News round-up: New Brabham film released; MotoGP moves towards HDR resolution

In the latest Motorsport Broadcasting round-up, information of a new film focusing on Sir Jack Brabham, and MotoGP moves towards HDR…

The round-up gives a bite sized view of the latest news making the waves, as well as interesting snippets that I have picked up along the way.

ICYMI: Round-Up #5 (September 12th): Bratches set to exit F1 role; Eurosport executive joins Formula E

ICYMI: Round-Up #4 (July 23rd): New Formula Two documentary coming soon; Facebook touts MotoGP success

ICYMI: Round-Up #3 (July 1st): Sky F1 to air special Williams documentary; Formula E wins award for TV product

ICYMI: Round-Up #2 (May 28th): F1’s US audience figures increase; Formula E hits the big screen

Formula 1

• Transmission Films have released a trailer for a new film looking at the life of Sir Jack Brabham.
  • The film highlights Jack’s story to a new generation, with snippets from John Surtees, Sir Stirling Moss and Sir Jackie Stewart.
  • In development since 2013, there are two versions of the film: a 84-minute theatrical version out now in Australia, and a 52-minute television version to be released in 2020.
• McLaren’s Carlos Sainz has criticised Formula 1’s television direction, believing that the midfield runners get little attention on the main F1 World Feed.
  • Speaking to Motorsport.com in response to criticism of F1’s Singapore Grand Prix direction, Sainz said “Many midfield drivers have complained about it. It’s not only me. I was talking to a few of them the other day, we can clearly see a few battles they are missing.”
  • “It’s something I’ve been very critical about and something I think every midfield driver has been critical about because we feel like the fans are missing out on a lot of battles in the midfield, many of them you don’t get at the front.”
• F1 has announced a partnership with youth brand Complex. The partnership sees F1 team up with US rapper A$AP Ferg in a five-part series called The Pit.
  • Ferg learns more about Formula 1 in the series, with segments featuring Carlos Sainz, Lando Norris, Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen.
  • “We want to showcase Formula 1 in a different way, and getting A$AP Ferg’s unique perspective on the sport with some of the world’s best drivers is a brilliant way to immerse new fans into the sport,” explains Ellie Norman, F1’s Director of Marketing and Communications.
  • “Securing a partnership with Complex ensures we are talking to a new audience in a way that’s right for them and we are really excited to see how the series progresses.”
  • The first video is available to view on Facebook here.
• The contract to produce Channel 4’s Formula 1 coverage in 2020 has gone out to tender.
  • In the tender document, Channel 4 stated that they will only consider proposals “from companies with extensive experience of production in the motor sport arena.”
  • The first stage closed to prospective applicants on Friday 4th October, with a final decision expected by the end of November.
• Over in the US, ESPN continues to reach excellent audience figures for their F1 coverage.
  • An audience of 574,000 viewers watched the Singapore Grand Prix on ESPN2, an increase of 20 percent year-on-year, and the largest for the Singapore round on record.
  • 12 of the 15 races up until Singapore have recorded year-on-year increases, the season as a whole averaging 659,000 viewers across ESPN’s portfolio of channels.

MotoGP

• Dorna have appointed Audio-Technica as their official Microphone Services Solutions Provider. The two parties began roll out at the start of the European season in May following a successful period of testing.
  • The solution comprises of “265 Audio-Technica microphones, headsets and monitoring solutions including 53 track feed microphones, 76 interview and ENG camera microphones, as well as Audio-Technica System 10 2.4GHz wireless microphone solutions for 16 roving ENG cameras.”
  • “Working with Dorna at the actual live MotoGP races around the world is a great extension to our research laboratory, and further demonstrates Audio-Technica’s commitment to sports audio broadcasting,” said Kazuhiro Onizuka, Audio-Technica’s Head of Global Engineering.
• BT Sport filmed a special feed of this year’s British Grand Prix in 4K HDR (high dynamic range) and HD HDR resolution, whilst Sony filmed snippets from the Italian Grand Prix in 8K HDR resolution. Both were showcased to audiences at the International Broadcasting Convention last month.

Electric racing

• A cumulative television audience of over 411 million viewers watched the 2018-19 Formula E season, according to figures published by the championship. The figure is an increase of 24 percent year-on-year.
  • As a result, an average of 32 million viewers watched each race in 2018-19, compared with 28 million viewers for the 2017-18 season, an increase of 14 percent.
  • The reason the cumulative increase is larger is because the 2018-19 season had one more race than 2017-18 (13 compared with 12), skewing the cumulative metrics.
  • It is unclear whether the figures Formula E have cited only account for the race broadcast, or whether it includes other media, such as news snippets.
• Formula E also touted a growth of 61 percent year-on-year in the video space, whilst 72 percent of their followers are under 35. Unsurprisingly, Formula E’s social media experiment, Voltage, was absent from their media release.
• Extreme E is teaming up with Paramax Films and Titan Cinema to bring the off-road series to the silver screen in a Giant Screen / IMAX project. Extreme E is giving filmmakers behind the scenes access the teams, drivers, and locations throughout Extreme E’s conquest.
• FOX Sports Asia is to air Extreme E live across Southeast Asia from series launch in February 2021.
  • “[The deal] represents a huge commitment from a leading sports media company and ensures we will be able to bring top-tier coverage of the series to millions of households across Southeast Asia,” explained Ali Russell, Extreme E’s Chief Marketing Officer.

See anything else worth mentioning on the news front? Drop a line in the comments section below.

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