The Grand Slam season has got off to a flying start on discovery+ and Eurosport with sizable audience and digital engagement growth recorded across Discovery’s platforms.
Television and streaming audiences have so far seen double-digit year-on-year increases across the 50 countries and territories where Discovery presents the Australian Open. Featuring extended news reporting and on-demand video, Eurosport.com and its local country versions have also enjoyed unprecedented growth with triple-digit rises in unique visitors during the period.
Streaming audience on the rise
The number of viewers streaming the tournament – via discovery+ and Eurosport’s digital services – has increased 11% year-on-year (vs 2021) through the first four days and opening two Rounds, with the majority of growth seen on discovery+ and in the European markets it is available*.
Interest and engagement are also on the rise as viewers stream more content and for longer. Over the same period, video views increased 18% while the total minutes streamed rose 22% across Europe. The early peak in streaming was seen on Day 4, during Round 2, and driven by matches featuring local heroes including Simona Halep (Romania), Iga Swiatek (Poland), Daniil Medvedev (Russia) and Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece).
Television audiences the highest for 5 years
Eurosport’s television audience has grown 13% (vs 2021) across Europe with viewers increasing in almost every one of its 50 countries and territories.
The Eurosport 1 audience is up 17% (vs 2021). The channel’s audience in Germany has grown 36% with viewer numbers and audience share over the period the highest for 5 years. The audience for Alexander Zverev’s Round 2 match alone increased 21% vs 2019. Poland has also seen its best start to the tournament for 5 years as Eurosport 1’s audience increased 77% (vs 2019 as the most comparable year).
Eurosport 2’s audience has increased by 57% (vs 2021) with its highest audience for 5 years. Highlighting the benefits of combining Discovery’s international scale with localised coverage delivery, the Eurosport 2 audience in Romania over the first four days jumped 34% – in part due to local viewers tuning in to watch Great Britain’s US Open Champion Emma Raducanu, whose father was born in Romania. The channel saw its best ever start to the tournament in the United Kingdom, which was similarly driven by the ‘Raducanu effect’, with its audience increasing 111% (vs 2021). Strong audience growth has been seen in countries across the continent including a 37% rise in Italy.
More people come to Eurosport for news, scores and video on-demand
Eurosport.com and its local country versions are enjoying a record start to the Australian Open, boosting overall engagement on the platform. Over the first four days unique visitors increased 134% (vs 2021) led by local sites in France (56%), Germany (+254%), Italy (+50%), Romania (+474%), Spain (+364%) and the United Kingdom (+71%).
The increased number of visitors also consumed more content on average. Page views have grown 95% (vs 2021) with video starts up 21% and minutes watched rising by 16%.
Andrew Georgiou, President of Sports, Discovery, said: “The fact audiences and engagement have increased so significantly on all our platforms is a testament to our approach of making content available however viewers want to watch. It is now more than a year since the launch of discovery+ and introducing sport onto the product, so the growth in audience and consumption on our streaming service that caters for the whole household is particularly exciting. It is one part of how we are bringing the tournament to a bigger and broader audience.”
Scott Young, Senior Vice President, Content and Production, Discovery, said: “The opening rounds of the Australian Open have delivered fantastic matches and compelling stories that have clearly resonated with fans throughout Europe. Our strong performance so far has been built around an outstanding line-up of experts, compelling new formats, innovative storytelling tools such as the Cube, as well as dedicated local production and stories delivered by the best locally relevant talent. We are excited to bring viewers the rest of the story from the tournament in the coming days as this year’s champions are crowned.”
