BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Other Tour de France podcasts are also riding high in the iTunes charts and this will now accelerate as iTunes has added a Tour de France category to the podcast home page.
ITV’s podcast is the clear leader of all the Tour de France podcasts, in the UK at least. It’s plugged like crazy by Gary Imlach on the daily Tour TV coverage and while it’s currently at number 15 in the iTunes ‘top podcasts’ list it has previously been at number one, squeezing out massively popular podcasts such as Friday Night Comedy by Radio 4 and the Ricky Gervais podcast.
In the sports category, the ITV podcast is cemented at the top of the pile, with BikeRadar’s podcast fixed at number two.
Last year the BikeRadar Tour de France podcast from Future Publishing achieved 85,000 downloads during the duration of the Tour.
Richard Schofield, group publisher of BikeRadar.com, said:
“The BikeRadar TdF podcasts proved immensely popular last July when we had only just launched BikeRadar and are a prefect illustration of what BikeRadar does best; using Future’s knowledgeable journalists and digital technology to produce compelling cycling content for a global audience.
“In its first year BikeRadar has exceeded all expectations. Visitor numbers have been growing steadily and we’re delivering a high-quality, active audience to both cycling and lifestyle advertisers.”
A one-man podcast with a huge North American following is David Bernstein’s Fredcast. Bernstein produces an almost-daily summary of the Tour de France on a dedicated TdF podcast, which includes stage previews, summaries, and other features of interest.
"Last year, The Daily Tour was one of the highest ranked podcasts on iTunes, garnering more than 88,000 downloads, and it seems to be on course to exceed those numbers since the podcasts for the first two stages have already received over 5,000 downloads," said Bernstein, a former bicycle industry executive.
"The FredCast began as a labour of love.
"I searched for podcasts that addressed my interests as a cyclist and fan, but there just weren’t any. More than two years later, I’m still at it and still loving it. I do this in my spare time, but I am hoping to soon turn this into a part-time or full-time business."
Most of the Tour de France podcasts are audio only, even the ITV podcast. For a video podcast showing the Team Columbia launch – including Mark Cavendish asking for a chair to "save his legs" – click here.
