Eurosport races to Grand Tour cycling success with 68% audience uplift

Eurosport reaffirmed its status as the Home of Cycling following significant live audience growth year-on-year across each of the season’s three Grand Tours; Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and La Vuelta.

Eurosport UK achieved a 48% uplift for its live coverage of the Tour de France, whilst live viewing for the Giro d’Italia grew 82% – which saw British rider Tao Geoghegan Hart secure a maiden Grand Tour title. Live viewership for La Vuelta increased by 95% year-on-year, overall revealing a 68% uplift in live Grand Tour audiences vs 2019.

In addition to linear viewing, Eurosport generated strong performance across its digital content. Audiences continue to grow on Eurosport’s exclusive podcast The Bradley Wiggins Show, with 2020 seeing a 25% increase in total listens vs 2019. The show runs weekly throughout the cycling season with daily episodes during Grand Tours.

Audiences also resonated across free-to-air and direct-to-consumer, with Giro d’Italia highlights up 44% on Quest, supplemented by a 62% increase in VOD viewing on Discovery’s on demand platform, dplay* - making it the #1 programme on the service in October.

Eurosport’s partnership with Global Cycling Network (GCN) has created a multi-platform eco-system to deliver the ultimate cycling experience to millions of fans on a global scale. Eurosport’s extensive rights portfolio, unrivalled expertise and uninterrupted live race coverage, combined with GCN’s engaging content formats from the best local experts, is positioned to serve the cycling community on a deeper, more insightful level.

“Discovery’s wide portfolio of channels allows us to also operate in a free-to-air space to extend audience reach, whilst the partnership with Global Cycling Network (GCN) is integral to strengthening our cycling offer by leveraging their knowledge and expertise across a global network.

“This is supported by an impressive digital offer boasting a wide variety of engaging content formats, to ensure the race experience goes beyond the live action. Delivering on a digital level is of the upmost importance and essential to the business moving forward.”

Earlier this year Eurosport and GCN partnered for the first time to deliver a variety of multi-platform content to millions of viewers across Europe and Asia. Courtesy of the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) and virtual platform Zwift, fans enjoyed the Tour de France virtually – featuring some of the top cyclists in the world. Eurosport delved into its extensive cycling archive to create Giro d’Italia Classic Stages, with Zwift’s Tour for All exhibition race series broadcast across Eurosport and GCN services.

This year also saw Eurosport secure an extension to its broadcast rights agreement to continue showing every minute of every stage of the Tour de France until at least 2025, with exclusive coverage in 38 markets across Europe, solidifying its position as the Home of Cycling.