CHIO Aachen 2003 Also Big Media Success

July 15, 2003

The World Equestrian Festival, CHIO Aachen 2003, which ended one week ago, not only enthused the 313,500 visitors who came to the Aachen show grounds, but also tied the viewers to their TV sets at home. In addition to numerous background reports about the famous equestrian event, the television channels ARD and WDR also provided several live broadcasts from the World Equestrian Festival in Aachen each day.

The ultimate highlight - not only from an equestrian point of view - was the Prize of Aachener und Münchener Versicherungen, "The Grand Prix of Aachen". The live coverage from Aachen on Sunday reached a market share of 12.7 % on ARD, and with that was considerably higher than for example the transmission of the final of the Grand Slam Tennis Tournament in Paris featuring Roland Garros (9.4 %). The "one horse power" sport could also keep up with the Formula One. The warm-up of the weekend's Prize of Europe at the Nuerburgring in Germany, reached a market share of 11.3 %. Put into viewing figures, almost 1.5 million people watched the Prize of Aachener und Münchener Versicherungen, "The Grand Prix of Aachen", while in comparison "only" 0.94 million viewed the warm up of the Formula One.

Furthermore the World Equestrian Festival, CHIO Aachen is also keeping pace with tennis and athletics. Up to 1.34 million viewers (market share: 9.9%) witnessed the German Championships in athletics last Sunday; the Wimbledon Grand Slam match between Andre Agassi and Younes El Aynaoui was watched by 1.15 million (12.4 %); 0.75 million (7.4 %) viewed the match of German professional tennis star Alexander Popp against Jiri Novak.

Nationally there were almost 20 hours of live coverage from the World Equestrian Festival, CHIO Aachen 2003 (2002: 12 1/2 hours*, 2001: 17 hours). Michael Mronz, General Manager of the Aachener Reitturnier GmbH, traces back this development, amongst other reasons, to the improved transmission techniques: "This year's audience ratings clearly show that the public interest in equestrian sports has been awakened. This is also due to the big technical efforts of the transmitting broadcasting stations, which have contributed to making the sport noticeably more transparent and, with that, easier to understand."
(*World Soccer Championships 2002)

Survey of the Audience Ratings
Market Share (MS) / Million Viewers:

Tuesday, June 17th, 2003:
STAWAG-Prize
WDR
5.3 %
0.18 million

Wednesday, June 18th, 2003
WARSTEINER-Prize "Prize of Europe"
ARD
7.1 %
0.66 million

Thursday, June 19th, 2003
Prize of North Rhine-Westphalia, 1st round
WDR
5.4 %
0.11 million

Prize of North Rhine-Westphalia, 2nd round
WDR
11.4 %
0.32 million

Friday, June 20th, 2003
Mercedes-Benz-Prize "Nations' Cup", 1st round
WDR
8.9 %
0.30 million

Mercedes-Benz-Prize "Nations' Cup", 2nd round
ARD
12.3 %
1.16 million

Saturday, June 21st, 2003
ROLEX-Best of Champions / Wohnwelt Pallen Marathon
WDR
11.8 %
0.55 million

Sunday, June 22nd, 2003
Prize of Deutsche Bank AG "Grand Prix Dressage of Aachen"
WDR
5.6 %
0.19 million

Prize of Aachener und Münchener Versicherungen "The Grand Prix of
Aachen",
1st round
WDR
11.5 %
0.61 million

Prize of Aachener und Münchener Versicherungen "The Grand Prix of
Aachen",
2nd round
ARD
12.7 %
1.44 million