• by Wayne Friedman , August 2, 2007

Despite being plagued by doping expulsions of cyclists, Versus, the cable network airing the Tour de France, witnessed improvement of its viewership over a year ago, as well as earning a higher household reach than any other time with the cycling event--including the Lance Armstrong years.

Versus said total household numbers rose 12% to 20.5 million versus 18.3 million in 2006 for the entire 23-day race. In 2005, the last year Armstrong won, the network grabbed 20.4 million households. Some of this growth in households is attributed to Versus' bigger universe of cable subscribers -- now at 72 million vs. 63 million in 2005.

The network said total average viewership was up 11% in the live morning broadcast to 343,000 (Live plus same day DVR playback data) versus last year. Overall, household impressions for the same live program were up 4% to 247,000.

In the key mountain stages, Versus said viewership for those live programs rose 25% to 295,000 viewers.

Versus also noted that Web traffic for the event witnessed growth. Unique visits were 5% higher to 1.4 million. Page views climbed 20% to 23.5 million. The number of video viewings increased on the site to a collective 3.43 million, up 16%.

Despite the controversy, the competition for the overall yellow jersey was the closest in Tour de France history, with the top three riders separated by only 31 seconds.

Alberto Contador, of Spain, part of the U.S.-based Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team, won the yellow jersey, with Contador's teammate, Levi Leipheimer, coming in third place.

Discovery Channel team garnered more honors in this Tour de France than any other time--even in the Lance Armstrong years. It won the yellow jersey, the team competition, the young rider's white jersey (Contador also won that competition), two stage victories, and placed three of its riders in the top ten.