The first UCI Cycling World Championships - which brought 13 UCI World Championships together in one spectacular event in Glasgow and across Scotland (United Kingdom) from 3 to 13 August – attracted huge TV audiences across Europe.

More than 128 million hours were viewed during the 11 days of the event, representing a 70% increase on previous years when the various UCI World Championships were held on a stand-alone basis. 

The unprecedented scale of this inaugural event combined with comprehensive production and extensive coverage on some of Europe’s biggest channels resulted in exceptional TV ratings. 

Eurovision Sport, a division of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), acted as Host Broadcaster on behalf of the UCI and produced over 250 hours of live action and more than 20 hours of news and highlights. 

Eurovision Sport also distributed the event in Europe, in cooperation with the UCI for the United Kingdom, with IMG looking after the rest of the world. Seventeen EBU Members broadcast the event free-to-air with Eurosport and the Global Cycling Network (GCN) providing complementary coverage across the continent.

All disciplines on the event programme benefitted from the aggregate effect of combining the different UCI World Championships. Some examples:

The Men Elite road race on 6 August generated impressive numbers: 

• In the United Kingdom, the race recorded its best audience for four years, with an average of 632,000 viewers (and a peak of 800,000) on BBC One. 
• In the Netherlands, an average of 886,000 viewers watched over the course of 8 hours on NPO1 with a peak of 1.7 million while 1.14 million watched on average on Rai 2 in Italy with a peak of 1.65 million.
• In Denmark, TV2 Sport broke its market share record with 41% over more than 7 hours and a peak of 474,000 viewers

The Women Elite road race on 13 August also hit new peaks: 

• In Belgium, VRT1 scored an impressive 66% market share, very close to the 71.4% market share generated by the Men Elite road race on the same channel seven days earlier. 
• In Germany, ZDF attracted an average of 940,000 viewers with a peak of 1.220 million.

The track and para-cycling track events also recorded excellent audience figures: 

• In Italy, on RAI 2, on 6 August, the average audience was 683,000 viewers with a peak at 929,600.
• In the United Kingdom on 8 August, the average audience was 400,000 viewers on BBC Two.

The mountain bike (downhill) on 5 August also generated an unprecedented 963,000 viewer average on BBC Two (top live average for the whole UCI Cycling World Championships in the UK) with 14.7% market share over the three hours. 

As for other mountain bike disciplines, the cross-country mixed team relay on SVT1 in Sweden on 9 August had a market share of 21.5%, their highest market share over the whole Championships. And the cross country Olympic on 12 August generated the third highest peak audience for the World championships for France Televisions following the Men Elite road race on 6 August and the Women Elite road race on 13 August. 

All in all, the various main disciplines have generated the following impressive total figures: 

• 14.4 million hours viewed for the mountain bike with respectively 7.6 M hours viewed for the cross country and 6.8 for the down hill
• 25.9 M hours viewed for the track and para track
• 4.4 M hours viewed for the BMX (Racing and Freestyle) 
• 81.8 M hours viewed for the road

UCI President David Lappartient said: “The first edition of the UCI Cycling World Championships was an unprecedented success. The event saw around 8,000 athletes (elite and amateur) from 132 countries take part in the various disciplines on the programme. On the first day of competition, the 192nd UCI Congress in Glasgow brought together representatives from 151 of the 203 National Federations affiliated to the institution. Never before in the history of our International Federation have so many members gathered together.  

“The first TV figures available for Europe show that the public massively followed the UCI Cycling World Championships races, and that events and disciplines that do not usually benefit from such a high level of TV and media coverage benefited greatly from the increased exposure, which will boost their popularity and development at international level”.

2023 UCI Cycling World Championships Chair, Paul Bush OBE, said: “The 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships has been an unprecedented celebration of cycling and we are delighted that so many fans from around the world have tuned in to watch, alongside the estimated one million spectators who lined the roads and filled venues across the 11-days of competition.

“The comprehensive coverage of the inaugural UCI Cycling World Championships across 120 countries has showcased why Glasgow and Scotland is the perfect stage for major events, to a global audience, and we hope the event has inspired viewers to come and discover all Scotland has to offer”.

Eurovision Sport Executive Director Glen Killane said: “One of the key challenges for Eurovision Sport on this inaugural UCI Cycling World Championships was to encourage broadcasters to embrace the new multi-disciplinary concept and to showcase not only the pinnacle events such as the Men Elite road race, but other disciplines from mountain bike to artistic cycling, para-cycling track, and BMX Racing. 

“We are proud that Eurovision Sport has brought together Europe’s biggest free-to-air broadcasters to secure maximum exposure for this fantastic event. We always aspire to maximize value for stakeholders and have been delighted to work with UCI to help create a must-see event, enabling millions of cycling fans to be part of the action”.