Eurosport pledged to continue to invest in its coverage of cycling after it announced more fans tuned in to the sport's flagship events in '17 than ever before. Record numbers viewed Eurosport's coverage of cycling's Grand Tours -- the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España -- with the broadcaster reporting a 26% increase in average live audience numbers versus '16. The 2017 Vuelta a España saw Eurosport achieve an average live audience of 1.3 million, a 46% increase on the previous year. The broadcaster's average audience across all Vuelta coverage (live and non-live) reached 1.1 million, up 81% from '16. An average live audience of 785,000 watched Eurosport's coverage of the 21 stages of the Tour de France in July, a 10% rise from '16. In May, an average of 1.3 million viewers watched Eurosport's live coverage of the Giro d'Italia (+21% vs. '16) with 4.8 million fans tuning in during the final stage. Eurosport CEO Peter Hutton said, "We pushed the boundaries of innovation in 2017 with the first live broadcast in 360 Virtual Reality during a professional race at La Route du Sud in June and we believe there is room for even more innovation in our coverage" (Eurosport).
