• by Wayne Friedman , July 6, 2006

OLN has taken on some road rash for its "Tour de France" coverage--down more than 40 percent in ratings after three days of the big cycling event.

The cable network expected a significant ratings drop--especially in the post-Lance Armstrong era. OLN has been airing the Tour de France since 2001, with rising ratings each year due in large part to Armstrong's dramatic story coming back from near-death cancer. Armstrong retired last year after winning seven Tour de France races in a row, going back to 1999.

The event's first day this year on Saturday saw OLN's gross daily ratings sink 47 percent to a Nielsen 0.7 household rating from a 1.31 rating the year before. Sunday's numbers were a bit higher at a 0.85 rating, but down a hefty 41 percent from 1.44 a year ago. Monday's numbers pulled in a 0.81 rating, down from 1.67 a year ago.

That wasn't the only bad news for the event. The day before the Tour de France started, the biggest contenders looking to claim the overall crown--Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich--were thrown out of the race because of being implicated in a doping scandal.

The Lance factor was anticipated in OLN's ratings decline--but not that of the drug scandal that emerged.

"It is hard to know what impact the allegations have had on our coverage," said OLN in a statement. "What we do know is that several stars, most notably Lance Armstrong, are absent from the competition and this has most likely had an impact on the number of viewers tuning into the race. That said, this is a three-week race and we are building new stars. It is going to take some time for the race to gain traction."

The good news is that those new stars are American cyclists--including George Hincapie, Floyd Landis, and Levi Leipheimer--all former teammates of Lance Armstrong. In this mostly European-based sport, analysts believe that having American talent is crucial in sustaining U.S. TV viewership in the sport.

For this Tour de France, OLN brought in a number of new advertisers including AT&T, Nissan, Michelob Ultra, Bridgestone, Hampton Hotels, and Canadian-bike maker Cervelo. Advertisers returning from last year include Capital One, AMD, L.L.Bean, Lenovo, Nike, Trek, Subway, Pennzoil, and spirits maker Patron.

OLN anticipated declining ratings in the post-Lance era--and made deals that reflected this with advertisers. The network would not reveal exact ratings guarantees.

On a positive note, OLN says its online traffic for the Tour de France coverage is at the same levels as a year ago.