Spotlight on: London Marathon

Wednesday 29 May, 2015

London Marathon 2015

TV Audience

THE OVERNIGHT AVERAGE AUDIENCE FOR

THE 2015 LONDON MARATHON ON BBC 1
WAS 3.2 MILLION PEOPLE. ALLOWING FOR
EXPECTED DELAYED VIEWERS, THIS IS LIKELY
TO REPRESENT A 10% INCREASE ON THE
AVERAGE AUDIENCE FOR THE 2014 LONDON
MARATHON.
Source: Futures Sport + Entertainment

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2 Waterhouse Square, 140 Holborn London, UK EC1N 2AE

London Marathon 2015

TV Audience
4,500
4,000
3,500

Audience (000s)

3,000
2,500

THE AUDIENCE PEAKED AT 4 MILLION, AS

PAULA RADCLIFFE FINISHED HER LAST
EVER LONDON MARATHON.

2,000
1,500

Read more on this here.

1,000
500
0
10:00:00

10:30:00

11:00:00

11:30:00

12:00:00

12:30:00

Time
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2 Waterhouse Square, 140 Holborn London, UK EC1N 2AE

13:00:00

13:30:00

14:00:00

London Marathon 2015

TV Audience
4,500
4,000
3,500

Audience (000s)

3,000
2,500
2,000

THE AUDIENCE FELL AWAY QUICKLY

ONCE THE ELITE ATHLETES HAD FINISHED
RACING.

1,500
1,000
500
0
10:00:00

10:30:00

11:00:00

11:30:00

12:00:00

12:30:00

Time
www.octagon-uk.com | T: 020 7862 0000
2 Waterhouse Square, 140 Holborn London, UK EC1N 2AE

13:00:00

13:30:00

14:00:00

London Marathon 2015

Social Media

BIG TV EVENTS WILL HAVE A

CORRESPONDING RIPPLE EFFECT ONLINE
WITH MANY TURNING TO TWITTER TO SHARE
THEIR THOUGHTS ON THE MOMENT. THE
LONDON MARATHON IS NO DIFFERENT
RECEIVING AN AVERAGE OF 88 TWEETS PER
MINUTE THAT DAY FROM OVER 110,000
USERS!

www.octagon-uk.com | T: 020 7862 0000

2 Waterhouse Square, 140 Holborn London, UK EC1N 2AE

London Marathon 2015

Social Media

BUZZ GRAPH FOR

#LONDONMARATHON OR
LONDON MARATHON
What makes this event interesting is the
level of positive messaging around the race
versus other sporting moments with
conversations around support, charities
and pride. Its a great opportunity for many
brands to engage with users in such peak
of emotion but particularly for charities who
can
convert
commentators
into
ambassadors and donors.
Source: Sysomos MAP

www.octagon-uk.com | T: 020 7862 0000

2 Waterhouse Square, 140 Holborn London, UK EC1N 2AE

London Marathon 2015

Focus on Sponsor: Buxton Water

London Marathon 2015

Focus on Sponsor: Buxton Water

Perhaps the most eye catching sponsor activity over the Marathon weekend was
official drinks partner Buxtons tie up with Transport For London. Canada Water
station was renamed Buxton Water on race day with integration of branded
artwork throughout the station creating visibility and awareness of the brands
sponsorship of the Marathon to be built with commuters passing through the
station on race day. A couple of interesting elements to consider
Sponsorships of this nature do not generate high levels of media exposure for
brands through the assets provided by the rights holder they provide a brand
platform. Meaningful engagement and awareness can only be built through
smart activation. This requires additional investment a balance must be struck
between reach and efficiency. For instance, social media is cost-efficient and
provides a dynamic engagement platform but does not guarantee reach
without efficient planning and amplification. Buying media space can guarantee
reach but not engagement without being part of a wider campaign activation
is about striking the right balance based on objectives and available budgets.

www.octagon-uk.com | T: 020 7862 0000

2 Waterhouse Square, 140 Holborn London, UK EC1N 2AE

London Marathon 2015

Focus on Sponsor: Buxton Water

BUXTON WATER
GAINED

2,496

TWITTER MENTIONS
FROM 1,259 USERS
WITH 2,507
CAMPAIGN HASH
TAG MENTIONS
#WITHYOUALLTHEWAY

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2 Waterhouse Square, 140 Holborn London, UK EC1N 2AE

London Marathon 2015

Focus on Sponsor: Buxton Water

Buxton Water reportedly paid 110,000 to rename the tube station for the day; an
investment that is likely to be similar to, or in excess of what the brand pay for their
sponsorship rights. It is likely that the tube station naming rights would be
considered as advertising spend by Buxton rather than sponsorship. Advertising
budgets are much larger than the traditionally more tightly guarded sponsorship
budgets. Rights holders have significant potential to grow revenues by tapping in
to these budgets with relevant propositions.
The first naming rights agreement concluded by TFL who see brand partnerships
as a key way of raising over 3.4bn from non-fare revenue over the next decade.
Whether brands will see the value in longer term tie-ups with TFL or whether
partnerships will tend to be more tactical remains to be seen

www.octagon-uk.com | T: 020 7862 0000

2 Waterhouse Square, 140 Holborn London, UK EC1N 2AE

Thank You

Shea Warnes
Digital
Lead Strategist
@SheaWarnes

Jack Connor
Senior
Analyst
Futures S+E

www.octagon-uk.com | T: 020 7862 0000

2 Waterhouse Square, 140 Holborn London, UK EC1N 2AE

Daniel Haddad
Senior
Account Manager
@danhaddad86