TV BLACKBOX
MORE than six million Australians tuned in to SBS for this year’s Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes, as cycling continued its strong pull with Australian sports fans.
SBS says its coverage of the two major European races reached a combined 6.15 million viewers across broadcast television and SBS On Demand.
The men’s Tour de France recorded a Total TV Reach of 5.21 million viewers across its 21 stages, while the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift reached 1.51 million.
The figures represent Australians who watched at least part of the coverage, rather than the average audience for each stage.
Streaming also played an increasingly important role, with SBS On Demand accounting for 28.6 per cent of Tour de France viewing and 19.7 per cent of Tour de France Femmes viewing.
SBS Director of Sport Ken Shipp said delivering almost a month of cycling coverage was a major undertaking for the broadcaster.
“Broadcasting the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is an exceptionally complicated labour of love for our dedicated SBS team, both on camera and behind the scenes,” Mr Shipp said.
Australian cycling royalty featured prominently in the coverage, with the country’s only Tour de France winner, Cadel Evans, joined by former professional riders Caleb Ewan and Grace Brown.
SBS reported Tour-related content generated 660 million views across its social platforms.
