Yann Le Moenner
Managing Director,
Amaury Sport Organisation
The Tour de France needs to tell a story
- The goal was to serve the general public’s enjoyment of the race and to facilitate a better understanding of both the team tactics and individual efforts.
- The results have been outstanding, with a significant growth in fan engagement on all digital platforms. The live-tracking website has also been successful, with 33% growth in traffic from 2016 to 2017.
“Even with new visibility into the race provided by television, a lot of mystery remained about what was actually happening.”
The success of the Tour de France, an event that was created to sell newspapers, has always been rooted in continually innovating new ways to tell its story and expand its audience. When radio came along, the race reached new fans, who avidly listened to the broadcaster’s narrative, trying to imagine what was happening. Television changed the experience completely, enabling a larger audience to see the race in real-time. As the event evolved, audience viewing demands also changed. A whole new generation of fans who had grown up with digital channels expected a more compelling, data-driven experience alongside the traditional live view of the race. To stay relevant, the Tour de France and organiser Amaury Sport Organisation (A.S.O.) had to adapt by creating a ‘second-screen’ experience for fans.
This is an excerpt from What Pro Cycling Can Teach IT Leaders About Digital Business. The eBook was generously sponsored by Dimension Data.
