Published:  3.2.2020

In summer 2018, Hippos and Digita decided to bring harness racing back to the free television channels. Harness races were no longer broadcast after the turn of the previous year, and the much waited for return of free harness race broadcasts took place in July. There are approximately seven thousand harness racing athletes in Finland, and harness racing competitions are organised in some corner of Finland on nearly every day of the year. The number of people watching harness races or competing in them is estimated to be 100,000 on a weekly basis. 

In 2018, harness racing was only broadcast through services subject to a charge, and many hoped that they would return to free channels. Merja Tuunanen, Head of Communications and Marketing at Hippos says that especially the Saturday broadcasts were badly missed. 

“When presented with the opportunity to bring harness racing back so that it is available for all, we were eager to do so! The comeback of broadcasts was marketed to harness racing enthusiasts, and the reception was very warm already before the broadcasts began. Digita is a long-time cooperation partner of Veikkaus (former Finntoto) in harness racing broadcasting, and the experiences from the cooperation have been good”, says Tuunanen. 

Anyone can take the stage

Estradi is a channel provided by Digita, and it can be used to broadcast pop-up-TV content. Various types of content can be broadcast through the channel – from direct broadcasts to video material that has been prepared in advance. Estradi reaches 97% of television viewers in Finland, and the channel is available for viewers free of charge. Producing content for the channel is easy – whether for one time or regularly. Estradi is broadcast to households with terrestrial television in the coverage area, and the most recent televisions require no separate channel search. 

“We recommend utilising the Estradi channel especially in one-time projects, as most viewers have already tuned the channel in their televisions, and it is therefore easy for them to watch the channel,” says Digita’ s Teppo Ahonen, Director, Video Delivery Services. 

“Creating a TV broadcast for an existing channel is as easy as producing any other content,” Ahonen adds. Broadcasting harness racing through Estradi was also easy, as Veikkaus streams the races for its own customers. Hevosurheilu magazine, Ponsse Ltd and LähiTapiola participated in the broadcasting costs. 

Hippos carried out advance preparations mostly in relation to the cooperation partners. This included finding cooperation partners, planning the hybrid TV features and creation of material and, naturally, the advance marketing of the broadcasts. 

“Everyone felt good about the broadcasts: harness racing enthusiasts were excited and the cooperation with Digita made us smile.” 

Merja Tuunanen from Hippos says that cooperation with Digita went well: 

“Meetings were smooth, and Digita’s employees have a lot of expertise and they genuinely wanted to provide us with the best possible results. We received excellent advice, and even though Digita’s team has a lot of expertise, I never felt like I was obtuse! They are very good at explaining things in layman’s terms.” 

The broadcasts were an even greater success than expected: they reached tens of thousands of viewers, and harness racing enthusiasts gave a lot of positive feedback on the broadcasts. Approximately half of the viewers who had a hybrid TV explored the hybrid TV features. During the harness racing broadcasts, viewers could vote for the harness racing queen and king for the St. Michel race and subscribe to a trial period of the Hevosurheilu magazine. 

Hybrid TV makes television viewing more interactive and offers endless possibilities

Hybrid TV is a modern feature that enriches the traditional television content. Hybrid TV enables viewer activation in various ways, with viewers having access to more content or the option to influence the programme content, for example, through voting. Hybrid TV is an excellent way to have viewers participate in a programme through voting or to attract customers to order a service. As television is a mass medium, the prompts related to hybrid TV services can be delivered to all viewers simultaneously. This is a considerable benefit, for example, when creating interactive advertising campaigns; there may be thousands of activations taking place through remote controls in just a few seconds. 

In practice, the possibilities provided by the hybrid TV application are endless: the implementation is web-based, which means that the hybrid TV application is created using the same technologies as those used for web pages. The feature integrates television more tightly with the rest of the digital environment and enables a more unified user experience on brand websites, in social media and in the hybrid TV application. Hybrid TV integrates television with the online ecosystem.