British Touring Cars to stream races on TikTok in world-first broadcast deal

27 March 2024 , 14:00

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The British Touring Car Championship will be broadcast live on social media (Image: Getty Images)

Action from this year's British Touring Car Championship will be broadcast live on TikTok.

The BTCC has a long-held broadcasting partnership with ITV Sport which will continue in 2024. And, thanks to what is believed to be a world-first agreement, every race over the course of the season will be also available to watch on the social media platform.

The live stream will be in addition to, not in place of, traditional coverage of the sport on ITV4 and ITVX. Around eight hours of broadcast will still be shown via those channels from each event.

The BTCC claims it is the first major sporting competition to stream its full season live on TikTok. Chiefs hope that the move will attract a younger and larger audience for the long-running motorsport series, as the stream will be available to fans everywhere in the world.

BTCC chief executive Alan Gow said: "I'm incredibly proud that we will be the first major motorsport championship in the world to have its entire race season streamed live on TikTok. It's the real cherry on the top of our ongoing and vast UK coverage, which is live and free on ITV4 and ITVX.

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"Most importantly, this agreement will introduce the BTCC to a massive new and completely different demographic - a younger and more diverse audience - which is exactly what we, and in fact all of motorsport, are looking to achieve. This is very big news for the BTCC, our teams and our partners as we cement the future of the UK's most prestigious motorsport championship."

BTCC bosses believe this move to be "one of the most significant in the history" of the series. There continues to be significant interest in the championship, not only from TV viewers but from race-going fans - last year Thruxton Circuit in Hampshire announced a record attendance over the course of the BTCC weekend.

ITV Sport producer Andrew Hill said: "Live streaming BTCC races on TikTok, alongside our regular ITV4 and ITVX coverage, will help us to reach a much wider audience and enable a new generation of fans to enjoy the thrills and spills of the number-one championship in British motor racing."

This year's edition of the championship begins at Donington Park, Leicestershire, where the first three rounds will be held on April 27/28. It concludes on the weekend of October 6/7, at Brands Hatch in Kent.

Ash Sutton is the defending champion after securing his fourth BTCC title last year. In the process, he broke the record for the most race victories in a single season, winning 12 of the 30 races held to see off closest rivals Tom Ingram and Jake Hill.

Daniel Moxon