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DAY 2 OF ARC - RACING MEDIA AND THE 21ST CENTURY FAN

By Madhukar Bhagawan | 28 Jan 2016 | MUMBAI


The delegates of the 36th Asian Racing Conference went through hectic business sessions. The fourth session on Day 2 was on the topic of Racing Media and the 21st Century fan. Mr. Cyrus J Madan, Chairman, Indian Pattern Committee chaired the session. Mr Madan went down memory lane drawing comparison to the good ‘ol radio medium to the present day internet. He matched the tuning needle of the radios of those times, to the present day curser and the operating knob the computer mouse.

“Racing is the one sport where commenting styles hardly changed when the medium shifted from radio to television. A conglomerate of print and electronic media has combined to make superstars out of horses, jockeys and trainers,” said Mr.Cyrus Madan.

Ms Debbie Spillane, Sports Broadcaster, Australian Broadcasting Corporation was among the panelists for discussion. Debbie was the first woman to be hired as a broadcaster by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1984. In almost 30 years in the media she has covered a wide range of sports including Olympics and Commonwealth for television, radio and print media. “Television doesn’t face a threat to its existence but perhaps a dilution of the influence of its old flagship channels given the way alternatives to old-style broadcast TV are multiplying,” suggested Ms Debbie.  “The old attitude that having your sport on free-to-air television will bring you new fans is becoming less and less logical because, if mainstream TV viewers have no interest in your product, they have plenty of other viewing options. Gone are the days of ‘well, this is what’s on so let’s give it a go,”

Mr.Jim Ramsey, Journalist, Producer and Director gave his presentation. Mr.Ramsey began his career as a journalist at the age of 18 years, working for Race form, The Daily Mall and Sunday Telegraph. For the last two years he has worked as producer and director for IMG and Channel Four Racing, working at the Cheltenham Festival, The Grand National, The Derby and Royal Ascot amongst many race meetings. He spoke on the shifting demands of the television viewers.

“We desperately need to build stories and make characters of jockeys. Let us work together to reveal the traits and quirks of the horses rather than connections saying ‘nice horse’ about every runner,” said Mr. Ramsey. “Maybe the best answer would be to follow the lines of the Champions’ League and Premier League, and make a one-minute interview for all owners, trainers and jockeys compulsory if they enter a horse in a race. It will promote the sport and make it more transparent, while organically educating the racegoer as the interviews would be transmitted on the course to encourage racegoers to return for entertainment purposes and encouraging wagering.”

Mr.Nick Ryle, co-owner of Moneyglass Films, a production company dedicated to producing premium quality feature documentaries with a focus on sport. The most recent ‘Being AP’ a documentary about champion jump jockey A P McCoy that has generated both international acclaim and commercial success. While interacting with the session moderator David Eades about the film, he said, “we set ourselves two challenges, one is that those in racing should enjoy the film, but mainly more important than that is to we wanted to make a film to reach someone on the street that has never heard of A.P. I think we’ve done that.”

There was a discussion amongst the panel before conclusion of the session with the presenters along with former champion international jockey turned broadcaster Hayley Turner, Racing Post’s senior journalist Mr Howard Wright and Australian racing TV presenter and senior producer Caroline Searcy.

Mr. Wright cautioned of the risks of relying too much on social media. “I fear that on Twitter there are so many uninformed and unfounded stories. Professional journalists look behind the tweets,” said Mr. Howard Wright. “I have a Twitter account and somehow have accumulated 274 followers and have no tweets. I use it as an information centre. Everybody has to have a Twitter account, Facebook page, Instagram, and it certainly goes for the racing organizations. If they don’t have it, they aren’t engaging, but at the same time, you have to be aware. Professional journalists are the people who provide the authority, the credibility, are there every day, in the game. Some young journalists these days don’t have phone numbers for people.”

“I spent the last 15 years riding and driving up and down the motorway. I’ve been limited to that. Mentally, you are just in a bubble. You are almost quite selfish; you almost have to be to get on as a jockey. So it is really strange for me to come out and do this [broadcasting],” said Ms. Hayley Turner. “It’s quite nice I find that when you follow people [on Twitter], you can always tell the people who are doing it themselves and those who are really just advertising. It’s strange because in this transition I’m making, I’m un-following some people and following new people.”

“I think you aren’t always preaching to the converted,” said Ms. Searcy concentrating on the role of racing broadcasts. “I’ve had plenty of girls come up to me at the races who find the channels, they love horses, they get their parents to take them out to the races. These are the new and future owners, the new punters. It’s really important to remember that not everyone watching the racing channel is a convert and actually knows what you are talking about. You don’t have to dumb it down, but don’t always assume that everyone knows what you are talking about.”