Ontario Racing: Unfiltered is a 5-part docuseries that follows thoroughbred and standardbred horse racing in Ontario, Canada. The series was available for streaming on some of Canada’s largest streaming services and sports networks.

Horse Racing in Ontario Canada is more than just a sport. It is an important economic driver for life in rural Ontario, creating businesses, and providing livelihoods. It’s an industry that generates 1.9 billion dollars a year to the economy, and provides 25,000 jobs. For some perspective, Ontario has the most horse racing tracks out of any North American jurisdiction.

Over the past few decades though Horse Racing has been in a decline in terms of track attendance and wagering. With interest waning the industry relies more and more on provincial government subsidies to help keep it afloat.

Helping turn around this steep decline is imperative for the industry. The governing body of the industry – Ontario Racing - and the organization in charge of promoting the sport – Ontario

Lottery and Gaming (OLG) – needed an exciting way to rekindle the publics love for the sport. Years of traditional marketing wasn’t doing the trick. So we needed to take a new, modern, revolutionary approach.

Situation:

Horse Racing is an industry that employs over 25,000 people in Ontario, Canada. Over the last decade the industry has been facing a steep decline. Interest in the sport has been falling rapidly with declining track attendance and wagering.

As the governing body for the industry (Ontario Racing) and the body in charge of marketing (OLG - Ontario Lottery and Gaming), the pressure was on to turn the sport around.

Brief:

Create a campaign that would help increase wagering and attendance at horse racing tracks across Ontario Canada.

Objective:

Demonstrate the excitement of the sport, and spark an interest in the public that would get them excited to go visit a track.

Screen time and streaming services have become an overwhelmingly popular source of entertainment. What that meant for horse racing was that the living room couch was becoming more appealing than a visit to the horse racing track.

But according to a study done by Variety, 60% of people that watch a sports documentary become more interested in that sport.

If we could get people into the sport in their living rooms, we could get them motivated to go see that excitement live at the track.

So, instead of just making another TV spot that told people to go to the track, we created a 5-part docuseries that helped people fall in love with the sport.

We called this 5-episode docuseries “Ontario Racing: Unfiltered”. We put cameras where they’ve never been before, and mic’d up jockeys and drivers. “Unfiltered” gave viewers an all-access, unfiltered look at what happens on and off track in a way that has never been done in the sport.

Each 15–20 minute episode dropped throughout the season on Canada’s biggest streaming platforms, helping Ontario Racing drivers, jockeys and trainers stand shoulder to shoulder with the biggest sports stars in the world.

Our characters revealed compelling stories involving family legacies, decade long rivalries, life as a rookie racer, how a gay woman jockey balances motherhood with competing in a male dominated sport, and so much more.

We filmed the series as the horse racing season unfolded. As we edited episodes, we kept on filming the next ones, unveiling stories that happened in real time.

The first episode dropped on the streaming service CRAVE June 5th and the final fifth episode was released October 9th. The series was also available for streaming on TSN.ca, and YouTube.

To accompany the episodes, we created a full 360 advertising campaign that drove people to both watch the series, and to experience the action live at the track. We turned Ontario Racing personalities into sports stars, highlighting them in social, TV, and OOH.

Ontario Racing: Unfiltered helped break wagering records at racetracks and helped drive record breaking attendance at The King’s Plate, Canada’s biggest horse race.

11% increase in in-person wagering across the season with a 33% increase in wagering during the King’s Plate.

10% increase in at track attendance for the season.

The series became a top trending sports documentary on CRAVE.

16 million video views across Instagram, Facebook, X, Reddit, Crave, and TSN.ca

Ontario Racing: Unfiltered was such a success that it has been renewed for season 2.