Eurosport, the Home of Tennis in Europe, is today reporting a significant rise in digital viewership for Roland-Garros, as the global direct-to-consumer (D2C) strategy of its parent, Discovery, continues to reap rewards.

The number one sports destination in Europe saw a 31%* year-on-year increase in unique views of the Roland-Garros 2019 tournament via it’s dedicated over-the-top (OTT) video streaming service, Eurosport Player, and the Eurosport app. The average viewing time via the Eurosport Player also witnessed a big boost with users watching for 45% longer than last year. Eurosport.com – including both website and app – experienced 25% more unique visitors compared to the 2018 event.

Eurosport’s unrivalled coverage of the tournament on all platforms, including every minute live and over 600 matches and 250 hours of coverage in more than 50 countries, driven by a focus on powering people’s passions for tennis through enhanced digital content, stories told through the best line up of experts and localised production, proved a winner with fans across the continent.

Underlining how Discovery’s multiplatform approach - across free-to-air TV, pay-TV and digital - and international scale best serves and engages the widest possible audience, Eurosport also saw significant audience growth across its localised TV coverage in major markets throughout Europe.

Eurosport 2 saw 15% growth in average live audience overall, with the local Eurosport 2 channels in the Netherlands (+213%), Poland (+26%) and Spain (+97%) – including the best-ever audience for the men’s final in the country - experiencing significant year-on-year increases compared to 2018. There was a similar trend on Eurosport 1 with double-digit growth in France (+21%), the UK (+17%) and Norway (+50%) – where the two finals delivered the highest ever ratings for tennis matches in the territory.

Commenting on the results, Dave Schafer, SVP Sports Content, Operations & Planning, said: “It’s great to see that tennis fans across the continent are engaging so passionately with our content and coverage and the results are clear evidence that our increased consumer focus is paying off. Our multi-screen content strategy is driving video and streaming growth but our short-formats are also translating to TV and entertaining traditional audiences.”  

“Year-on-year growth in key markets, on both digital and linear, underlines that Discovery and Eurosport is committed to engaging and growing audiences on all platform and all screens. Discovery and Eurosport combined have the unique ability to optimise distribution and live sports coverage across all platforms – free-to-air, pay, OTT and digital – and can deliver the biggest and most engaged audiences.” 

Eurosport retains the European rights to the Australian Open, Roland-Garros and US Open** in more than 50 markets. Alongside its comprehensive coverage of The Championships, Wimbledon, this year Eurosport is delivering every Grand Slam in at least 33 European markets, featuring every singles and doubles match and comprehensive coverage available on all platforms. In addition to its Grand Slam coverage, Eurosport has acquired exclusive rights to ATP Tour coverage in France (2019-23), Russia (2019-21), Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden (2020-23).

-ENDS-

*Including Roland-Garros Qualifying.

**Excluding UK and Ireland.