Record digital growth for Eurosport ahead of Olympics
July 5, 2021
With just over two weeks to go until its coverage of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Eurosport has announced record digital growth for the first half of 2021.
Eurosport.com attracted more than 50 million unique visitors in June 2021, serving fans around the world with the latest sports news, scores and features. Representing a peak in monthly visitors so far this year, this nearly doubles the peak monthly users seen in 2020 and is a 75 per cent rise vs its 2019 peak.
Notably, this milestone is also 19 per cent higher than the peak in visitor numbers during 2018, despite this period featuring a gluttony of major sporting events such as the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 and the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018. Eurosport.com, which also directs users to premium video coverage of some of the sporting events on discovery+ and the Eurosport App, is on track this year to achieve the highest number of unique monthly visitors for more than 3 years.
The first half of 2021 has also seen a steep rise in the number of people streaming Eurosport’s live and on-demand sports content and programming. The Eurosport App saw a 75 per cent increase in viewers (January – June) vs the same period in 2020. Viewing has been further boosted by fans who are already flocking to watch Eurosport’s coverage, as well as wider sports content, on discovery+ in the international markets where the service has launched.
Scott Young, Senior VP of Content and Production, Discovery, 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”.
The growth in Eurosport.com visitors (January – June 2021) was driven by Eurosport’s local sites, including France (+43 per cent vs January – June 2020); Germany (124 per cent) Italy (+52 per cent); Spain (+25 per cent); the U.K. (+232 per cent).
The first half of 2021 has seen Discovery Sports’ portfolio of brands, channels and platforms – including discovery+, Eurosport, GCN and GOLFTV – present some of the biggest events in live sport, such as the Grand Slams (Australian Open, Roland-Garros and Wimbledon), cycling’s Grand Tours (Giro d’Italia, Tour de France) and the latest series in electric motorsport (ABB FIA Formula E World Championship and PURE ETCR ahead of its upgrade to the FIA eTouring Car World Cup in 2022).