SailGP focuses on social media audiences during inaugural season finale with Grabyo By Heather McLean, Editor
Monday, October 7, 2019 - 17:08
Print This Story
The Australian SailGP Team F50 skippered by Tom Slingsby AUS races across Sydney Harbour
Global sailing league SailGP is strategically using its digital media output to bring new viewers into the sailing fan base, as the fast-maturing competition seeks to give the sport a makeover in order to increase its popularity.
Tim Godfrey, SailGP chief marketing officer, told SVG Europe: I absolutely see this as a racing product, not just a sailing product. The F50, which is the class of boat we use, is currently the fastest course racing sailboat in the world. It's extreme.
This is a super-charged version of the sport. This is competitive inshore racing; this is not the Ocean Race a year-long race around the world - this is fast racing on the water that leaves you wanting more.
Delivering highlights to social
SailGP captured vast social audiences during its 2019 finale by delivering real-time highlights to social media using Grabyo.
Godfrey commented: We wanted to supercharge our final two events of the season by thinking about how we could attract new audiences. We obviously have our live, linear product distributed over many broadcasters globally, but we wanted to think about how to add to our owned and operated channels.
We chose Grabyo to enable our near-live clipping, clipping big incidents throughout the racing, he said.
Godfrey said that previously, SailGP was clipping and sharing itself in a labour-intensive process. Before, we were essentially clipping the moment' and manually posting it out to our channels, whereas with Grabyo it's a seamless, one-click, which enables us to post to multiple channels at one time.
Sail GP in New York
Pushing the limits
The nature of SailGP is to push the limits of the sport. As such, Grabyo's browser-based video tools allowed the digital team to create and share social videos that explained and explored the technology of SailGP's fleet of six F50 catamarans.
As the dramatic events of the final race unfolded, Grabyo's cloud video platform enabled SailGP to clip, edit and deliver social videos and highlights to Facebook and Twitter in real-time. Fans across the world were able to access live video updates from the waters in Marseille as they happened.
The most thrilling moment of the race, when the Australian and Japanese boats nearly touched during a daring manoeuvre, was shared to social media moments after it happened, creating a live buzz across social media.
Godfrey added: We've enjoyed a phenomenal first season, which was capped off by a thrilling last day of racing. It was vital to us to be able to share the drama and excitement of SailGP with people all over the world, and Grabyo enabled us to do so live, allowing fans to feel like they were there.
Aaron Duckmanton, Grabyo head of marketing, commented: The final race day of SailGP's brilliant first season is a perfect example of why sporting leagues need to ensure they can easily deliver content to fans worldwide in real-time. Sport is unpredictable, and nobody wants to miss a moment of the action; social platforms still represent the best platform for sports like SailGP to grow and educate audiences.
Next season plans
Established in 2018, the organisation's first year of operation included the inaugural season of SailGP, which visited three continents across five events, 29 races and a spectacular championship finale between the year's top-two national teams.
Godfrey said of SailGP's first year of existence and the technologically advanced approach it has taken to broadcasting that SailGP has pushed technology to the limits this year. We're quite a mature broadcaster after only five events. I sometimes have to remind myself it's only been five events! he added.
In terms of next season, we want to enhance the app and grow the sport, taking it outside of our core sailing fans, continued Godfrey. We see digital and broadcasting working in tandem. Being able to drive the [new] fan [to broadcasts] via near-live clips [is key]. If you are a fan or if aren't an avid fan, and you come across a near-live clip that links to a broadcaster, you can click on that.
He added: We'll certainly have a period of consultation with our partners on what has worked and what didn't work as well, and we'll talk to our global broadcasters before we make any decisions for next year. More analysis is going to be key, demystifying sailing terminology, making it more understandable for fans for years to come will be important.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
06/04/2026
Michigan legends bring a new voice to the broadcast as TNT Sports and CBS Sports...
06/04/2026
From high school sports all the way up to the major leagues, building high-quali...
06/04/2026
Quickplay, an AI company for the media and entertainment industry, has been accepted into the Advanced tier of the TwelveLabs Ecosystem Partner Program. Quickpl...
06/04/2026
Grass Valley has announced the Future Playmakers Program, a global initiative to...
06/04/2026
El l der de operaciones impulsa la producci n en estudio mientras encuentra insp...
06/04/2026
The ops leader helps lead the charge in studio for the Spanish-language broadcas...
06/04/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
06/04/2026
The National Hockey League (NHL), in partnership with Verizon and the New Jersey Devils, today announced the opening of the NHL Innovation Lab powered by Verizo...
06/04/2026
Rock League, a new professional curling league, has announced that ESPN+ will stream its inaugural 2026 season for fans in the United States. The first Rock Lea...
06/04/2026
Advanced Systems Group has announced the appointment of Andrea (Andy) Cummis as Vice President of Systems Design and Engineering. In this role, she will lead de...
06/04/2026
Backed by Bolt Ventures, the venture brings Bryson DeChambeau, Grant Horvat, and...
06/04/2026
With this environment we can start that collaboration even earlier because we ca...
06/04/2026
Like the immortal lives of vampires, some stories never really end. That's t...
06/04/2026
As podcasting continues to evolve, growth increasingly means building beyond aud...
06/04/2026
Multiband dynamics plug-in enhanced
California-based developer FSK Audio have released a significant update for their innovative multiband dynamics processo...
06/04/2026
Share official & user-created full-rig presets
IK Multimedia's latest TONEX update makes it possible for users of the popular amp and effects modelling ...
06/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/04/2026
Dalet Showcases Dalia Agentic AI and End-to-End Media Workflows at NAB Show 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Dalet, a leading technology and...
06/04/2026
OpenDrives Shows Off Sports Expertise in Sports Business Hub located in NAB Show...
06/04/2026
Proton to Demonstrate 3D Application at NAB 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Yet further creative potential unleashed through innovation in ...
06/04/2026
Autoscript Highlights Voice-Driven Prompting and PTZ Solutions at NAB 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Experience Autoscript Voice, PTZ prom...
06/04/2026
Mediaproxy Highlights Significant Enhancements to its LogServer suite at NAB Sho...
06/04/2026
April 6th, 2026
TRIBECA STUDIOS AND LILLY ANNOUNCE WINNERS OF INAUGURAL VITAL...
06/04/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Expands Kids Entertainment Lineup With Playground App ...
05/04/2026
Tackles all reported bugs!
SoundBridge have just announced the launch of a new update that introduces a couple of minor changes to their remote collaboratio...
04/04/2026
The University of Arizona's Men's Basketball team has only loss twice th...
04/04/2026
1080p HDR arrives, a new generation of storytelling tools takes center stage, an...
04/04/2026
Michigan legends bring a new voice to the broadcast as TNT Sports and CBS Sports...
04/04/2026
Faster, cleaner and more intuitive than ever
The control software for Flock Audio's digitally controlled patchbay systems has just been treated to an up...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
DHD Introduces AI-Based Audio Noise Reduction to XD3 IP Core
Brie Clayton April 3, 2026
0 Comments
The accompanying image shows the rear panel of the ...
04/04/2026
Macnica Redefines ST 2110 Flexibility with Two Speeds on One Card
Brie Clayton April 3, 2026
0 Comments
New for NAB Show 2026, MEP100 SmartNIC now sup...
04/04/2026
Unified Media Workflows for Story-Centric Production
Brie Clayton April 3, 2026
0 Comments
Framelight X unifies field capture, editing and publishing ...
03/04/2026
Michigan's Fab Five will reunite for an alternate presentation of the Mich...
03/04/2026
Avid will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (April 18-22, Booth N2226, Las Vegas Convention Center), demonstrating its Content Core platform and new AI-driven workflow c...
03/04/2026
Mark Roberts Motion Control (MRMC) has announced the appointment of Nick Barthee as Chief Operating Officer.
The announcement follows MRMC's transition fro...
03/04/2026
Interra Systems has announced that Elite Media Technologies has selected its BATON file-based QC solution for media workflows. Elite Media Technologies speciali...
03/04/2026
Ateme has announced that Moldtelecom has deployed Ateme technologies across its streaming workflow, covering encoding, delivery, operations, and analytics.
Mol...
03/04/2026
Grass Valley will demonstrate Framelight X, its content management platform, at NAB Show 2026. The platform connects capture, ingest, editing, and publishing in...
03/04/2026
Encompass Digital Media and Techex have announced a cloud-native Master Control ...
03/04/2026
Live Vertical Video automatically track the action on the court via AI technology and delivers a fully optimized, 9 16 live feed for viewers...
SailGP focuses on social media audiences during inaugural season finale with Grabyo By Heather McLean, Editor 
