By the Numbers: 2014 Thoroughbred Makeover
October 20, 2014Seven hundred people attended at least some part of the October 4 and 5 weekend, 5,000 watched the livestream via Bloodhorse.com, and 10,480 voted in the America’s Most Wanted Thoroughbred Contest.
They witnessed the 40 vendors in the Sponsor Area, the TCA Thoroughbred Marketplace presenting 48 off-track Thoroughbreds for sale or adoption, on-track demonstrations featuring 14 different riding disciplines, and the final performances from the ten horse and trainer teams in the America’s Most Wanted Thoroughbred Contest.
The impact was felt far beyond Pimlico. Mediawise, Inc. estimates that 3.4 million in the Baltimore mainstream market saw, read, or listened to news stories about the event. Those included Baltimore Sun, two business publications, multiple stories on WBAL and Fox 45 TV, and three of the top ten radio stations.
The racing media coverage was extensive both in print and online, including BloodHorse, Horseman’s Journal, American Racehorse, Paulick Report, MidAtlantic Thoroughbred, America’s Best Racing, Daily Racing Form, Thoroughbred Daily News and many others.
Equestrian press included Chronicle of the Horse, Practical Horseman (forthcoming), Sidelines, Western Horseman (forthcoming), The Equiery, and at least fifteen online news sources.
In the weeks leading up to the event, an average of 200,000 people engaged with our Facebook page, coming from all corners of the United States. During the week of the event, that number reached nearly 500,000. Over 40,000 people watched the YouTube videos featuring the Most Wanted contestants and our web site had over 134,000 page views in the month preceding the Makeover.
When we look back on the hard work that an event like this takes, it can sometimes be hard to truly fathom what kind of impact we are making. But the reach of our events, the activity on our web site, and the growth of our Facebook fan base from 12,000 to 70,000 in the last twelve months suggests to us that we are on the right track.
A big round of applause has been earned by all of our sponsors, volunteers, exhibitors, and followers. Upward and onward from Sport of Kings to Kings of Sport!
