Paris (AFP)
Aided by superb victories for French riders and a suspense revived, the audiences of the Tour de France are showing a clear rise this year on France 2 and France 3, according to Médiamétrie data released Monday by France Televisions.
For the first two weeks of the 2019 edition of the "Great Loop", France 2 and France 3 achieve "a record average since 2017 (year in which the group had begun to broadcast all of the stages on its channels, Ed) in the audience share with 27.8%, "said a statement from the public group.
The 2019 Tour is also up from last year in number of viewers, with an average of 2.6 million viewers each day.
In addition, according to calculations of the public group, 30.6 million French have already watched the race this year, 300,000 more than last year over the same period.
In detail, the direct France 2 show 3.4 million viewers and an audience share of 37.1%, unprecedented since 2013 on this time slot. The stage victory of Frenchman Thibault Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) at Tourmalet gathered 7 million fans.
And France 3, 2.2 million fans followed the direct early afternoon, giving the channel an audience share of 20.8% (2.1 million and 19.7% respectively l last year on the whole Tour).
It should also be noted that the two magazines dedicated to the event, Vélo Club and Le Journal du Tour, recorded record audience ratings averaging 2.1 million and 2 million viewers, respectively.
Finally, France Télévisions also boasts a strong digital audience, with for example a total of 12.4 million videos watched live on its own platforms (France.tv and France TV sport), a score doubled compared to a year earlier.
© 2019 AFP