Brundle “very happy” with first year at Sky

Martin Brundle has expressed his happiness at how his first year with the Sky Sports F1 team has gone.

Speaking at the AUTOSPORT Show, Brundle said “I’m very happy. Last year, sitting here at the AUTOSPORT Show, I was wondering [about my decision] because it took me a long time to make the decision as I liked what we were doing at the BBC, but I also liked what Sky were proposing to do and the role they wanted me to play. It wasn’t until the first race in March that I quickly began to realise that I really was happy with my decision. I think they put on a great show [for their first year], and we’ve got a good rapport among the people working in vision at Sky and those working behind [the scenes] as well.”

“We’re putting out 14 hours a weekend at a grand prix, a huge amount of content, and I’m probably working twice as hard as ever before on Formula 1 television. We’ve got the resource, and if you look back through the Olympics, who was still running F1 stuff? Sky. If you look through the Winter, who is out there with F1? Sky. Nobody is really out there [doing anything] in the television world.”, Brundle said regarding the amount of output Sky produced.

Brundle also commented about how Formula 1 broadcasting has moved on, noting “In the ITV days, we had 5 x 2’45” breaks which the fans did not like at all, we would have gone back to that. I think the solution was quite an elegant, at the time the fans were upset [about the BBC and Sky deal]. I don’t get that kind of feedback any more.”

In my opinion, it depends whether you look at Sky Sports F1 as a programme or a channel. If you just see it as a programme, then yes the first year has been very successful. But as a channel, there is significant room for improvement, as outlined before. The weekend output, which Brundle is involved in, is largely fine. Okay, there needs to be some changes to perfect it, but for the first year it was a good starting point to begin at. I’m not sure I particularly agree with Brundle’s point about being still on air throughout the Winter, after all the Sky Sports F1 channel is full of repeats from 2012, there is nothing in the schedules to bring the aficionado into watch.

A few news pieces

A few bits of interesting news have been making the rounds today, some of which can only be construed as disappointing.

The first piece of news is that FanVision will no longer be accessed by Formula One fans around the world attending races in 2013. FanVision’s release states that they were “not going to be able to agree terms with FOM”. What I think is worth noting here is that it would have been the first renewal of contract between the two parties since the two parties joined forces back in the middle of 2006, FanVision then under the Kangaroo TV moniker. The suspicion I have is that FanVision became too popular for its own good, Formula One Management wanted to hike the price and FanVision said no. I cannot say I particularly blame them if the product is more popular, but at the same time it would not surprise me if this was a negotiating tactic from FanVision, release this news, get some outcry from Formula One figures and media, and then strike a late cut price deal on the eve of Australia.

Next up is that Motors TV have announced that they will not be covering the World Rally Championship this year, meaning that as of writing it the series will not be shown in the United Kingdom. The news is a bitter blow to rallying fans, coverage of the sport once seen on ITV1 and Channel 4 ten years ago has since nosedived and has not touched terrestrial television much since. Steve Rider covers rallying in detail in his new book, which I may make the subject of a future blog.

Back onto the Formula 1 shores and newly signed NBC Formula 1 broadcaster Leigh Diffey has revealed that he was approached by BBC to commentate (I assume commentate) on their coverage. The move could have happened at one or two junctures, one at the end of 2011 or at the end of 2010 when Jonathan Legard was dropped. Our resident insider on Digital Spy says it was the latter. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I am actually glad this did not happen as Martin Brundle and David Coulthard was a fantastic partnership in 2011, whilst Coulthard and Ben Edwards commentating has been similarly superb this past season. So this is one move that I am glad did not happen.

And finally, staying with Formula 1, Sky Sports F1 website writer Pete Gill has confirmed that Sky Sports Online will be providing live and interactive commentary of all three pre-season tests. I do not really consider this much of an announcement or revelation (hence why this piece of news, AUTOSPORT have been doing this for several year, as have BBC and multiple other Formula 1 sites. Interactive to my mind is responding to readers’ tweets, although some for whatever reason interpret it as live video, which is not the case. Given that Sky Sports F1 is on throughout February, I would like to be proven wrong…

The status of IndyCar’s UK broadcasting rights

One talking point for motor sport fans in the off-season is what will happen to Sky Sports’ coverage of the Indy Car Series. With no news yet on whether Sky will be covering the series in 2013, if Sky choose not to cover it, the question becomes ‘which’ (if any) broadcaster will win the rights to show it.

Firstly though, why would Sky Sports choose not to cover it? Unfortunately, the first piece of evidence are the extremely low viewing figures that the Indy Car Series has on Sky. The fifteen races in the 2012 season averaged only 16,000 viewers, a very low number. The highest rated race was round four, which took place in São Paulo. That race achieved 39,000 viewers and coincidentally was also screened on Sky Sports F1. A few weeks later, and the Milwaukee round of the championship brought only 3,000 viewers. The blue-ribboned Indianapolis 500 event, which should comfortably be the most watched race, only had 29,000 viewers. All of the viewing figures can only be described as pitiful.

In comparison, Sky Sports F1’s entire live coverage of the GP2 Series averaged 24,000 viewers, whilst the GP3 Series averaged 20,000 viewers:

Series Averages
– 37,000 viewers – GP2 [Feature Race]
– 31,000 viewers – GP2 [Sprint Race]
– 21,000 viewers – GP3 [Feature Race]
– 19,000 viewers – GP3 [Sprint Race]
– 18,000 viewers – GP3 [Qualifying]
– 17,000 viewers – GP2 [Qualifying]
– 16,000 viewers – IndyCar Series
– 14,000 viewers – GP2 [Practice]

The purpose of the above is not to praise the GP2 and GP3 ratings, because, as I have outlined before, the feature and sprint races should be getting higher viewing figures, but for the IndyCar Series to have lower ratings the GP2 and GP3 Qualifying is criminal. There is the Sky Sports F1 argument and whether IndyCar Series would be benefited? Again, as said earlier, my opinion is that it would be. Any new contract between the IZOD IndyCar Series and Sky should state that races will be screened live on Sky Sports F1. Sky may consider the rights worthless in 2013 if Sky Sports F1 is not an option.

Aside from ratings, I assume that the rights are dirt cheap so they would not cost Sky much to renew it. But what if Sky Sports choose to drop IndyCars? Who will pick it up?

BBC – Highly, highly unlikely especially at a time of cut-backs.

ESPN – Would not be a good move. ESPN generally attracts less viewers than Sky Sports, meaning IndyCars would not reach out to anyone new. Plus, for people such as myself, IndyCars would become a no go as ESPN would be an extra £10 on top of my existing package.

Eurosport – A preferred option, but their treatment of four wheels is not the greatest. There is also the probability that not every race will be live. And their EPG is a mess at the best of times, sometimes it says Snooker yet you are watching something else.

ITV4 – I’d put this at the top of my list of choices, but I don’t think it would be something that ITV4 would actively look at. Nevertheless, the rights are relatively cheap and could boost IndyCars reputation in this country significantly as well as increasing ITV4’s sports portfolio ever more. A win-win.

Motors TV – Picture quality is not great, but they did screen the Race of Champions event in December, so do have some kind of budget if they wanted to screen it.

Premier Sports – This would be another likely option, but NASCAR also being on Premier Sports may cause potential problems.

My main concern is that the IndyCar Series may not have a home at all in the future in 2013. I dearly hope, that I am proven wrong. 2012 was a fantastic year for the series after a difficult end to 2011 and I hope to be able to see that continue in 2013.

Update at 20:30 on January 8th – In my initial few paragraphs, I forgot to link to this comment last September which goes into detail about the nature of Sky’s contract with the IndyCar Series.

Sky Sports F1 – Top 10 ratings (week ending 30th December, 2012)

From BARB:

1 – 13k – F1 2012: A Season to Remember (Tuesday, 19:00)
2 – 8k – F1 2012: A Season to Remember (Monday, 17:59)
3 – 8k – Lotus Season Review (Thursday, 19:30)
4 – 7k – Britain’s Next F1 Star (Tuesday, 14:30)
5 – 7k – F1 2012: A Season to Remember (Wednesday, 16:30)
6 – 7k – Williams Season Review (Saturday, 15:31)
7 – 7k – Force India Season Review (Saturday, 15:00)
8 – 6k – Britain’s Next F1 Star (Tuesday, 14:00)
9 – 5k – Ferrari Season Review (Wednesday, 19:31)
10 – 5k – Red Bull Season Review (Wednesday, 19:02)
== – 5k – Legends (Wednesday, 18:31)

How the season reviews rated over Christmas

With both BBC and Sky Sports producing Formula 1 season reviews over Christmas, it means we have two sets of television ratings to look at.

The BBC F1 review aired last Saturday (29th December) at 13:00 on BBC One to an average of 1.33 million viewers, a 11.3% viewing share. The figure is in-line with BBC’s previous efforts: in 2009 the review averaged 1.21 million viewers, whilst in 2011 the review was watched by 1.25 million viewers.

On Sky, across sixteen airings from Christmas Eve to December 29th, their season review recorded a total of 96,000 viewers. The highest rated airing was on Christmas Eve on Sky Sports 1 at 18:00 which consolidated to a total of 13,300 viewers, a 0.06% viewing share. Aside from their main review, the team reviews from Boxing Day onwards have not fared any better, all consolidating in the official ratings to under 10,000 viewers.