• by Wayne Friedman , July 11, 2006

Tour de France TV ratings may be down more than 40 percent so far on OLN, but its Tour related Web site has more than doubled its video usage vs. a year ago.

During the first week of the three-week cycling race, some 900,000 videos have been viewed so far this year on OLNTV.com, which compares with about 400,000 a year ago. Additionally, page views for OLNTV.com have climbed 21 percent vs. last year.

OLN still derives the bulk of its advertising dollars via its linear cable TV network. OLNTV.com, the official U.S. Tour de France web site, complements the 300 hours of TV coverage run on the cable network, with special video features, highlights, message boards, e-cards and Tour blogs.

This is uplifting news for OLN, which has experienced a 40 percent-plus ratings decline so far in its TV coverage of the bicycle tournament. Much of this was expected given the retirement of American Lance Armstrong, the record seven-time winner of the Tour de France.

Blame for the poor ratings has also been linked to a dramatic drug- doping investigation by Spanish authorities that directly or indirectly forced four of the five top riders to be ejected a day before the Tour de France started this year.

Earlier this year, OLN made a major move in exploring the digital world for its live cycling programming. It partnered with cycling.tv in putting daily coverage on the Internet of the Giro d'Italia, the second biggest of the grand tour stage races.

OLN network will change its name to Versus in September.