The motorcycle back in the clear. The Canal + group announced on Tuesday that the French Moto GP Grand Prix would be broadcast on C8 on Sunday May 15. Last year, the race contested on the Le Mans circuit had already been offered to a wider audience than subscribers to the encrypted channel. Broadcast on C8, the 2021 edition of the event attracted a total of 1.8 million viewers, peaking at 2.24 on both channels to see the French Fabio Quartaro and Johann Zarco finish on the podium. A record audience for the discipline on Canal +.
The group intends to surf on the good audiences of motor sports on its antennas. This weekend, 967,000 people watched Quartararo win the Portuguese Grand Prix where Zarco finished second. 1.25 million viewers watched the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, in Formula 1, which saw world champion Max Verstappen win.
Motorsports are a hit on Canal +
In 2021, the Moto GP attracted an average of 800,000 viewers per race, an increase of 92% since its arrival on the channel in 2019. France has in its ranks the reigning world champion, Fabio Quartararo, co-leader after his Portuguese success. Before heading to La Sarthe for the French Grand Prix, the drivers are in Spain this weekend.
Still on Canal +, F1 shows a 52% increase in audience in two years, with a historic record at the final Grand Prix of the last season, in Abu Dhabi with 2.41 million viewers.