• by Wayne Friedman , June 11, 2008

Tour de France advertisers are coming back to Versus--but not without some concern.

Gavin Harvey, president of sports cable network Versus, says many advertisers are returning from a year ago, including Hampton Hotels, Saab Motors, Anheuser-Busch and bike manufacturer Cervelo. Some new advertisers include Exxon and Nestle's Power Bar.

For the last several seasons, the Tour de France--the world's biggest bike race--has been hit with a series of drug scandals that have banished top riders from the event before and during the event.

"Our advertisers just wanted information," said Harvey, in talking about TV advertisers' reaction to the scandals. "We told them the ASO (Amaury Sports Organization, owner of the Tour de France) was doing everything necessary."

Versus isn't shying away from the drug controversy. It started up a new marketing campaign called "Take Back the Tour." In one spot, which shows slow-motion video of a long climber through a crowd of fans, the copy on the screen says plainly: "Screw the dopers, the politics, the critics. They ripped the soul out of this race. We're masochists, believers, and it's our time. Take Back the Tour."

Says Harvey: "We are reflecting the anger and passion of our viewers. It can be real good rallying cry."

With three weeks to go, he did not detail advertising sales goals other than to say: "We are in great shape." He added that the race does not have a ratings guarantee; in fact, many live TV sporting events are not guaranteed. The Tour's strongest demos are with men 18-34 and men 18-49.

Versus just announced a renewal to air the Tour de France. Reportedly, the deal went for $27.5 million for five years. Harvey would not comment on the price, but said it was an "increase."

Like other cable networks in the summer, Versus looks to original programming to drive viewership. In that regard, Tour de France will dominate the networks' schedule, airing 14 hours of coverage, starting at 6:30 a.m. The big bike event starts July 5.

"We are optimistic," says Harvey. "We are bullish on the Tour." Viewer interest has been climbing recently on the network. The network's just-completed coverage of the Giro d'Italia--the second-biggest of the three-week grand-tour stage races--surged 40% in total viewer impressions versus a year ago. Earlier in the season, the growing U.S. race--Tour of California--had a 29% increase in total viewer impressions.

Versus has aired the Tour de France for the last eight years. In recent years, it has seen a drop in ratings. From 2000 to 2005, the network's ratings for the big event soared with the run of Lance Armstrong, who won the Tour de France seven times from 1999 to 2005. Still, Harvey notes in surveying viewers who have seen at least some part of the Tour--a minute, 10 minutes or two hours--the event is bigger than it has ever been on the network. That number was at 20.5 million viewers for last year's event.

Internet interest in the Tour also continues to grow. "There is tremendous online activity," he says. "Last year, we serviced 3.7 million videos in three weeks."