Red Bull TV may go global
Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz has revealed plans to launch TV stations in English-speaking countries.The businessman said today (Mon) that his Red Bull TV programmes could soon be screened “on the Anglo-American market”. The main topics of Red Bull TV are sport, music and lifestyle. Its different series are currently broadcast on ServusTV, an Austrian cable and satellite TV channel owned by Red Bull.ServusTV was launched one and a half years ago. TV critics have praised the broadcaster for focusing on documentaries and different series with regional aspects. Its market share in Austria currently ranges around just one per cent, but is tipped to increase soon since many TV consumers are still not aware that the channel exists and that they can receive it. Mateschitz told the Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper he “tried to create a (ServusTV) programme that doesnt offend my humanist education.”Mateschitz, who rarely gives interviews, also told the daily his company “aims to sell six to eight billion cans” of its trademark energy drink per year in the coming five to eight years. The company chief a former marketing employee for toothpaste Blendax explained he saw a lot of potential for further growth in this period of time before the development will “level off”. Around 4.2 billion units of Red Bull went over the counter last year.Asked which countries and regions Red Bulls expansion would focus on, he listed Japan where the firm sold 80 per cent more drinks year on year in 2010 India, Pakistan and South America.Mateschitz also revealed that Red Bull managed to increase its turnover in the United States by 7.6 per cent last year compared to 2009 despite a slight market share decrease. The company, which is based in Fuschl near Salzburg, is facing toughening competition by the range of energy drinks of Coca Cola and other firms.The businessman stressed the biggest number of Red Bull energy drinks were sold in Austria with 24 cans per capita. “This is our global top result,” he said, explaining that Red Bulls per capita sales in France and Germany were just three cans.Red Bull – Austrias strongest brand in the world – has nearly 7,000 employees. The company sponsors more than 450 athletes in around 100 different forms of sport including Austrian ski jumper Gregor Schlierenzauer and Japanese freeskier Shinji Osada.Red Bulls 370-million-Euro per year engagements in sports also include the organisation of various extreme sport events and fun sport competitions like the Crashed Ice World Championship in which skaters race down a track with many curves.