X Games Real MTB Attracted More Viewers Than Any Other Real Series Contest

May 7, 2021 at 3:22
by Ed Spratt  

The X Games Real MTB contest attracted more views than any of the other Real contests since the first event 12 years ago.

Forbes has reported that the first X Games Real MTB contest reached nearly 25 million views across YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat, making it the most successful in X Games' Real series. The Real MTB event passed the view counts of the Real Ski, Real Snow, Real Moto, Real Street, and Real BMX contests.

Danny MacAskill's edit with Robbie Meade saw the highest number of YouTube views at over 2.5 million. The video rose to the 29th most trending videos in the United States. Fan favourite Brage Vestavik saw part of his segment outperform all past Real content on Instagram and TikTok. Brage's entry built 1.3 million Instagram views and a huge 7.3 million views on TikTok.

Mountain biking last featured in the X Games back in 2013 where it didn't quite reach the success of this year's Real contest. We loved watching the incredible edits that DJ Brandt, Danny MacAskill, Veronique Sandler, Brandon Semenuk, Brage Vestavik and Cam Zink put together. After the big impact it has made, we hope there will be more Real MTB events in the future.

Author Info:
edspratt avatar

Member since Mar 16, 2017
3,063 articles
Must Read This Week
Pole Bicycles Has Filed for Bankruptcy
62587 views
Kona Bicycles' Parent Company Appoints New CFO, Intends to Sell Brand
61619 views
First Ride: The Sub-$600 RockShox Domain and Psylo Forks
45619 views
Randoms Round 3: Dario's Treasures
40138 views
Pinkbike's DH Fantasy League: Get Your Team On The Line - Fort William is in TWO WEEKS!
37660 views
Randoms Round 1 - Sea Otter 2024
36465 views
[UPDATED] Final Elite XC Results & Overall Standings from the Araxá XC World Cup 2024
36170 views
Spotted: Frameworks Racing DH Bike with Electronic Fox Shock & Unreleased Enve Rims
35551 views
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup

33 Comments
  • 89 0
 minus all the people who watched Brage´s edit 2 - 100 times
  • 56 11
 Of course there will be another one next year and hopefully with a full women's category instead of this weird token female BS they did with all the Real contests.
  • 3 0
 For real. What could be easier than taking a few more video submissions??
More would be more in this case!
  • 10 5
 I would also love to see a full women's category, but to refer to their choice to include Veronique Sandler as "weird token female BS" is pretty damn derogative. Chill mon...
  • 1 0
 Totally agree. The tokenism is bunk. In saying that, I haven't seen any of Vera's segments before and she rips as hard as any of the other athletes. All-in categories show great contrast in styles regardless of gender.
  • 4 0
 @beatifix: To say she was riding at the same level as Zink, Brandt or Brage is absurd. She's awesome but how about giving her a shot to win it instead of being the token female in an otherwise all male comp?
  • 18 2
 Nearly 25 million total.
Brage 8.6million of them.
So over 1/3rd of the views were Brage!!!!

I guess the Fans favourite and the internets favourite was different to a couple of judges favourite.
Think PinkBike is trying to tell us that too in this post.
  • 8 1
 I don't disagree with you about the quality of Brage's edit, but if you only watched a single edit on TicToc, you probably aren't qualified to say which is best! haha.
  • 1 9
flag betsie (May 7, 2021 at 6:22) (Below Threshold)
 @j-t-g: when it comes to the peoples favourite (what people actually want to watch, not your preconceived bias of what is good or bad based upon your personal experience), judge someone's education on getting the answer right.
The correct answer going by the numbers, lets call it the statistics is .... Brage had the most popular edit.
Just a guess though.
  • 17 0
 Yet MTB athletes make less money than comparable sports with "Real" Series.

Surely money is going to start flowing into MTB with how popular it's gotten. Let's hope, at least.
  • 2 0
 exactly, and the pinkbike surveys that they are having implies that as in other sports if the players don't make an association, there is no one who is going to fight for the money they deserve.
  • 20 2
 All this means is mtb has more dads who can watch a few clips on the toilet than any other sport
  • 3 0
 False. I can watch all the Real Sports edits while on the toilet.
  • 14 0
 Brage Vestavik !

RedBull where you at?
  • 3 0
 They need to pay these guys more if they are getting this level of attention. Our sport has such a short shelf life for some of these guys risking life and limb but there isn't much money in it relative to other sports. Its such a spectacle too.
  • 6 1
 I will say Brage did, not the X-Games
  • 3 0
 It was mentioned in HKT podcast episode with Clay Harper (the organiser) that there will be another one.
  • 2 0
 aka brage attracted that much attention
  • 1 3
 Apparently, I live under a rock. I watch the X Games and even the Street League Series (SLS) most years (at least the semi-finals and finals) and yet I have never heard of X Games Real. Can someone please explain how X Games Real differs from the X Games?
  • 1 0
 Kids should be part of the vote.
  • 1 0
 Can we get a breakdown of the numbers per platform?
  • 2 1
 Brage Vestavik´s edit was unreal, that´s why he got robbed.
  • 1 0
 I’m just guessing their are more Mtn bikers than moto riders...
  • 3 0
 ...but not skiers or snowboarders
  • 1 0
 I dunno, I think there might actually be more moto riders. It's very popular in some parts of the country (or world for that matter). I think MTB is more niche than moto.
  • 1 0
 how much bigger can Brage go next year?!
  • 2 0
 I think I heard in the HKT podcast with Clay Harper that only the winner moves on to the next year's round and it would be an entirely new group (besides the past winner). At least that's how they do it with all the other x-games real sports series.

That being said, your thought is same as mine: how much bigger/gnarlier can you go from there? I can't wait to see what Brage puts out next year through instagram/youtube!
  • 1 0
 This game really doesn't appeal to me much.
  • 1 0
 sick
  • 1 0
 Cool.
Below threshold threads are hidden







Copyright © 2000 - 2024. Pinkbike.com. All rights reserved.
dv65 0.028405
Mobile Version of Website