Following the highly successful inaugural event that attracted a large audience in 2020, the Le Mans Virtual Series has attracted 81 million fans, according to research and insights provider YouGov Sport.
Across five rounds, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual finale, the leading racing esports event brought together over 200 drivers from 39 different nations, a mix of sim racing stars and real-world motorsport drivers.
The season-ending 24-hour race was broadcast around the world on channels such as Eurosport, MotorTrend, L’Equipe Live and Motorsport.TV, not forgetting our own livestream, too.
The 81 million audience, according to YouGov Sport, is cumulative of TV, over-the-top media services (OTT) and digital, with over 360,000 hours consumed by the Le Mans Virtual audience. In addition, 30.2 million social media impressions were generated via the FIA WEC, ACO and Le Mans Virtual channels.
“These impressive figures and the quality of the events are clear confirmation that the Le Mans Virtual Series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual are now firmly established at the very top level of esports and sim racing,” explained Executive Producer of the 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual, Gérard Neveu.
“On behalf of all of us at Le Mans Virtual Series, we want to sincerely thank all our competitors and teams who made this possible, our partners for their unwavering support, and the millions of fans who followed our events and who brought the social media sites alive with their comments of support, passion and race-enthusiasm.
“Let’s now get ready for next season and make it even better!”
The 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual and the Le Mans Virtual Series was won by Realteam Hydrogen Redline in LMP and BMW Team Redline in GTE after an enthralling season of racing esports. During the 24 hour race, 50 cars were split into two classes, with 116 simulators in 28 different countries connected.
A team of 120 people across production, sporting, marketing, media and digital, TV and logistics made it happen. Let us know in the comments below if you watched and enjoyed the Le Mans Virtual Series – we’ll be back next week with a behind-the-scenes documentary.
2022 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual viewing figures
- 360,000 hours were consumed by the #LeMansVirtual audience
- 8 million TV/OTT audience (source: YouGov Sport)
Article updated to add the viewership breakdown at the bottom
