Neste Oil Rally Finland is the largest annually-staged spectator event in the Nordic countries, but it is also a huge media happening. Alongside the press, TV and the internet have become increasingly important channels of communication.
Five hundred or so accredited journalists from 26 countries. Over 300 hours of television broadcasts reaching more than 49 million viewers worldwide. 184 000 visitors to the web site and in excess of 8.7 million hits. Net radio coverage followed by listeners in 80 countries.
The media figures for 2006 demonstrate just how big an event Neste Oil Rally Finland has become. Peoples interest in the rally has increased, particularly where television is concerned. During the last five years the number of TV viewers internationally has doubled. Previously the size of the viewing audience was an estimate, but now reliable TV audience figures are starting to become available, says Jarmo Mahonen, Managing Director of AKK Sports Ltd. The events international TV media value is calculated at EUR 17.8 million.
Mahonen is quick to point out that TV coverage of rallies is still a relatively new thing around the world. YLE, the Finnish Broadcasting Company, was the first TV company to follow the complete World Rally Championship series. The key breakthrough in television coverage occurred at the end of the 1990s.
In the current decade the media phenomenon is naturally the internet, the importance of which is increasing at Neste Oil Rally Finland, too.
The net has simply exploded in popularity. People use it to get news and stage times, and also to listen to live radio coverage, Mahonen underlines.
In addition to results, users are eager to obtain updates on timetables and competitors before the start of each rally, as well as comments from the drivers during the rally weekend itself.
Rally Radio has its own vital role to play in media coverage of Neste Oil Rally Finland. National rally radio keeps listeners in Finland up to date on events, while its net radio counterpart does the same for rally enthusiasts around the world. Last year the rally was followed via net radio as far away as Australia.
Many spectators heading out on the special stages take a radio with them, too, National Press Officer Paula Koivukari points out.
World championship rallies are rapidly becoming highly diverse events offering a lot to see and do in addition to the rally itself.
In the same manner communication is changing form as audiences go in search of something more than just results. Communication is speeding up, becoming more hectic. As terminal devices get smaller rally events can be followed virtually anywhere and at any time. In the future well be committing more resources to our internet services, Mahonen reveals.
He explains that the fragmentation of the media field and the increase in the popularity of new age devices such as the internet and TV are reflected in the fact that the number of journalists covering events on the spot has no longer grown in recent years. Journalists are now able to follow competitions and report on them by using the internet and listening to the radio.
In spite of the communications revolution hundreds of media representatives will again descend on Jyväskylä at the beginning of August, especially the media centre based at Jyväskylä Paviljonki.
Generally people arrive on the Tuesday or Wednesday of the rally week. Before the first special stage run on the Thursday evening some of the media crowd are out and about as the drivers polish their pace notes and then have a chance to test the cars setup on Thursdays shakedown stage.
As soon as the rally gets into full swing, the media centre is quiet during the day and an absolute hive of activity as the drivers return to Rally HQ in the evening. As a rule representatives of the media leave the city in the course of Monday morning.
At Neste Oil Rally Finland the international media are particularly on the lookout for extreme speed and super-enthusiastic rally fans. Fast special stages and marvellous jumps are what the media are interested in, especially photographers, says Koivukari.
Many visitors are fascinated, too, by the way of life in Finland and Central Finland in particular. Last year the Japanese turned up a good two weeks before the rally weekend to do background pieces on Central Finland and its inhabitants.
Photo: Communication is changing form as audiences go in search of something more than just results. Finlands Marcus Grönholm will be defending the victory from last year.
By Tommi Salo Photo by McKlein