Every January, planet Dakar comes into view on screens around the world. Boasting a field of 440 vehicles and entrants from 70 nations, the biggest rally raid on Earth catches the eye of media everywhere, with 70 television channels beaming the action to viewers around the globe. Both die-hard rally-raid fans and curious onlookers under the spell of the magical Saudi landscapes have a wealth of options to follow the race, watch interviews with the champions and peek behind the scenes at the bivouac. You can even put your own dream team together and take a shot at virtual glory!

TV: A dune deal

. The Dakar receives worldwide coverage, with shows produced on location and featured on the TV news and dedicated programmes across 70 channels, for a total of 2,600 broadcast hours. Among the broadcasters joining or returning to the club to put footage of the 2025 edition on the waves, Sky NZ is set to raise the profile of the Dakar in New Zealand, while Belgians will be able to follow the exploits of Guillaume de Mévius on LN24. Across the ocean, multiple South American channels are launching or expanding their rally coverage slots: ESPN throughout the continent, Canal 7 and El Doce in Argentina, RCC in Paraguay and TVN in Chile.

. In France, La Chaine L'Equipe won over viewers in droves in its maiden Dakar coverage last edition (600,000 average viewers for the Grand Résumé programme, peaking at 1 million). The success of the only free-to-air 100% sports channel in France has prompted it to expand its coverage even further during the two-week race, increasing from 70 to 100 hours of dedicated programming. La Chaine L'Equipe is bringing in Luc Alphand and Daniel Elena as new pundits to give viewers the expert analysis that they crave. The long-time broadcaster France Télévisions is maintaining several windows on the Dakar, particularly Tout le sport, which draws an average of 1.1 million viewers on France 3, alongside coverage in Stade 2, L'image du jour (8:10 pm on France 3) and Journal du Dakar in a daily 15-minute format available on the France.tv platform. Eurosport will be reserving a three-hour slot every day, bringing the programme to the 63 territories in its broadcasting area.

Middle East: The power of the SSC network

. Saudi Arabia won over the Dakar entrants and, in turn, they have earned a place in the hearts of TV viewers, whose ranks continue to swell in the Middle East. Saudi Sport Company, available in 24 countries in the Middle East, is switching its network to Dakar mode, with footage broadcast across various channels. A daily 30-minute studio show will be produced from Riyadh, followed by the 52-minute highlights package on SSC2. Reporters will link up from the bivouac throughout the day for updates on SSC News.

. The free-to-air channel MBC Action, which introduced its viewers to the Dakar last year, is repeating the experience with evening broadcasts of the daily 52-minute highlights package.

TV/media: Sparing no expense

. Over 600 accredited media representatives from 56 countries

. 130 press and agency photographers and teams on board 80 vehicles

. 5 TV helicopters

. 7 TV vehicles roaming the tracks and roads

. 23 footage production and broadcast trucks

. 22 camera operators and 26 on-board cameras

Dakar.com universe: The rally from every angle

. The official dakar.com website and official app (available for iOS and Android) are the go-to online platforms, drawing millions of visitors and users year after year. This digital universe offers a wide range of features for following the race in real time: live updates, live tracking, standings, stage reports, interviews, photos and videos, competitor profiles and more. Content is available in text, photo and, of course, video format.

. A key feature, stage replay, lets fans relive the battle between multiple vehicles by following on an interactive map the traces that the entrants set during the stage, as if they had started at the same time.

Social media: a digital community

. Over 8 million followers engage with the social media of the Dakar, following the race with a wide range of content, getting sneak peeks into the backstage of the rally and interacting with riders and crews of every stature.

. The nine community managers in charge of the rally generate about 250 posts a day for Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok and Weibo: action reels, off-the-wall interviews, threads with competitors, mechanics and service crews…