By Jonathan Easton
Discovery-owned Eurosport has experienced record growth in the first half of 2021.
The broadcaster, which is currently in the midst of airing the Tour de France, announced that it has attracted record audiences and subscribers during the period, while the Eurosport.com website attracted more than 50 million unique visitors in June 2021 – double this time in 2020.
This also extends to the Eurosport App which saw a 75 per cent increase in viewers (January – June) vs the same period in 2020.
Eurosport’s digital growth was driven by its local sites. Usership of the French site was up 43 per cent from the beginning of the year, while Germany increased by 124 per cent, Italy by 52 per cent and the UK by 232 per cent.
Senior VP of Content and Production, Discovery, Scott Young said: “The significant rise in the number of fans engaging with Eurosport is a testament to the unique stories our experts and content teams tell every day. After a challenging year for sport during 2020, Eurosport’s sustained digital growth underlines how we immerse fans with the sports they love, available however they choose to watch, read or follow.
“Few other sports brands offer Discovery’s full package of outstanding live coverage, in-depth storytelling with the athletes and up to the minute news and results in real-time. Our digital content teams have an unrivalled passion for all sport that converts to the engaging content our fans enjoy, in growing numbers. As we pass through three Grand Slams, more than 100 days of cycling and countless hours of sport programming, this first half of the year has provided the perfect springboard for us to bring every unmissable moment of Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 to fans across Europe”.
This declaration of success comes after Discovery announced the creation of a new division to house all its sports businesses called Discovery Sports last month. The new unit will house Eurosport, Global Cycling Network, Global Mountain Bike Network, Golf Digest and GOLFTV, along with parts of SVOD discovery+ and promotion arm Eurosport Events.
