Putting £5 billion into context – and what it means for F1

I find that it’s incredibly difficult trying to quantify how much £5 million really is. So, what happens when a figure of over £5 billion comes along? You’re left thinking “woah”. And quite rightly so. Over three seasons, from the 2016-17 season through to the 2018-19 season, BT Sport and Sky Sports will be paying the Premier League £5,136,000,000.00 (or £5.136 billion), a frankly ridiculous amount of money.

Across each season, that works out to £1.712 billion. It’s difficult to comprehend just how big that number is. But, eventually you can break it down.

– £5.136 billion across three seasons
– £1.712 billion across one season
– £10.19 million per game

In comparison, the Formula 1 numbers pale into comparison. Numbers have never been officially released into the public domain, but the best guesstimates for BBC and Sky combined put the number around £55 million.

– £55.0 million approx across one season
– £2.75 million approx per race weekend

Formula 1 is pocket money compared to the Premier League, which may be seen as somewhat surprising considering the Premier League does not bring Sky Sports four times the audience of Formula 1. However, the reach for the Premier League is significantly greater than your typical Formula 1 season on Sky. Whether we like it or not, the Premier League is such a subscription driver for both BT and Sky that both parties are willing to break the bank to get what they want to ridiculous proportions. Sadly, that means that customers suffer as a result, with higher costs, and not necessarily better quality.

Comparing the Premier League live TV rights (2016-17 to 2018-19) to the current Formula 1 rights (2012-18).

It will be another two years before either Sky and BT Sport even begin thinking about the Formula 1 rights. Given that they mention it in every press release, it is pretty clear to me that the BBC are going to fulfil their contract until the end of 2018. I do wonder how much have money Formula One Management have lost as a result of the seven year deal between BBC and Sky. We say that Bernie Ecclestone is good at making deals, but if you’re looking at it from a money perspective, then he lost a massive amount of money by giving in to BBC’s and Sky’s demands in 2011. Seven year contracts are very unusual, the Premier League rights run on three year cycles, for example. Since the middle of 2011, we’ve had BT Sport enter the scene.

I am convinced that, if the Formula 1 rights had been on the market on the past twelve months, then live coverage would have disappeared from free-to-air television, and the value of the rights would have soared. How high would the rights have gone, I don’t know, but you can guarantee that there would have been a tug of war between Sky and BT to get live Formula 1 rights. Assuming that there are no fundamental changes to Formula 1, as we know it before 2018, then I think the next set of Formula 1 rights will be north of £100 million per year.

The main thing though, beyond anything else, is that the money generated goes back into the sport. It cannot go to those outside the sport. If it does stay inside the sport, with a more equal prize structure, then the sport should flourish.

Scheduling: The 2015 Barcelona test 2 on Sky Sports F1

The final test of the 2015 Formula One pre-season occurs with just two weeks to go until the season opener down under in Melbourne. The coverage level on Sky Sports F1 in the UK is the same as the first two tests, except Ted’s Notebook is replaced by #AskCrofty.

Below are all the details you need…

Thursday 26th February
21:00 to 21:30 – Day 1 Highlights
– round-up at 21:00
– #AskCrofty at 21:15

Friday 27th February
20:30 to 21:00 – Day 1 Highlights (R)
21:00 to 21:30 – Day 2 Highlights
– round-up at 21:00
– #AskCrofty at 21:15

Saturday 28th February
20:30 to 21:00 – Day 2 Highlights (R)
21:00 to 21:30 – Day 3 Highlights
– round-up at 21:00
– #AskCrofty at 21:15

Sunday 1st March
20:30 to 21:00 – Day 3 Highlights (R)
21:00 to 21:30 – Day 4 Highlights
– round-up at 21:00
– #AskCrofty at 21:15

If anything changes, I will update the schedule above.

Sky’s coverage of Jerez testing drops

Sky Sports F1’s coverage of the first test of the 2015 Formula One season dropped on 2014, and was also down versus 2013, unofficial overnight viewing figures show.

The four days, excluding repeats, averaged 15k, which is down on the 2014 average of 29k and 19k from 2013. It is worth noting that the numbers exclude anyone who has watched online. Unlike last year, there were no overruns, apart from day one when there were technical difficulties with Ted’s Notebook. Interest was lower for the first 2015 test than in previous years, which does not surprise me personally, from the outside, it feels like that there is not as much interest this year as there has been previously, for whatever reason.

Day 4 did jump above 2014 levels, with an average of 26k (0.1%), compared with 18k (0.1%) last year. Below is a summary of the ratings:

– 01/02 – 18k (0.1%), peak: 25k (0.1%) – 21:00 to 21:15 and 21:30 to 21:45
– 02/02 – 7k (n/a), peak: 10k (0.1%) – 21:00 to 21:30
– 03/02 – 7k (n/a), peak: 14k (n/a) – 21:00 to 21:30
– 04/02 – 26k (0.1%), peak: 36k (0.2%) – 21:00 to 21:30

The next two tests are being held in Barcelona, which should see an improvement in numbers as we head towards round one in Australia.

The F1 Show and Classic F1 races return to Sky F1 on March 6th

The F1 Show will return on Friday 6th March, it has been confirmed. The show, now in its fourth year, returns to Sky Sports F1 airing as usual from 20:00 to 21:00. As of writing, there is no sign of the première show being longer than an hour, but that could change.

We also don’t know the presenters, or whether the live studio audience will make a return. The presentation team will likely be a combination of Ted Kravitz, David Croft, Rachel Brookes and Natalie Pinkham, and if I’m a betting man, then the studio audience will return.

Elsewhere, Classic F1 makes its return straight after The F1 Show on 6th March, beginning with the 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix.

Looking at NBC’s Road to Mercedes

The F1 Broadcasting Blog tends to only focus on the programming that BBC Sport and Sky Sports produce in relation to Formula 1. Given that the blog is UK-centric, that’s perhaps not surprising. However, over in the States, one broadcaster produced some top quality content in 2014 that is definitely worth reviewing on the blog. Enter NBC Sports.

It was announced in October 2012 that NBC Sports would be taking over the rights to cover Formula 1 in America, succeeding the SPEED Channel in covering the sport. NBC’s coverage, plus the return of the United States Grand Prix, has meant that viewing figures have surged in the States. Whilst numbers are still relatively small, and have yet to break into the millions, the rise can only be seen as good news for the sport, which looks to exploit the American market further.

One aspect outside of the NBC F1 team’s control is the number of commercials, however what they produce is of course in their control. Alongside its usual Off the Grid programme, which goes behind the scenes during a race weekend, NBC have also produced two documentaries under the Road To strand. This began with the Road to Ferrari, and has since been followed by the Road to Mercedes. The Road to Mercedes documentary premièred on NBC Sports during the 2014 United States Grand Prix weekend and, as with Off the Grid, it was presented by Will Buxton and producer Jason Swales. Immediately this is a striking difference compared to other Formula 1 programming that readers may have watched: Swales is normally a producer, yet he presents some of NBC’s programming alongside Buxton.

Will Buxton and Jason Swales at Reims for the Road to Mercedes documentary.

The title of the programme might give a clue about what it is about, a journey from Silverstone, the home of the British Grand Prix to Hockenheim, the home of Mercedes and home to the German Grand Prix (for 2014, at least). The journey, done aptly in a Mercedes GL63 AMG, takes Swales and Buxton through several motor sport hotspots. After going over the ferry (which was not Buxton’s favourite point!) from England into France, the two take a trip to Reims, the first of several trips down memory lane. The imagery at this point is simply stunning, looking down the old, disused pit lane at Reims. Some of the shots really help put things into context between the modern and ancient. It beggars belief that the old pit lane is still standing after nearly fifty years, but it is.

As night dawned, France turned into Germany, and quickly Reims turned into the Nürburgring. “When I think of the Nürburgring, I don’t think of this,” says Swales. Of course, Swales is comparing the current Grand Prix circuit to the Nordschleife. Before going around that beast though, Buxton and Swales take the Mercedes road car around the modern Nürburgring along with a visit to the Kiemele museum in Ditzingen. The Kiemele museum aims to restore old Mercedes cars back to a usable state. Buxton notes that it takes the museum 3,000 hours to restore one car, a mammoth effort just to get it into working condition. It was not long before Buxton ended up behind the wheel of one of the many cars that Kiemele had restored!

Will Buxton as a passenger. Going round the Nordschleife. In the rain... — Will Buxton as a passenger. Going round the Nordschleife. In the *rain*…

Next up, Buxton and Swales head to a Mercedes factory, in which we learn that producing a V8 engine takes only three and half hours – simply ridiculous and shows how sublime the work that Mercedes do is. A programme called the Road to Mercedes would not be complete without heading to Mercedes’ homeland: Stuttgart, which is where the Mercedes-Benz Museum is located. Buxton describes it best as “heaven”, with many classic motor racing cars on display. It was simply amazing to see the wide range of machinery. If you ever go to Germany, I get the impression that this is one place that must be on the ‘bucket list’ of places to visit.

The journey concludes at Hockenheim during the 2014 German Grand Prix weekend, in which Buxton gets a rare interview with Dieter Zetsche, the Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars. Following a recap of the race, it was clear that Hockenheim was not the final stop. Instead, it was back to the Nürburgring, except this time it was the Nordschleife in a Mercedes SLS. In the rain, with Nico Bastian driving Will Buxton around the monster of a track. Typically, Flight of the Valkyries can be heard in the background as Bastian tackles the beast and Buxton hangs on as best as he can! Again, like at Reims earlier, this produced some fantastic imagery as the Mercedes SLS snapped sideways on a few occasions.

“I feel sick,” Buxton exclaims as he gets out of the SLS. The programme is just one of many excellent programmes that the NBC Sports have produced in the past two years, showing that it is not just BBC and Sky that produce good Formula 1 programming.