TNT Sports says the audience for its live coverage of the Tour de France has grown by 55 percent compared to 2025, and 41 percent overall in the first year that the broadcaster has had exclusive rights.
Having previously shared rights for the biggest cycling race in the world with ITV, the increase is expected, with TNT claiming it demonstrates “the continued momentum behind its cycling coverage” – however, TNT has not released the raw viewing numbers for its live coverage, making it difficult to gauge how many (or how few) viewers of ITV’s free coverage the broadcaster has managed to convert, and how many have either stopped watching or moved to a cheaper VPN service to access broadcasts from other territories.
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After producing free-to-air Grand Tour highlights, which have been broadcast either on Quest or DMAX, TNT announced shortly before the race that it had agreed to produce a highlights programme that would be broadcast on Channel 5. The programme is hosted by Rebecca Charlton, but unlike the broadcaster’s previous free-to-air programmes, the show does not incorporate studio punditry or elements of ‘The Breakaway’ post-stage show.
TNT has also been criticised in the past for removing its ad-free cycling stream shortly before last year’s Tour de France, and dramatically hiking its prices. Now accessed through the HBO Max streaming service, a TNT subscription is £30.99 per month, though customers now have the option of paying £311 upfront to bring that down to £25.99 per month.
Warner Bros. Discovery Vice President Scott Young defended the new prices in May, saying that the folding of cycling into TNT’s larger sports portfolio meant it was possible for “football fans to discover how great the Giro is”, and that the £30 per month package represented “genuine value”.
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In its press release, TNT said that Channel 5’s highlights programme was averaging more than 500,000 viewers a night. ITV’s highlights programme, also broadcast at 7pm, did not feature in BARB audience tables in recent years. However, archive data shows the highlights programme in 2018 consistently achieved nearly a million viewers in the final week when the race was won by Geraint Thomas.
In 2012, the first highlights programme of the race averaged around 700,000, peaking at 960,000 in the final week when Bradley Wiggins became the first British winner of the race.
Since those heady days, both British success in the Tour de France and the popularity of linear television has declined, making a proper comparison difficult. However, a source told road.cc that the highlights programme for Mark Cavendish’s 35th stage win exceeded one million viewers. Nevertheless, declining viewership was a factor in ITV’s decision not to bid for broadcasting rights in 2026 and beyond.
road.cc has asked TNT’s parent company Warner Bros. Discovery for the viewing numbers on its live Tour de France coverage, and we’ll update this article with additional context if we hear back.
1 thought on “TNT Sports hails 55% growth of its Tour de France audience following controversial demise of free-to-air coverage”
Yes TNT. Just wait until October after the Tour Of Lombardy. I will be saying goodbye for 4 or 5 months.