IEC in Sports and _wige form strategic partnership in motorsports

IEC in Sports, the international sports marketing agency owned by Lagardère Unlimited, has signed with _wige MEDIA, the renowned German media company, to represent the audio visual rights for its entire catalogue of motorsports events. The long-term agreement comprises the exclusive worldwide distribution rights across all media platforms and territories.

Under the agreement, _wige will act as the primary contact for motorsports organisers. IEC in Sports and Lagardère Unlimited will complete the partnership using their global sales team to maximise media distribution and to handle the worldwide satellite delivery. The vast amount of content available includes 150 live programmes, as well as magazines, highlights, documentaries and newsfeeds.
Together, IEC in Sports and _wige will use their combined expertise to produce highlight shows and commentary services.

The sales team at IEC in Sports will liaise closely with Lagardère Unlimited Production Hub, having recently opened an exciting new production facility in the centre of Stockholm. The state-of-the-art Digital Media Centre, with its capacity to ingest eight HD feeds simultaneously, will be used to ensure that all events are available digitally, as required.

The starting grid of properties comprises motorsports events on both land and water, including DTM (German Touring Cars), Porsche Carrera Cup, EuroGTSprint, EuroV8 Series, Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup, Ferrari Challenge Europe, FIA Formula 3 European Championship, ADAC GT Masters, Venture Cup Powerboat Race and ADAC Zurich 24h-race Nurburgring.

The 2014 calendar promises another year of exhilarating action in addition to a number of new developments. DTM remains the world’s most popular touring car series, attracting more than 700,000 spectators to attend its 10 events in 2013 – an astounding average of 70,000 spectators per event, more than many top international football clubs. This year will see an expanded FIA Formula 3 European Championship with a packed 33-race programme and a rebranded EuroV8 Series to replace the popular Superstars World International Series, in addition to the Venture Cup, a new event combining extreme racing speeds with marathon endurance, covering 4,000 km across the waves of the Atlantic and Mediterranean from London to Monte Carlo.

Daniel Franck, CEO of IEC in Sports and Head of Lagardère Unlimited Media in Europe, expressed his enthusiasm about the new partnership: “The growth in TV audiences for motorsports events across the world is second only to football, which makes this a very exciting agreement for IEC in Sports and Lagardère Unlimited. The experience and skill of the motorsports experts at _wige, combined with the global reach of our media sales network, makes this an ideal partnership to further grow the profile of these popular motorsports properties. We very much look forward to collaborating together.”

Peter Lauterbach, CEO of _wige MEDIA AG: “It is a great pleasure to welcome IEC in Sports as our partner, having always appreciated their work and considered them as a leading media rights agency. This cooperation is particularly strategic, as we strongly believe that IEC in Sports is the best placed agency to boost distribution and exposure of our diverse motorsports portfolio.”