction

insuranceFinance

automotive

non-alcoholic

Sporting goods

20%

16%

7%7% 7%

43% others

“The races in the FIS World Cup are a great experience. It requires a huge amount of passion and hard training to put in a top performance in every race. Professional winter sport has devel-oped a lot, not only on the slopes or in the arena but also in its surroundings. The passion of the people acting behind the scenes is comparable with the effort of us as professional athletes!” // aksel lund svindal


4Global Development

Global development & interest in Fis disciplines

Insights by Repucom

5Global Development

In Austria, Germany and Switzerland, winter sport disci-plines are among the most popular sports. Biathlon and Ski Jumping continue to draw the most interest in Germany. In Austria and Switzerland, meanwhile, Alpine Skiing has long been by far the most favoured winter sport discipline. Coming in second at 36% (ahead of Ski Jumping and Freestyle Skiing) is Ice Hockey; for the sake of comparison, however, this ranking focuses on the classical winter sport disciplines.

Another global survey has revealed that in terms of percent-ages, interest in Alpine Skiing is greater in Austria than in any other country. Its closest competitors are Italy, France, Sweden, and Germany, but the gap is significant. While Alpine Skiing is not one of the top five sports in the United States, the sheer number of sport fans in the country means that it boasts the greatest amount of potential interest in the world, e.g. in Asia where the next two Winter Olympics will take place.

interest in winter sport – alpine skiing at the top

Source: Repucom Wintersport-Kompass 2015 / 16. Base: 1000 respondents in Germany / 500 respondents in both Austria and Switzerland, aged 16-69

austria sWitzerland

Alpine Skiing

Ski JumpinG

FreeStyle SkiinG 21%

25%

Global interest in alpine skiing (in million)

USA

46.9

Japa

n

19.5

ruSS

ia

18.0

ita

ly

17.7

Ger

ma

ny

17.5

Fra

nce

16.4 uk

10.7

Spa

in

7.9

pola

nd

7.8

can

ad

a

6.3

Sou

th k

ore

a

5.5

auSt

ria

3.8

Swit

zerl

an

d

2.9

Swed

en

2.4

Source: Repucom SportsDNA 2015. Base: 1000 respondents per country, aged 16-69, top 2 box "very interested" + "interested"

49%

Global interest in Fis disciplines

total amount

183.3 M

Germany

BiAthlon

Ski JumpinG

alpine SkiinG 29%

36%

40%Alpine Skiing

Ski JumpinG

nordic combined 30%

48%

61%


6Global Media Coverage

Global media coveraGe

Insights by Repucom


All FIS winter sport disciplines – Alpine Skiing, Ski Jumping, Nordic Combined, Cross-Country Skiing, Freestyle Skiing and Snowboard – create a high media coverage globally. For the media evaluation in season 2015/16, the top 10 markets per discipline were taken into account. This effects that not all countries are the same for every discipline. Alpine Skiing generates the highest amount of broadcast hours: approximately 3,400 hours of its events were broadcasted. Compared to the discipline with the second highest broadcast hours – Ski Jumping – Alpine Skiing achieves a lower cumu-

lated audience. This is because especially the Four Hills Tournament lures many TV viewers in front of the screens. Furthermore, Cross-Country Skiing generates approximately 1,500 broadcast hours with a cumulated audience of 1,144 million TV viewers, thanks to the successful Tour de Ski format. Nordic Combined and Freestyle Skiing media coverage are nearly on the same level. Nordic Combined generates twice as much TV audience than Freestyle Skiing. FIS Snowboard events have a comparable broadcast time. As it is a younger discipline, it reaches a remarkable audience globally.

broadcast hours & cumulated tv audience, top 10 countries per discipline

Source: Repucom Media Evaluation, season 2015 / 16

Global media coveraGe oF Fis disciplines

aUDIENCEin million

broaDCastin hours

2373

3371

1144

1486

290

379

642

361

2781

2384

189

396Ski J

um

pin

G

alp

ine

Skiin

G

cro

SS-c

ou

ntr

y

no

rdic

co

mbi

ned

Free

Styl

e Sk

iinG

Sno

wbo

ard



The media coverage 2015/16 once more delivered a strong TV performance for all FIS disciplines. The main contribution to the increase in broadcast time came from historically strong winter sport countries like Germany or Austria, where numerous TV channels aired programs dedicated to Alpine Skiing or Ski Jumping competitions. But also in Sweden, Slove-nia, Finland and on pan-European sports network Eurosport on-screen times increased significantly over the last years. A strong growth in TV audiences of 50% and more was tracked e.g. in Italy, China and Czech Republic. However the results

show that Europe is still the global hot spot for winter sport but the interest in winter sport TV programs in the North American region rises as well. For the Asia-Pacific region winter sport is a relevant sports topic in selected sports and countries. Ski Jumping in Japan or Cross-Country in South Korea are examples where FIS World Cups deliver high awareness and audiences in the national sports calendar. The long term trend of winter sports’ global TV media coverage is positive. Since the season 2010/11 the number of broadcast hours in the top 10 markets has developed from approximately 3,700 hours to

Winter sport as Global tv platForm

Global tv coverage, season 2015 / 16

Source: Repucom Media Evaluation; global overview

North AMericA140267

eUrope63388957

Audiences (mill.)

Broadcast (hours)

Insights by Repucom


Global tv coverage, season 2015 / 16

ASiA-pAcific426

trend of broadcast hours and cumulative audience, top 10 winter sport countries

Broadcast hoursCumulative audience

more than 7,000 hours in the season 2015/16. During five months a year FIS winter sport disciplines are broadcasted day and night in nearly every European market plus in the most relevant sports markets in North America and in Asia. The number of broadcasted hours raised interestingly often with-out direct connection to the sporting success of national heroes in the various FIS disciplines. Winter sport established itself in the last years in a huge amount of countries to one of the most popular TV sports in general. The winter sport audiences vary from market-to-market and season-to-season. In order to

collect high TV audiences for winter sport in various countries two key factors determine the numbers, first the sporting success of mainly national, only sometimes international sport stars, to create a higher interest in the market and secondly news channels that broadcast the top sports in their programs regularly. Examples in the season 2015/16 like the fantastic Ski Jumping star Peter Prevc from Slovenia or another top season for the Alpine Skiing hero from Austria, Marcel Hirscher, showed the influence top stars have on the winter sport media coverage and on the cumulative audiences overall.

Source: Repucom Media Evaluation

5,600

5,400

5,200

5,000

4,800

4,600

4,400

4,200

8,000

7,000

6,000

5,000

4,000

3,000

2,000

1,000

010 I 11 11 I 12 12 I 13 13 I 14 14 I 15 15 I 16

1225


10Winter Sport Sponsorship

Winter sport sponsorship

Insights by Repucom


Winter sport sponsors get high media value from their engagements. In the season 2014/15 all analysed FIS partners got an unweighted media value of about €1.6 billion. With regards to the attractive high media values FIS partners and other winter sport sponsors can get from the winter sport event landscape the investment in winter sport sponsorship increased significantly in the last ten years. Sponsors invested more than €120m per season. in professional winter sport sponsorship in the season

2014/15. Focusing on the FIS disciplines most of the brands from various industries placed their money in Alpine Skiing, followed by Ski Jumping and Cross-Country. More and more sponsors invested as well in the last years in endorsement and single event sponsorships. Winter sport delivers a huge amount of potential brand ambassadors and with the varity of top sport events in winter sport sponsors very often see interesting potentials to tell their own sponsorship stories in a top sports and high professional environment.

value of winter sport as a sponsorship platform

Source: Repucom Market Intelligence, Repucom Media Evaluation, * includes all superordinate federation’s partnerships that cannot be clearly assigned to a specific discipline

1.6 billionunweiGhted media value oF all analySed FiS partnerS

StronG media expoSure For brandS in a huGe amount oF channelS and countrieS

Gaining access to positive brand equityThe right to leverage this IP further via advertising, promotions & PR

Usage of top athletes as brand ambassadorsGaining access to passionate fan base in a moment of high emotion

Premium hospitality opportunities (B2B, consumer promotions and employee relations)

cross-country

skiing (general*) alpine skiing

snowboard

ski Jumping

nordic combined

Freestyle skiing

BeNefitS of winter sport as a sponsorship platform



sponsors oF Fis disciplines

The current sponsorship portfolio of FIS spans across multiple industries. The FIS partnerships are divided in three different levels with different services and rights. FIS relies on continuity and works alongside with global brands that have a deep interest in strengthening the sport itself and its economic infrastructure. The long-term partnerships mark a logical continuation of the winter sport activities which the

official Fis partners, season 2015 / 16

A direct partnership between FIS and its partner, the contracts are signed over several years with the same marketing rights. Thanks to a strong visibility at all the World Cup events, it allows to reach different goals like emotionalize the brand, top level tech-nology and athletic performance, refreshing personalities, get associated with an energetic sport with a high loyalty from fans. Long term identi- fication and offensive target market distributions are the key factors of this partnership. They activate sponsorship at exciting several event locations and countries with hospitality platforms.

World cup partner

Engagement at one event or a full weekend of competitions feature strong marketing elements. The partners may have a strong network and customers based near events with a high national distribution. Hospitality programs and activation on site provide a direct bond to the target group in the country of each competition.

event partner

Tourism regions often choose an event strategy with high communica-tion and brand values. The destination partners promote its event to create value for its own offers and present high skills on knowledge in winter sport. The resort or destination name gets a high visibility on TV. Other event investors generate more support and money for the tourism area and it allows to increase the potential of investments.

destination partner

brands have so far been involved in. The longest relationship with Audi started in 2002. Working alongside with FIS since 2003, Viessmann is the second German partner. Longines and Craft joined the FIS partner family in 2006, followed by Polar (2009) and OMV (2011). Helvetia and Konica Minolta (both 2012) and Le Gruyère (2015) completed the portfolio of FIS sponsors.

since 2002

since 2003

since 2006

since 2009

since 2012

since 2015

since 2011

Insights by Repucom


audi´s efforts to promote winter sport go far beyond mere financial support. For more than 30 years, the company has partnered with orga- nisations such as the German Ski Association (DSV) and it currently works with 16 national Alpine Skiing teams as sponsor and vehicle partner. These teams also benefit from the German automotive giant's technical expertise; their athletes, for example, can train at the wind tunnel centre at Audi's headquarters in Ingolstadt (Bavaria).

Following the original debut of the Audi FIS Ski World Cup during the 2002/03 season, the brand with the four rings has now lent its name to the Audi FIS Ski Cross World Cup since 2011. In November 2013, Audi became the central sponsor of the Nordic Combined World Cup, and also entered into a partnership with the FIS Cross-Country and Ski Jumping World Cups at the beginning of the 2014/15 season. By expanding its sponsorship activities in winter sport, Audi achieved an increase in its media visibility and overall media value. In Alpine Skiing, its brand can be seen in the usual locations (start, finish, exit gate, interview & leaderboard backdrop), as well as on car displays, advertising boards along courses, TV overlays, inflatables, and other advertising tools.

media exposure audi in Fis winter sport disciplines (in hours)

sponsorship value oF audi

Measuring the visibility and media value of Audi for the last three seasons, there is a significant increase, thanks to media rights changes and optimized positioning of the Audi logo. Within two seasons, Audi has more or less tripled their media exposure in terms of visibility. Whilst in season 2013/14, only three FIS disciplines – Alpine Skiing, Freestyle Skiing and Nordic Combined - generated over 800 hours of visibility, the extended partnerships in Cross-Country and Ski Jumping saw the visibility increase of over 2,300 broadcast hours in last season.

SeaSon 14 i 152000 h

SeaSon 13 i 14800 h

SeaSon 15 i 162300 h viSibility



viessmann – this traditional family-run German company has sponsored winter sport since 1993, which was when the heating equipment manufac-turer realised that customers were relatively unaware of its brand.

Viessmann thus resolved to improve this situation through a broad sponsor-ship effort. Along with awareness- and image-related concerns, such activities are designed to fullfill another important objective: strengthening customer retention based on a greater media presence among the company‘s target group.

In addition to its partnership with FIS, Viessmann supports over 40 athletes and an array of teams in Germany. The broad commitment in winter sport pays off for the company, not only in Germany but worldwide: Across its three target disciplines – Ski Jumping, Cross-Country, Nordic Combined – Viessmann has enhanced its media presence constantly over the past three seasons.

sponsorship value oF viessmann


visibility of viessmann per winter sport discipline (in hours)

Season 15 I 16Season 14 I 15Season 13 I 14 Cross-CountryNordic CombinedSki Jumping

Insights by Repucom


konica minolta is the “Official Data Sponsor” for FIS Ski Jumping World Cup (4th season) and FIS Nordic Combined World Cup (3rd season). Just like Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined, the company also strives for technical expertise and outstanding performance.

The globally operating IT solutions provider is responsible for the evaluation and communication of the disciplines’ results through various channels. The FIS sponsorship gives Konica Minolta a presence opportunity at 60 Nordic disci-plines events in 12 countries in Europe and Asia, accompanied by a broad media visibility.

The tool with the highest advertising exposure for Konica Minolta in season 2015/16 was the start back-drop, generating more than 140 hours of total exposure. On-screen graphic and scoreboard follow, being visible approximately 50 hours less than the start backdrop. Whilst the exit gate is approximately three times lower than the start backdrop, the interview & leader backdrop is the fifth most- valuable tool in terms of advertising exposure.

advertising exposure konica minolta for top 5 tools (in hours), season 2015 / 16

sponsorship value oF konica minolta


24:00:00 48:00:00 72:00:00 96:00:00 120:00:00 144:00:00 168:00:00

Start Backdrop

On-screen Graphic

Scoreboard

Exit Gate

Leader Backdrop



lonGines – the Swiss watch brand has been a partner of FIS since 2006 and currently the Official Timekeeper for the Audi FIS World Cup Alpine Skiing competitions and the FIS World Ski Championships. Longines has generations of experience as Official Timekeeper of world championships and as a partner of international sports federation.

The brand’s long association with competition skiing started in Chamonix in 1933. The multitude of events that followed gave Longines the opportunity to develop and introduce technological innovations, e.g. intermediate times that could be shown on television alongside the time of the fastest compe-titor for comparison, or a mobile app that offers the possibility of watching races in real time.

In season 2015/16, the total brand exposure of the watch brand was over 300 hours at the top 5 resorts. The resort with the highest exposure of over 75 hours was St. Moritz, one of the world's most famous winter sport desti-nations. It is followed by Val d'Isere (approximately 68 hours). Whilst Alta Badia and Lake Louise achieve nearly the same level, fifth-placed Kitzbühel had a brand exposure for Longines of approximately 50 hours last season.

sponsorship value oF lonGines

total brand exposure longines for top 5 resorts (in hours), season 2015 / 16


24:00:00 48:00:00 72:00:00 96:00:00 120:00:00

St. Moritz (SUI)

Val d´Isere (FRA)

Alta Badia (ITA)

Lake Louise (CAN)

Kitzbühel (AUT)

Insights by Repucom


resort analysis

total turnover and gross added value for a region – example

A winter sport event is important not only for FIS as the rights holder, but also for the region where an event takes place. Different factors have a tangible and intangible impact on an event and the region. Focusing on a common resort, the majority of those who attend an event mostly come from outside a region, and around half need overnight accommodation.

These guests thus generate e.g. between 30,000 and 50,000 overnight stays for Alpine Skiing World Cups while generally spending a considerable amount of money in an area. This results in direct and indirect economic effects for numerous industries throughout a region, including whole-sale, retail, transport, and construction. A region's biggest beneficiary, however, is likely the hospitality sector.

Furthermore, a FIS event generates additional media and marketing impact through strong global media coverage. This awareness implies additional value for a city or region. Hosting a high-pro-file event also influences the attractive-ness of a city for its inhabitants and provides a high quality of living due to the city’s or region’s identity-establish-ing and unique character. This often has a sustainable effect that may not have an economic impact until later.

Source: Repucom, various economic surveys

Total turnover

“A World Cup event is A key Component of the region´s identity”*

Event

Hospitality sector

CommerceTransport Construction

Others

HostResort

Gross added value




event sponsorships

The winter sport calendar includes a lot of different sponsorship opportunities. FIS offers different packages, from a single event partnership to season partner packages for an entire World Cup season. With regards to the media impact, brands get a better return on investment for FIS season packages. This ROI is much better than for a single event package in every discipline. It is not only due to the much higher visibility time on screen in total. It is, on the one hand, based upon the continuity of visibility over a longer period of time (between four and five months). During this

period the sponsor will have the opportunity to gain higher visibility through programs with a generally higher audience, e.g. news or highlights. On the other hand, the media output gets proportionally higher in comparison to a decreasing sponsorship investment per event. As well, a season partner has other advantages like premium hospitality options or better using the solid midterm winter sport engagement for employer branding topics that are not measureable with TV figures, but that certainly have a high value for every sponsor.

comparison of different Fis partnership levels

Source: FIS / Repucom

6,000

5,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

1,000

0

25

20

15

10

5

0

Multiple Event PartnerSingle Event Partner Season Partner

Sponsorship investment (index)

It is obvious the more sponsorship investment a brand makes, the impressions from that sponsorship get higher. But in the graph below the difference between a multiple event partner of FIS and the result for a FIS season partner is disproportionately high. The FIS season partner receives a disproportionally higher return for their higher sponsorship investment. The grey zone shows the relationship between investment and output. The return on investment for the FIS season partners are much more attractive than for the other possible event partner packages.

Impressions (in mill.)

Insights by Repucom


Insights by Repucom

Despite the huge amount of top winter sport events per season some of them are the highlights for sponsors. A few of these events are presented in other chapters of this report. The highlights should be the anchor for seasonal partnerships or multiple event engagements. Due to the amount of World Cup events in the different FIS disciplines TV programs very

often focus on the top highlights. Similarly, news channels concentrate on the results from e.g. Kitzbühel, Wengen or Schladming and not on every World Cup venue during the season – so that sponsors of top highlights have a better chance to get higher visibility globally.

overview season highlights

hiGhliGhts For sponsors

season openinG

Four hills tournament

tour de ski

Fis World championship orGaniSed every Second year

nordic combined triple

World cup Finals


20Winter Sport – Multimedia Event

Winter sport as a multi media event

Insights by Repucom

21Winter Sport – Multimedia Event

The most important distribution channels in winter sport are still television and print media. That said, cross-media integration and distribution continue to gain significance in line with the increasing use of a second screen during TV sport broadcasts. Here, viewers search social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) or sport-related websites for additional information on the event they are watching. Empirical surveys from Repucom show that more than half of TV sports viewers use a second screen device simultanously on a regular basis (very often combinations of TV, tablet and

smartphone devices determine modern sports consumption). Two thirds of the younger audience target group can be defined as multi screeners if they watch sports on TV. And the trend is still growing. To continue to draw interest from young target demographics in the future, sufficient potential remains in leveraging video rights through online channels, such as to provide behind-the-scenes material in real time. This can be done through the official FIS discipline social media channels on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Winter sport – 360° media platForm

360°

online

Web tv social media

As more and more fans begin to access online content during sport broadcasts, however, cross-media integration is becoming increasingly essential. Here, digital channels present a tremendous opportunity for FIS to distribute content tailored to specific target groups with a high degree of reach. Leveraging corresponding rights in creative ways will produce shareable content capable of spreading across social networks on its own.

Background reports and other information designed to supplement television programming can be provided through corresponding channels, such as sport websites and other media partners or FIS's own web offerings. These additional channels also offer added value to sponsors and other partners in the form of increased media visibility, which multi-plies the media value of their investments. While local legal restrictions must be taken into account when distributing live streams through web-based television, this also presents the opportunity to coop-erate with regional partners.

On social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, winter sport fans have shown a particular interest in following the profiles of the athletes them-selves. Channels such as Twitch and Snapchat are expected to grow more important among the young target demographic in question. In comparison to other sports, e.g. football, the usage of social media channels is a little bit behind, however the potential is huge. A significant growth in the social media figures for the winter sport target group in general is likely within the next couple of years.


22Focusing the Fans

FocusinG the Fans

Insights by Repucom

23Focusing the Fans

In general, winter sport has a fan structure that is very attractive for brands. A clean appearance of advertising brands, authentic and down-to-earth athletes create a sport that is less vulnerable for negative responses from the winter sport fans. As Repucom’s Fan DNA™ methodology shows, the fan segments of “Trend Positives” and “Game Experts”

are the fan groups brands should concentrate on. In addition, the balanced share of “Connection Fans” – the type of event fans partying at the venues – and “Armchair Fans” – a bit older but really passionate TV viewers – underline the high value of winter sport for sponsors.

interestinG tarGet Group

Source: Repucom Wintersport-Kompass 2014 / 15. Base: 1000 respondents in Germany / 500 respondents in both Austria and Switzerland, aged 16-69. Results represent average of respondents in Germany, Austria, Switzerland.

demographic data education

attitude towards sponsorship media consumption

The fan segment of the “Trend Positives” should be of the most interest to brands engaged in advertising. In winter sport, this group of fans tends to comprise older males (50-plus years on average) who earn an above average income.

Regarding their level of education, nearly half of the winter sport fans surveyed in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland reported having a university-level degree. Another third had completed a basic level of education.

high

45% 52%middle

34% 33%low

21% 15%

Total Active winter sport participants

27%

43%30%

Compared to football fans, for example, winter sport enthusiasts generally have a more positive image of brands engaged in advertising. They recommend the products of winter sport sponsors more frequently to others and are more willing to prefer these products to those offered by non-sponsors.

The most important information source among winter sport fans is television, followed by print media. Due to cross-media integration and the rise in the parallel use of social media during television broadcasts, digital channels continue to gain significance for users, marketers, and sponsors alike. More than half of winter sport fans already view summaries of their preferred content online from time to time. Nearly three out of four use live streams on occasion.

47% 53%

16 – 29 years

30 – 49 years

50 – 69 years


24Marketing of FIS Events & Campaigns

case studies: marketinG oF Fis events & campaiGns

p

erce

nt e

xpos

ure

per liv

e event

Insights by Repucom


case studies: marketinG oF Fis events & campaiGns

Fis event properties

Winter sport is divided into a huge amount of professional single sport events. FIS is the host of a wide range of top sport events for the Olympic disciplines of Alpine Skiing, Cross-Country Skiing, Ski Jumping, Nordic Combined, Freestyle Skiing and Snowboard. During a winter sport season the FIS calendar has a lot of extraordinary top events, a special few of

them with the Four Hill Tournament (Ski Jumping), the Tour de Ski (Cross-Country), the Hahnenkamm Race in Kitzbühel (Alpine Skiing) and the Cross World Cup Montafon (Snow-board) will be presented on the following slides. A bright light on a partner campaign of Polar combines sponsors’ targets with the opportunities of these top events.

Four hills tournament – top tools per exposure (in %)

Start

inFlatable

bib

8%

10%

40%

10%

p

erce

nt e

xpos

ure

per liv

e event


platinum circle



The annual Four Hills Tournament is typically enjoys comprehensive live coverage on television, with Eurosport providing further support in the form of numerous delayed broadcasts. Three formats – news, highlight compilations, and sport programmes – account for around 13% of this

reporting. Nearly 65% of the total reach achieved can be attributed to news programmes, making them a key category in this regard; live programming, meanwhile, contributes just over a quarter of total reach.

tournament (vierschanzentournee)

sponsorship exposure by athlete, season 2015 / 16

Along with skiing apparel, which is traditionally an effective means of advertising in Ski Jumping, starting area installations, digital boards, inflatables, and the platinum circle have proven useful in terms of both visibility and media impact. All of these instruments afford partners considerable brand exposure among a large number of viewers.

helmet 1% – 3%

Ski 1% – 2%


Insights by Repucom


Viessmann FIS Tour de Ski performance by Craft Sportswear, which debuted in 2006, is a Cross-Country competition that was thought up by Jürg Capol (Switzerland) and Vegard Ulvang (Norway) during a particularly productive sauna ses-sion. It involves races featuring both the classic and "skating" style of skiing. In 2016, the 10th Tour de Ski comprised a total of eight stages across four event locations: Lenzerheide, Oberstdorf, Toblach, and Val di Fiemme. The evaluation of the cumulated TV audience in the selected top 8 markets shows that the range of TV viewers reaches from 4 million to approximately 15 million. As might be expected, the final com-petition of the Tour de Ski generates the highest TV audience.

tour de ski

cumulative tv audiences of selected countries

slovenia

sWeden

sWitzerlandGermany

russiaitalynorWay

poland

0,00

2,00

4,00

6,00

8,00

10,00

12,00

14,00

Source: Repucom Media Evaluation average cumulative TV audiences per day

Day 7Day 6Day 5Day 4Day 3Day 2Day 1

Cum

ulat

ive

TV a

udie

nces

(in

mill

.)



hahnenkamm race kitzbühel

The Hahnenkamm Race has been held since 1931, making it one of the most time-honoured events on the FIS calendar. Every year, more than 100,000 visitors make the trip to these hallowed Austrian slopes to experience the season's most challenging weekend of competition up close. Space is very much at a premium not only on the slopes themselves, but directly adjacent to the finish line area in the stylish Kitz Race Club, as well. Opinion leaders from the realms of sport, politics, business, and culture gather at this 2,500-square-metre facility over the event's three days. This "summit" lends the sporting event a unique social relevance. Meanwhile, first-class catering and exclusive entertainment provide for a

one-of-a-kind atmosphere for networking. The highlight of the weekend arrives on Saturday evening in the form of the Kitz Race Party, which brings together a veritable who's who of celebrities, guests from the event's sponsors, and the winter sport elite for a gala dinner that promises unparalleled haute cuisine. It also features live music from top international stars like OneRepublic, Amy MacDonald, Lisa Stansfield, and Ronan Keating. In 2016, the VIP area at the 76th edition of this soirée was completely sold out. Those with gold card status can enjoy all the comforts offered throughout the three-day weekend for €2,970. Those looking to let their hair down at the Kitz Race Party can purchase a ticket for €1,000.

Insights by Repucom


snoWboard cross & ski cross World cup

The FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup in Montafon, Austria, combines sport and entertainment in an extraordinary atmosphere. Under the theme "sport on the mountain, party in the valley", the best snowboard cross athletes in the world – and since 2015, ski cross athletes, as well – vie for the top spot on the podium. Along with the sporting activities on the slopes, the "party in the valley" aspect is also a main attraction. Over the course of 10 days, top athletes are not the only ones on hand to entertain the guests; well-known acts like Die Fantastischen Vier, Bastille, Madcon, and Cro take the stage in Schruns to keep the party

going for fans of both winter sport and music. Particularly noteworthy is the award ceremony of the athletes on the big concert stage in front of thousands of fans. During its World Cup event, Montafon transforms into one big fan zone that brings sport and lifestyle together in a breathtaking setting. The concept is geared in particular toward a young audience interested in both the competition and the highlights of the wider event. The success of this concept is confirmed by the response of more than 12,500 visitors and 80 interna-tional media representatives.

montaFon



Polar, which manufactures wireless heart rate monitors and other wearables for sport and fitness, used its partnership with the FIS Tour de Ski 2016 to generate interest for its products among those with a general interest in sport. The FIS Tour de Ski Challenge 2016 Powered by Polar sought to moti-vate Cross-Country enthusiasts of all levels to share the perfor-mance data online they had collected using Polar devices from 1st to 10th January. A website created solely for the campaign

displayed a real time ranking of the countries whose athletes had amassed the most kilometres. This competition was designed to encourage people from various countries to get involved in Cross-Country Skiing and participate through dig-ital channels. The result: 1,400 participants, 50,157 kilometres, and more than 3.2 million burned calories! Coming in first were the athletes from Finland, who racked up 9,040 kilometres – a full 800 more than the second-place Russians.

activatinG Fans For polar campaiGn

Polar conducted its related communications on Twitter under the official hashtag #TourdeSki. The company regularly posted infographics on the current distance ranking, which was also shared by the official FIS Cross-Country account, @FISCrossCountry. This made it possible to augment the reach of the Polar content posted through the event's official channel. In this way, a professional sporting event was used to motivate general-interest athletes to exercise using Polar products while also driving the brand in the digital realm. The campaign was also combined with Polar’s online retail strategy: Combined with the special web code FIS2016, people interested could get a Polar heart rate sensor for free when buying a package composed of a Polar GPS monitor and heart rate sensor package.

channel analysis

Finland win the FIS #TourdeSki challenge after skiing an impressive 9040 km! Huge thank you to all who took part!

polar@PolarGlobal

Insights by Repucom

31Outlook

outlook – trends & developments

sponsorship in Winter sport – Together, winter sports dominate TV broadcasts between October and March. Only soccer and national sports like American Football in the USA and Ice Hockey in Russia come close. FIS events have a significant share of all winter sport broadcasts – e.g. on the sports-dedicated channel Eurosport, this share is approximately 60% across the season. One of the reasons for such a result is that FIS has a great variety of disciplines and events which reach both genders - older as well as younger audiences. The highest level events are attractive for spectators on-site, as well as audiences viewing from home either via digital, web, or TV – still the most valuable channel. Research over the last 6 seasons shows a significant increase in TV broadcasting hours and audience in the ten top countries per discipline (see page 9). That means that FIS can deliver an interesting return on investment to its major partners which is a major reason for them to have long term commitments with the organisation.

neW Formats by Walter hoFer – Three key components are crucial for the successful implementation of new formats: a quota system for all participating nations, a comprehensible competition procedure and a dramatic plot for the competition itself. The quota system guarantees that a specific number of athletes from one nation will compete for the whole event in general and for the final run. If a sport wants to be successful on TV, it should follow specific media requirements such as the broadcast duration, the length of a break between two runs and the time period in which the competition takes place. To ensure a dramatic event, the starting order of both runs should differ with the first run order determined by the World Cup ranking and the final run by the positions after the first run. Another dramatic enhancement could be a flexible start interval, in order to control the course of competition.

neW media potential (FismaG) – With the increasingly widespread use of smartphones, app usage has also greatly increased. Therefore, mobile marketers have increasingly taken advantage of smartphone apps as a marketing resource. Marketers will aim to increase the visibility of an app in a store, which will in turn help in getting more downloads. By optimizing the placement of the app usage, marketers can ensure a significant number of increases in download. This allows for direct engagement, payment, and targeted advertising. Mobile media time is greater than desktop or other devices. New media can integrate fan driven and user friendly platforms, graphic trends and modern presentations. Partners get an additional and important channel and can include the art data driven social/digital marketing. It al-lows to turn into an integrated community platform with ski fans, active users, fol-lowers of snow sport and it creates new values and opportunities.

marcel loozeMarketing Manager I FIS

JürG capolNordic Director I FIS Marketing

Walter hoFerRace Director I FIS

Professional winter sport and the various industries around it are evolving every day. New commercial and strategic partner-ships, fresh thinking, the demands of fan groups and technical innovations are changing the dynamics for brands, rights holders, broadcasters, agencies, resorts and of course for the FIS itself. Some of the most important decision-makers of FIS and FIS Marketing have provided an outlook, identifying the

challenges facing winter sport in the future, in order to continue to be an attractive platform for all stakeholders – whether it is the potential for sponsors in partnering with FIS, the creation of new sport events or new ways of distributing content via social media channels. The insights are aimed at aligning the whole winter sport industry, putting it on the right track to meet the challenges of the global sport business.


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fis winter sport report 2016

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