The Tour de France question mark is sponsors, not audience

The doping scandals and attendant poor response from organizers do not bode well for the Tour de France. Television audiences varied across Europe, according to Eurodata TV. Spanish and German viewers tuned out, sort of. The devil is in the details. (Read Eurodata TV/Médiamétrie release)

The race’s final stages actually fared better in France and Denmark, indeed record setting. German public channels ARD and ZDF cancelled their coverage when the doping controversary made more headlines than the race. Sat1 and Eurosport took their place, scoring impressive summer-time audience gains. France 2 saw its audience increase 6%. ITV1 reported almost a 9% share for the London-Canterbury stage. Taken as a whole, the Tour remains a strong viewer draw during the dog-days of summer. Sponsors, though, may be harder to come by.

The Discovery Channel decided in February to pull its sponsorship of the Tailwind team, home to Lance Armstrong and, even, this years’ winner. The team announced (Friday August 10) it will disband after the 2007 season. T-Mobile, the mobile phone division of Deutsche Telekom, will continue 2008 sponsorship but only if it can pull out if any rider fails a drug test. Sponsors poured $100 million into the 21 teams this year.

– August 13, 2007

Keywords: sports media coverage

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