SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CA (BRAIN)—Future, the special interest media company is celebrating its biggest month yet for its online cycling portfolio, after almost 3 million users visited BikeRadar.com and CyclingNews.com in July.
The number of unique users across both sites reached 2,964,043 (HBX July figures) following a bumper month for cycling with the Tour de France and the run up to the Beijing Olympics.
BikeRadar.com’s success was helped by another very successful run for the Tour de France podcast which was the second most downloaded sports podcast though iTunes throughout the Tour, with the total number of downloads reaching 123,814, increasing more than 45 percent on last year's performance.
This news comes hot on the heels of Future celebrating the first birthday of BikeRadar.com; which has become a leading online resource for the global cycling community.
The site combines the expertise and knowledge from Future's leading cycling magazines and news and racing content from CyclingNews.com. BikeRadar.com also boasts the biggest online cycling product and reviews database, and user generated routes and rides for over 66,000 routes across the world.
CyclingNews.com is the world leader in cycling sport coverage, with a dedicated global team allowing visitors to access up-to-date information 24 hours a day. The record traffic on CyclingNews.com in July was also driven by interest in the Tour de France but also through continued editorial development of the site. In particular this year, video clips and live commentary feeds direct from the Tour, both proved extremely popular.
The news of the record breaking month also signals the end of the formal consultancy work on CyclingNews.com from former proprietor and publisher Gerard Knapp, who has worked on the site since Future acquired CyclingNews.com in July 2007. Gerard leaves CyclingNews.com by mutual agreement and will continue working with Future on other Internet and technology related projects.
Peter Stothard is general manager of Future’s U.S. outdoor sports portfolio. Richard Schofield is group publisher of Future’s sports portfolio.
“Traffic on BikeRadar.com and CyclingNews.com in July has exceeded all expectations and further establishes us as the world leader in the cycling media. It's a perfect illustration of what we do best; using Future’s knowledgeable journalists and digital technology to produce compelling cycling content for a global audience. These results are a great tribute to the hard work of the editorial and technical teams.”
“We would both also like to thank Gerard for his dedication and all the fantastic support he has given us over the period since our acquisition. We wish him all the very best in his future projects.”
Gerard Knapp said, “The brilliant effort of the CyclingNews team throughout the Tour de France maintained the site's preeminence as the world's leading cycling news and results service, a position that I am sure Future will maintain. I would like to congratulate Future for continuing to support the excellent editorial team around the globe, and respecting CyclingNews' position as the 'go-to' site for the world's bike-racing community. With BikeRadar.com's awesome resource of technology reviews and cycling routes, I believe Future is extremely well-positioned to continue to this progress going forward.”
