Cycling viewership and rider popularity.

[Duartista]

I would say Contador and Schleck are the most well known by non-sports fans, due to all the media hype about their TDF rivalry (in 2010 especially).

I admit this is based on a rather unscientific sample of 1.

 

[William H]

http://trends.google.com/trends?q="...ippe+Gilbert"&ctab=0&geo=all&date=2011&sort=0

 

[just some guy]

http://trends.google.com/trends?q="...ippe+Gilbert"&ctab=0&geo=all&date=2011&sort=0

Add Evans who was mentioned earlier - Winner of the Tour 2011 gets the most hits by far.

 

[Angliru]

I'm talking about the general public who don't follow cycling. Cadel Evans no chance.

I would think that the general public is more aware of Contador as a result of his internal and on the road battle with Armstrong in 2009 at the Tour, his victory over him in the midst of Armstrong's disasterous performance in the 2010 Tour and finally the media's focus on the negatives in cycling (doping) over any actual results/racing that doesn't take place in July.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Contador definetly most well known due to his dominance and doping case.

A family member thought Cadel Evans was a speed skater that won a gold medal. (Steven Bradbury)

 

[Angliru]

Of course popularity and notoriety aren't necessarily the same thing. In Contador's case his high recognition is a result of his accomplishments in the sport, the huge mass of Armstrong followers whose hearts were broken by his defeat at Contador's hands and of course his pending case with WADA.

So if the OP is looking for simply the most popular cyclist and I'm assuming he means "active", it would've been Andy Schleck prior to his 2010 Tour performance and his 2011 Tour media meltdown as a result of a certain rainy descent. He was the chosen one by the media gracing multiple covers of mags and being trumpeted as the rider that will rescue the sport with his new team and their "true cycling" mantra. Then it all just fell apart rather spectacularly over the course of the season.

In the end, being true to the actual title of the thread, it's a bit difficult to say who the most popular active cyclist is among the world's general public.
The general public only gets the info that the media thinks will draw attention and with cycling it's the big wins at the Tour and at the opposite end of the spectrum are the doping cases which get much more coverage worldwide than any events in the sport other than the Tour. Ultimately the general public is pretty ambivalent about the sport as a whole so I doubt at the present that any active rider could be considered the most popular when put in those terms.

 

[Martin318is]

Cavendish was the only cyclist on the "most marketable athletes in the world"- list that was made earlier this year. He wouldn't be there if he weren't the most known active cyclist.

I dont think that is a valid conclusion. most marketable is not the same as most known. It doesn't mean he is better known than contador or Cancellara, etc. It merely means that a product will do better attached to him than other cyclists. Things like home country and language play an important part here. Go back to that list and have a look at how many do NOT speak fluent English. Contador is marketable in Spanish speaking markets but he is just a photograph in most others.

 

[The Hitch]

Also the most marketable thing was based on future. How attractive they will be to sponsors over the coming years. In Cavs own piece it mentioned the London olympics and his potential signing with Team Sky as the main reasons. Neither of those things are in the present. They are things that might make him atractive to sponsors over the coming years.

 

[briztoon]

Ultimately the general public is pretty ambivalent about the sport as a whole so I doubt at the present that any active rider could be considered the most popular when put in those terms.

I couldn't put it better myself. No current rider transcends the sport like Armstrong used to (and still does). As I tried to say earlier, I believe some cycle fans overestimate the popularity of the sport amongst the general public.

The Australian media and the Australian public love a local winner in any Major sporting event, so Cadels win at the TDF was big deal down here. But his World Champioship win a couple of years ago didn't get much (any) mainstream attention at all. As for Cavendish, no one down here could give a flying duck about him, honestly.

Cav currently has little true marketability outside of the UK and the sport itself. If he could WIN the TDF and not just some sprint stages, that might change.

Cav is not the best known cyclist in the world. I don't even think he is the best known cyclist in the sport, but I can't back that up. Purely from an Australian perspective, Philippe Gilbert, the Schlecks and Alberto Contador got more air time during the TDF coverage than Cav, let alone Evans.

 

[Swabian Lass]

OK, based on a purely personal, anecdotal, but nevertheless entirely statistically valid sample of seven German non cycling fans, but reasonably knowledgable sports fans (my team at work) I got the following results:

Cadel Evans 5

Phil Gilbert 3

Alberto Contador 5

Andy Schleck 6

Mark Cavendish 7

Lance Armstrong 7

I wouldn't claim that's typical. I think that Cavendish possibly gets more media coverage here because of the Greipel rivalry. Of course they'd all heard of Tony Martin and Jens Voight .

 

[theyoungest]

OK, based on a purely personal, anecdotal, but nevertheless entirely statistically valid sample of seven German non cycling fans, but reasonably knowledgable sports fans (my team at work) I got the following results:

Cadel Evans 5

Phil Gilbert 3

Alberto Contador 5

Andy Schleck 6

Mark Cavendish 7

Lance Armstrong 7

I wouldn't claim that's typical. I think that Cavendish possibly gets more media coverage here because of the Greipel rivalry. Of course they'd all heard of Tony Martin and Jens Voight .

El Pisti ain't gonna like this...

But I guess it's more or less the same in Holland.

 

[sublimit]

OK, based on a purely personal, anecdotal, but nevertheless entirely statistically valid sample of seven German non cycling fans, but reasonably knowledgable sports fans (my team at work) I got the following results:

Cadel Evans 5

Phil Gilbert 3

Alberto Contador 5

Andy Schleck 6

Mark Cavendish 7

Lance Armstrong 7

I wouldn't claim that's typical. I think that Cavendish possibly gets more media coverage here because of the Greipel rivalry. Of course they'd all heard of Tony Martin and Jens Voight .

El Pistelero will claim a statistical error of 25 % I'd say.

 

[The Hitch]

El Pisti ain't gonna like this...

But I guess it's more or less the same in Holland.

Where is your evidence of 1/3 of the world watching the Tour?

 

[El Pistolero]

El Pisti ain't gonna like this...

But I guess it's more or less the same in Holland.

I'm pretty sure a sample of 7 is totally worthless in statistics.

 

[Escarabajo]

I'm talking about the general public who don't follow cycling. Cadel Evans no chance.

Neither does Cavendish.

In Colombia they no clue who a famous sprinter is.

 

[Escarabajo]

...

WTF 2 billion viewers. Have you gone nuts? ...

....

So how does 1/3 of the total world population watch the Tour if in one of its major countries (hell staging areas even) the ratio is only 1:10?

+1.

LOL. 2 billion is ridiculous. You could find out quickly by checking other more popular sports viewership and getting an estimate of the maximum ratings. Like Soccer.

That's from FIFA 715 million people watched the final (about). About 2.2 billion viewers for all matches combined.

So Le Tour is on par with the FIFA soccer world cup????

 

[ingsve]

WTF 2 billion viewers. Have you gone nuts? Theres not even 2 billion people with access to tvs. And regular channels dont even show the Tour in most countries you need to buy special channels just to watch it.

In England I dont know a single person who has ever watched the Tour de France. And cyclng fans in England are far more numerous than in Africa China, Japan USA.

None of the major markets besides western europe touch it.

In Spain, one of the major cycling countries 4 million people watch the Tour. Thats one tenth of the population.

So how does 1/3 of the total world population watch the Tour if in one of its major countries (hell staging areas even) the ratio is only 1:10?

If the 2 billion figure is correct then it certainly wouldn't be 2 billion viewers per stage but rather a cumulative number over all broadcasts during the entire Tour. If you take those 2 billion and devide them by 21 stages you get to 95 million viewers per stage. And since the Tour is reportedly broadcast in 180 countries that means an average of 500000 viewers per country and given that large cycling nations like France and Spain have viewership at around 4 million as reported then the average figure of 500000 per country seems very reasonable.

 

[FignonLeGrand]

I'm pretty sure a sample of 7 is totally worthless in statistics.

statistically meaningless to be pedantic

 

[FignonLeGrand]

+1.

LOL. 2 billion is ridiculous. You could find out quickly by checking other more popular sports viewership and getting an estimate of the maximum ratings. Like Soccer.



So Le Tour is on par with the FIFA soccer world cup????

it could be 2 billion viewers for whole race? I watched it 20 times, etc etc.

 

[FignonLeGrand]

OK, based on a purely personal, anecdotal, but nevertheless entirely statistically valid sample of seven German non cycling fans, but reasonably knowledgable sports fans (my team at work) I got the following results:

Cadel Evans 5

Phil Gilbert 3

Alberto Contador 5

Andy Schleck 6

Mark Cavendish 7

Lance Armstrong 7

I wouldn't claim that's typical. I think that Cavendish possibly gets more media coverage here because of the Greipel rivalry. Of course they'd all heard of Tony Martin and Jens Voight .

To continue this ground breaking research I asked my wife. She is half dutch half english = dunglish. This is what I got:

1 Lance Armstrong
2 Joop Zoetemelk (??? she is not that old)
3 Contador
4 Cade Evans
5 Hoogerland!

So the lesson is win it 7 times, nearly win it 15 times, get outed, win it this year or hit a fence! Does show for her its home country or TdF only. Im ****ed she claims to be English and no mention of Cav, Wiggo or more importantly Malcolm Elliot.

 

[Escarabajo]

it could be 2 billion viewers for whole race? I watched it 20 times, etc etc.

Ok. I read ingsve post. Makes better sense. Although in comparison with the World Cup which should be cumulative and has more games than stages it falls at 2.2 billion which is kind of close to Le Tour. So I am not sure what to make of it.

 

[theyoungest]

Where is your evidence of 1/3 of the world watching the Tour?

There are multiple sources for it, Google it. And 2 billion viewers is including duplicates, like I said. So the actual number of viewers will be reasonably lower, but still considerably higher than those for the classics.

I'm pretty sure a sample of 7 is totally worthless in statistics.

Of course it is. Feel free to conduct your own research (and I don't mean among your friends, of course they'll all scream "Gilbert is the most famous cyclist in the WORLD!!!!!1!!")

 

[LugHugger]

To continue this ground breaking research I asked my wife. She is half dutch half english = dunglish. This is what I got:

1 Lance Armstrong
2 Joop Zoetemelk (??? she is not that old)
3 Contador
4 Cade Evans
5 Hoogerland!

So the lesson is win it 7 times, nearly win it 15 times, get outed, win it this year or hit a fence! Does show for her its home country or TdF only. Im ****ed she claims to be English and no mention of Cav, Wiggo or more importantly Malcolm Elliot.

Are you Malcolm Elliot????

 

[PCutter]

Of course it is. Feel free to conduct your own research

I have surveyed my household and according to results every man and his dog watches the TdF. Plus anything else that comes up on free-to-air television.

 

[Maxiton]

Interesting discussion. I did my own look up on Google Trends, with this result:

http://tinyurl.com/3qwqzdh

As you can see, in every country except one Armstrong searches are several orders of magnitude greater than anyone else. Likewise in every language, excepting Spanish, where it's Contador by a nose. (In Australia, Cadel wins it, but not by much.)

If we take Armstrong out of the mix, Evans wins out over Cav everywhere except Denmark (for obvious reasons). (UK isn't on the list But we can safely assume Cav will take that one.)

Here in the US, the average sports fan who doesn't follow cycling can name Armstrong (though they might call him "Neil Armstrong"), and they might be able to name this year's Tour winner. But that's it.

The Tour de France is the only non-US race broadcast on cable (or it was, at least, the last time I checked). Everything else you have to seek out on the Web.