It has reported double-digit audience and engagement growth on all its channels and platforms

Discovery Tour de France Bradley Wiggins Alberto Contador cycling

Warner Bros. Discovery Sports has unveiled its results for the first half of the year. 

The first six months of the year saw the broadcaster airing major events such as the Winter Olympics, the Giro d’Italia, and the first two tennis Grand Slams. This has driven growth for the broadcaster, with a 10% increase in linear television audiences year-on-year in Europe and international markets, compared to an 11% decline in total television consumption across the industry so far this year.

In addition, television audiences on Eurosport channels and sport on free-to-air are up in all major markets including France (+23%), Italy (+19%), Poland (+18%), Spain (+46%) and the UK (+12%). Sports coverage on the channels, including Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2, is also attracting more of the available viewers with an average 12% rise in audience share.

As well as linear, its streaming platforms discovery+, the Eurosport app, and more have seen their unique streaming viewers increase by 24% and 49% more video views. Sport on discovery+ has been particularly impressive, with a 50% increase compared to the first half of last year, as video views more than doubled (+149%) and streaming minutes more than tripled (+213%).

Eurosport.com and its local websites have also seen a 30% rise in unique monthly visitors, reaching more than 67 million in February 2022. Their free video views have nearly doubled (+96%) and substantially more minutes are being watched (+82%). This was supported across discovery+ Sport and Eurosport social accounts which have seen a significant increase in reach (+100%) and more than doubled the number of user interactions (+151%) and video views (+142%).

Andrew Georgiou, president & managing director, of Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, said: “The significant growth in audience and engagement we’ve seen this year is a testament to our strategy of making content available in whatever way viewers choose to watch. Throughout Europe we are unique in how we are able to engage audiences across our free-to-air, pay TV and streaming platforms - serving all audience segments, from diehard to more casual fans and ‘big eventers’. In this way, we’ve continued to grow our television audiences whilst also seeing a rapid rise in people streaming live sport on discovery+ and our digital services.”