We take stock of the performance and benefits of the Tour for women’s cycling
It is true that the women’s Tour has been around for a long time and that its list of winners brings together the best of each era, but it is also true that last year the ASO turn of the screw has helped in many things.
Speaking with a champion like Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, among her people they looked at her differently when she told them that she was going to do the Tour, an indissoluble word with cycling.
We all believed that a women’s Tour de France would be the catalyst for change in cycling, essential for the growth of women’s cycling, and above all, a key milestone in achieving equality for women in sport. After all, the men’s Tour de France is one of the most watched sporting events in the world. As Marian Wright Edelman says “you can’t be something you don’t see”, and this was felt by each of the 144 women who crossed the starting line in Paris, exceeding all expectations.
“The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift means my five-year-old self who watched the men but not the women compete in the biggest races in the world finally realizing her dreams”, says professional cyclist Ruby Roseman-Gannon, from Team Jayco-AlUla.
Against this backdrop, Zwift has launched a study exploring the race in detail, analyzing data provided by Nielsen Sports to help uncover the immense success of the inaugural edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. Thus, the objective of the study is to show if the Women’s Tour acted as a driver of the growth of women’s cycling around the world.
Women’s tour, the figures
23.2 million – was the cumulative live audience for the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in 2022.
2.9 million: the average live audience per stage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in 2022.
Spain devoted to women’s sports: located in the Top 3 of countries that followed the Tour de France Femmes with Zwift the most in 2022, behind France and Germany.
The Movistar Team reaffirms itself as the best known and most popular team in all markets.
Youngest and Most Followed Women’s Sports Event on Social – With more followers and interactions than any other, its introduction led to +300% growth in social posts, reach and engagement across the top 5 women’s cycling races vs 2021
+8.6% – the increase in Facebook and Instagram followers of the top 35 cyclists who competed in the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift during the event, profiles that grew 3x faster than cyclists on the men’s tour.
115 million – Women’s cycling attracts a large following, making it the fourth most followed women’s sport.
73% of female cyclists are interested in participating in sports or fitness activities, compared to 44% of the general population.
The report
One year after the first edition was held, Zwift has commissioned a report to measure the impact the race had in 2022, using data from Nielsen Sports. The report delves into media coverage with data spanning broadcast and written coverage, audience profiles, and also social media impact. The data in this report comes from analyzing data from eight key markets; United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia and Japan.
TV and written coverage
Television coverage has always been the key to giving visibility to cycling races. With a long-term strategy in place and already in its first year with television coverage in 190 countries, the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is well positioned to make a big impact.
With an average live audience of 2.9 million viewers per stage, the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift surpassed even the men’s Giro d’Italia. In total, the race achieved a cumulative audience of 23.2 million people live and, of the eight key markets analysed, Spain is in the Top 3 countries with the largest audience.
Beth Duryea, Director of Marketing and Communications at CANYON// SRAM Racing, is clear on where the investment should be made: “If there is only a certain amount of money, it should be used with the goal of getting maximum live broadcast minutes, or expanding the network of countries where the race is broadcast. This will benefit all the teams and will raise the recognition that this sport has.”
A similar event occurred with the written coverage of the race. Cyclingnews.com, which claims that the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift has been the biggest women’s cycling event in 28 years of coverage of the sport, recorded a record 700,000 users accessing content related to the women’s tour, with a total of than 2.3 million page views. Similar to TV coverage, Cyclingnews also noted that traffic for the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift surpassed that for the men’s Giro d’Italia in 2022.
The audience: interests and profile
Nielsen Sports data shows that women’s interest in women’s cycling is 44%, higher than the interest of sports fans in general (38%).
With increased coverage of women’s sport, the gap is expected to narrow further, and with 73% of female sports fans interested in playing sports vs. 44% of the general population, the future of female cycling participation looks promising.
The study also shows that more than 65% of women’s cycling fans are between the ages of 16 and 44, on average 3 years younger than the general population. In addition, these fans are also more likely to follow live sports competitions.
Social networks
The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift 2022 was the most followed women’s sports event on social media. In fact, 48% of women’s cycling fans tend to watch competitions on social platforms. Analyzing the top five women’s races in 2021 and comparing them to 2022, it is confirmed that the number of posts, reach and engagement on social media increased by more than 300% thanks to the addition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift .
The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift plays a vital role in supporting the growth of women’s cycling at the level of commercial value, as well as the value of the teams and cyclists themselves through their commitment to a passionate public, as demonstrated by the growth of fans of both the teams and the cyclists who participated in the race last year. The profiles of the top 35 cyclists who participated in the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift grew, on average, by 8.6%, while the teams saw their followers increase by 4.3%, by far the largest increase recorded in 2022 .
Movistar, the best known team
On the other hand, analyzing the reputation in all markets, the Movistar Team is the best-known team (19% of the population claims to know it, which rises to 41% in Spain). Team Jumbo – Visma occupies the second position with 16%. The team’s notoriety is higher in Spain and France, followed by Italy. In the same way, among the followers of women’s cycling, the Movistar Team is the most well-known team (up to 39% say they know it and 59% in Spain). The Jumbo – Visma team (34%) remains in second position, with 51% of French followers in women’s cycling.
The complete report, far beyond
The full report features much more detail, but the above highlights some of the most notable successes from the first edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. This is just the beginning, and the next few years will prove even more important in sustaining the growth of women’s cycling, as Kate Veronneau, Zwift’s Director of Women’s Strategy, points out:
«It would be an understatement to say that we are delighted with the response to the inaugural edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. As longtime supporters of women’s cycling, we knew the race would be exceptional, but it was the millions of fans that made it a game changer. This is just the beginning. Our job now, as the industry, fans, sports media and cyclists, is to keep the flame burning. We need to work together to ensure that this great moment sparks action and investment at all levels of the sport. We will continue to use our platform to shed light on these superstars, while creating spaces and content for female riders around the world to grow their community and pursue their dreams. That’s what Watch the Femmes is all about. When we Watch the Femmes, we pave the way for a bright future of women’s cycling.«.
Image: ASO/Fabien Boukla
2023-09-03 22:06:12
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