Cycling is a sport that’s suffered hits due to Lance Armstrong and doping. But with a scandal-free season going into this year’s Tour de France, NBCSN saw its numbers rise for the month-long event that concluded last weekend.
Sports Media Watch notes that the 2015 Tour saw its best viewership in five years dating back to Lance Armstrong’s last time in the event. Throughout the month, NBCSN averaged 365,000 viewers up from last year’s average of 288,000.
The best viewership for the 2015 Tour was Stage 8 which aired on NBC which managed to garner 951,000 people watching.
The final stage on Sunday on NBCSN brought in 509,000 viewers, but that’s up significantly from last year’s last stage which averaged 421,000. Saturday’s penultimate stage saw an audience of 571,000 viewers and that marked NBCSN’s best viewership of the 2015 Tour.
This year’s Tour got off to a good start during the first week with an average audience of 311,000 viewers which was again the highest viewership since 2010.
And while the Tour may not bring in the audiences it once did when Armstrong was the focus of the event, it still fills most of July for NBCSN with live content during a time that is mostly a dead period for sports. And it also helps to solidify NBC Sports Group’s position with European sportsproperties including the English Premier League, European PGA Tour on Golf Channel, Formula 1, the French Open and of course, the Tour de France.
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About Ken Fang
Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.
He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.
Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.