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A year on from the inaugural Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, Zwift has commissioned a report to measure the impact of the race in 2022, using data from Nielsen Sports.
Zwift’s report delves into data spanning broadcast and written coverage, audience profiles and social media.
It begins by looking at race coverage. Broadcast coverage has always been the key to unlocking greater visibility for women’s racing, and with long-term backing and broadcast coverage in 190 countries, the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is well positioned to make an impact.
Across the eight stages, the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift attracted an average live audience of 2.9 million and in total, the race achieved a cumulative live audience of 23.2 million people.
Of the eight key markets analysed, France drew by far the biggest audience with Germany and Spain rounding out the top three.
Similar successes were noted in written coverage of the race, with Cyclingnews.com reporting a record 700,000 users engaging with women’s content, with a total of 2.3 million page views.
Similar to what was observed in broadcast coverage, Cyclingnews also noted the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift traffic exceeded that of the men’s Giro d’Italia in 2022.
Nielsen Sports data shows there is a proportionally higher female interest (44%) in women’s cycling than general sports fans (38%).
With more coverage of women’s sport, Zwift expects the gap to narrow even further and with 73% of women’s sports fans being interested in participating in sports vs. 44% for the general population, future growth in women’s cycling participation looks promising.
In addition to traditional media channels, the report also explores how the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is helping to grow the reach of the sport on social media. When looking at the social media conversation for the Top five women’s races in 2021 and comparing them to 2022, the number of posts, reach and engagement on social media increased over 300%.
The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift also presents a commercial opportunity as shown through the growth in the followings of both the teams and riders participating in the race last year.
Profiles of the Top 35 riders taking part in the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift grew, on average, by 8.6%, with teams seeing their followings increase by 4.3%.
Read more: A long way to go – Women in the bike industry share their experiences
Kate Veronneau, director of women’s strategy at Zwift, said: “This is just the beginning. Our job now, as industry, fans, sporting media, and riders – is to keep the fires burning bright. We need to work together to ensure this big moment sparks action and investment at all levels of the sport.
“We’ll continue to use our platform to shine a light on these superstars, while also creating space and content for women cyclists around the world to grow their community and chase their dreams.
“That’s what Watch the Femmes is all about. When we Watch the Femmes, we pave the way for a bright future for all women’s cycling.”
The full report and more about Zwift’s #WatchTheFemmes initiative can be read online.
