This year's UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Lenzerheide saw the number of hours watched on TV increase by 45 percent compared to the previous year (from 4.5 to 6.5 million) during the World Championships in Cairns, Australia. The cumulative audience this year even amounted to 46 million compared to 21 million in the previous year.

The UCI explains that these impressive viewing figures were achieved thanks to increased coverage in Switzerland and other core European markets. The decision to produce the team relay and the U23 races live also had a positive impact on the figures.
Including the associated news, these broadcasts attracted a total audience of over ten million, amounting to a total of 1.37 million TV hours.

Highest viewing figures in Switzerland

More than 6.5 million hours of mountain bike action from Lenzerheide were watched on linear television, including almost six million hours on free-to-air channels across Europe.

In the USA, NBC provided the longest airtime for mountain bike fans with 33 hours on the Olympic Channel. Hubsports in Singapore, Czechska Televicia in the Czech Republic and SRG in Switzerland each devoted more than 30 hours exclusively to the major event. A total of 120 countries offered their own coverage.

The highest viewing figures for the coverage were achieved in the host country Switzerland with 1.79 million viewers, followed by Poland, Spain and Belgium.