smoore

Found this on Bicycle Retailer and Industry News.


Tour de France Ratings Way Up


LAGUNA HILLS, CA (BRAIN)—Call it the "Lance Effect," call it what you will, this year's Tour de France TV ratings were way up over last year.

Live morning coverage was up was up 98 percent over last year, with nearly 530,000 viewers, compared with more than 267,000 from 2008.

Average viewership for men ages 18-34 was up 121 percent, men ages 18-49 was up 128 percent and men ages 25-54 was up 104 percent.

Traffic on Versus.com increased 118 percent over 2008, with the site delivering more than 13 million videos, doubling the amount from 2008 (6.5 million).

With Armstrong racing at next year's Tour de France with his new team RadioShack, it would seem likely for those numbers to grow even more for 2010.

—Jason Norman

monosierra

Well, that's what LA does. He draws in casual fans and the general population.

Say what you will about him, but as long as he remains the most famous cyclist, he's still going to be the main draw.

It is terrible that the sport has yet to produce a prominent ratings machine. Someone has to take over the mettle.

johnny99

530,000 viewers is a lot? How many people watch a typical NFL game (not even the playoffs)? The Superbowl gets around 100,000,000 viewers.

If they really want to boost viewership, they should show the Tour de France on a regular broadcast network TV station, not some obscure cable station that most people cannot receive.

The fact that 13,000,000 people are watching on-line (vs. 530,000 watching on TV) proves that more people would watch the Tour if the channel was easier to receive.

sakonnetclip

I wonder where they got the math??? How about 50%...

That being said, the Versus HD coverage combined with the return of LA sure made me watch more.

-spence

PrestonNg

50% increase would make it 400,000 viewers

monosierra

+1

The jump was almost double i.e. 100%

It might be nasty to the LA-bashers here, but LA remains a big draw in terms of viewership...

johnny99

I think you're the one that needs to check your math.

jecjec81

261,660(98%)+267,000=528,660
round off is equals to 530,000

133,500(50%)+267,000=400,500

monosierra

Still, as johnny99 pointed out, this is peanuts compared to other American sports. And I think the ratings elsewhere (ex-Europe) aren't impressive as compared to, say, soccer.

sundaypunch

Nasty? I find it hilarious that there are people on this site that hate LA yet take time out of their life to comment over and over in any thread that mentions him.

Puzzling.

Paco97

I don't understand where you guys are getting your math. 267,000 x 2 = 534,000 and 267,000 x 1.98 = 528,660 viewers.

So yes this was an increase of 98%.

Geesh you Lance haters will do anything to dispel him.