Network Q RAC Rally 23-25 November 1996

British television carried a total of 96 broadcasts, amounting to 9 hours 12 minutes of coverage. This included the seven Top Gear Rally Reports on BBC2, which reached a total of 14,300,000 viewers. The BBC2 Christmas Day programme reached 21% of the total TV audience.

The rally was reported in each of the top 20 best-selling British newspapers. Total coverage in the UK written media was 10,680 column centimetres, with 544 published photographs. In terms of value, 62% derived from national newspapers, 20% from specialist magazines and 18% from regional papers.

The rally was actually seen 'live' by an estimated 2,500,000 spectators (a new record, doubtless helped by Colin McRae winning the World Rally Championship). There were 77,260 individual paying spectators at the six venues on Leg 1.

The global figures were even more impressive. In 71 countries around the world, the 1995 Network Q RAC Rally was seen on TV by 2,149,652,000 viewers and was read about by 507,906,000 people.

The above information provided courtesy of Colin Wilson (100350.3476@compuserve.com) of the RACMSA