From BARB:
1 – 541k – Live Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Sunday, 11:30)
2 – 315k – Live Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Qualifying (Saturday, 12:00)
3 – 117k – Live Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Practice 3 (Saturday, 09:45)
4 – 88k – Live Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Practice 1 (Friday, 08:45)
5 – 76k – Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Qualifying Replay (Saturday, 15:45)
6 – 67k – Live Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Practice 2 (Friday, 12:45)
7 – 66k – Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Qualifying Replay (Sunday, 08:45)
8 – 46k – Britain’s Next F1 Star (Sunday, 16:17)
9 – 45k – Inside Track: Sebastian Vettel (Saturday, 11:45)
10 – 40k – Legends (Saturday, 11:15)
A good set of ratings here considering it was a BBC live weekend. The live race day programmes compares favourably to other rounds where BBC are also live:
– Spain: 523k
– Monaco: 565k
– Europe: 531k
– Singapore: 475k
Furthermore, Britain’s Next F1 Star makes its first appearance in the top 10, interestingly for its Sunday repeat and not the Thursday première airing, which shows that the Sunday post-race slot is more attractive than a stable Thursday slot at 19:30 as the Formula 1 audience is already there.
The Inside Track show with Sebastian Vettel was an extended interview he did with Ted Kravitz recorded during the Indian Grand Prix weekend. Like above, this wasn’t a première airing, although it was worth a watch as it was the raw version rather than a trimmed down version. It was nice seeing Vettel mess around a bit in the extended version, which did not make the cut down version. Of course, only those that were lucky enough to spot the late addition to the schedule were able to watch it.
No F1 Show in the top ten either, I do wonder whether they will change the Friday scheduling of that next year because the editions on race weekend seem to vary wildly ratings wise.
Motorsport Broadcasting 
I wonder are Sky Sports happy with F1’s performance or do they see it as a mistake? Are these viewing figures above or below target, does anyone know?
I don’t think they see it as a mistake, because they have the rights for the next seven years up to and including 2018, and probably will end up having it after that as well. I think they will be content with the figures. After all they are not too low, but not massively high either. They are probably in-line or slightly below expectations.
In terms of actual shows, personally, I think The F1 Show should be higher, I’m disappointed it has only been over 100k once. The support races have disappointed ratings wise as well, but Sky have themselves to blame there as they failed to promote it outside of the channel like they did with the main F1 races.
Yeah, I think you’re right.
In a way I actually feel a bit sorry for Sky. Brundle appears to have lost his wit and charm as the season has progressed. Listening to his commentary I actually feel his passion has waned this year.
However, hopefully the BBC v Sky debate will have ended next year and Sky can begin to show F1 without having to worry about what type of presentation BBC chooses.
Sky were expecting (or at least telling prospective advertisers they would get) 1.3 million for the live race, but currently get an average of 609k, and qualifying only 344k
The F1 Show gets an average of 59k, many shows get zero viewers or make no impact.
The BBC is currently 32% down on 2011 figures, and even the ‘non-unique’ combined BBC/Sky viewers are down 17% on the BBC’s 2011 figures (and that excludes the BBC’s highlights show from 2011).
If the sheeple give Sky their money it’ll be there for many years.
If the people stand by their principles, it won’t be long before Sky drop out of F1 (hurrah) and F1 returns exclusively to terrestrial TV.
At the moment, the only people who are happy with the deal are those who a) have a Sky subscription already and b) enjoy the sense of exclusivity it gives them because they have little else to feel good about in their pathetic lives.