Author: David Nelson

Formula E best of the rest as MotoGP season comes to an end

The 2016 MotoGP season ended on Sunday live on BT Sport, but was beaten by Formula E’s second round of its new season in Morocco, overnight viewing figures show.

Formula E continues solid start on Channel 5
Live coverage of the Marrakesh ePrix aired on Channel 5 from 15:30 on Saturday (12th November). The two-hour programme averaged 281k (2.1%), peaking with 443k (3.3%) at 16:40. Bearing in mind that Formula E was resoundingly beaten on ITV4 whenever it clashed with Formula 1, this is a solid number.

The Marrakesh event also holds the feat of being one of the most watched races so far in Formula E’s history, only behind the London ePrix and the inaugural Beijing ePrix. This shows that their deal with Channel 5 is already paying off, and helping the championship reach a larger audience than it could on ITV4. Formula E at the moment needs to take baby steps on Channel 5, to try to increase the audience.

However, Formula E’s numbers were lower than Channel 5’s slot average which might be concerning for the network. Formula E’s deal with Channel 5 is two years long, so there is time to improve numbers. The large calendar gaps won’t help, but hopefully Formula E can maintain a positive trajectory when it returns in February.

MotoGP bows out lower than 2015, but up on 2014
The 2016 MotoGP season has done as well as you would probably expect, given the way Marc Marquez wrapped up the championship several races early. Live coverage of the Valencian MotoGP averaged 107k (1.2%) from 09:30 to 14:15 on BT Sport 2. The MotoGP segment itself from 12:30 to 14:00 averaged 176k (1.8%), peaking with 234k. Unsurprisingly, overnight viewing figures are down around 45 percent on last year’s record high audiences for Valencia.

Across the season as a whole, the pattern is repeated year-on-year. BT Sport’s MotoGP race day programmes in 2016 averaged 114k (1.9%), compared with 132k (2.3%) in 2015 and 90k (1.4%) in 2014. The MotoGP portion of BT’s programming from 12:30 to 14:00 or equivalent averaged 181k (3.1%), compared with 212k (3.6%) in 2015 and 139k (2.0%) in 2014. Cal Crutchlow’s maiden victory in the Czech Republic peaked with a strong 282k, up 13.5 percent on 2015. The highest peak audience of 2016 went to Austin, which peaked with 325k.

It should not be a surprise to see 2015 with higher viewing figures: the season went down to the wire and would have hooked the attention of a broader range of viewers. On the other hand, 2016 was much more exciting than 2014 for MotoGP with nine different winners. I think the viewing figures are about where I would expect for BT. Not amazing, but not poor by any stretch of the imagination. As always, viewing figures do not include BT Sport’s app, nor MotoGP’s Video Pass which will make up a small portion of the difference year-on-year.

ITV4’s highlights programme continued to drop compared with 2014 and 2015. Their highlights programme, which aired on Monday nights, averaged 285k (1.4%) according to overnight viewing figures, compared with 306k (1.5%) in 2015 and 344k (1.7%) in 2014. A drop of 7 percent is smaller than the 11 percent drop experienced between 2014 and 2015. I don’t have the numbers to hand, but I believe ITV4’s viewing share is down as a whole, which may explain why MotoGP has followed that trend.

The combined UK audience for MotoGP is made up of BT’s MotoGP portion (90 minutes or equivalent) plus ITV4’s highlights. The total of 466k is a record low, down on both 2014 and 2015, which is slightly disappointing. I do think audiences would improve if ITV4’s highlights programme was better placed, or aired on the Sunday evening for European races, but I doubt BT would allow that. The same goes for BT with MotoGP as it does for Sky with Formula 1: both need to find ways to make their channels more accessible to the wider public, as pay TV audiences have stagnated. TV does make up a smaller piece of the pie than in previous years, but it is still an incredibly important piece of the jigsaw.

overnights.tv-bannersF1 

1.1 million watch marathon Brazilian Grand Prix on Sky

An average audience of 1.1 million viewers watched the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sky Sports yesterday, overnight viewing figures show.

Race
Live coverage of the race, broadcast across Sky Sports 1 and F1 from 15:00 to 20:00, averaged 1.12m (6.7%). Sky Sports F1’s programme averaged 648k (3.9%), with Sky Sports 1 adding a further 477k (2.8%), the split being 58:42 in the dedicated channel’s favour. Compared with 2014, which was also broadcast exclusively live on Sky, the average is up by 118,000 however it should be noted that 2014’s broadcast was not simulcast on Sky Sports 1.

The race started with 1.34m (10.1%) at 16:10, increasing to 1.49m (10.1%) at the time of the first red flag at 16:45. Audiences dipped, peaked and then dipped again during the two red flags going from 1.1 million to 1.5 million and back down to 1.2 million in the space of 45 minutes. When the race eventually did restart at 18:05, an audience of 1.43m (7.3%) were watching. The audience increased steadily to hit 1.75m (8.1%) at the time of the chequered flag. USA 2014 therefore remains Sky’s most watched race.

Sky’s Formula 1 audience did not grow in line with the total TV audience, meaning that the Grand Prix was not attracting casual viewers. That does not mean that the race wasn’t exciting, it may mean that the race was not accessible enough. If you are not a regular Sky Sports watcher, you’re unlikely to tune into the race. It feels like casual viewers are not attracted to Sky’s F1 coverage. Why is a peak of 1.7 million viewers ‘their roof’ for Formula 1 with very little opposition? That’s not great. Looking at the breakdown, the first red flag period cost Sky a lot of viewers, but was exasperated by the second period.

Channel 4’s highlights programme averaged 1.42m (10.6%) from 22:00 to 00:05. Not a great number influenced by several factors. Humans, which aired directly before Formula 1’s highlights programme, is turning into a flop in the overnight viewing figures. Last night, Humans averaged just 1.01m (4.0%), which is clearly before Channel 4’s own expectations. Highlights might have done better at 21:00, but then it would have been directly against I’m a Celebrity on ITV, which averaged a whopping 10.66m (44.3%). So, it was a no-win situation.

The combined audience for Brazil of 2.55 million viewers is the lowest on record for Brazil, down 35 percent on the previous low of 3.93 million viewers recorded in 2013. That shouldn’t be a surprise, but disappointing nevertheless for a race that can, has done in the past, brought in extraordinary figures for Formula 1. Let’s hope Abu Dhabi lives up to the hype.

Qualifying
Live coverage of the qualifying session on Sky Sports F1 averaged 344k (2.6%) from 15:00 to 17:45. Channel 4’s highlights programme added a further 1.32m (6.2%) from 20:00 to 21:30, bringing the combined average audience to 1.66 million viewers, the lowest since 2006 for a Brazil qualifying session.

The 2015 Brazilian Grand Prix ratings report can be found here.

overnights.tv-bannersF1

News round-up: Whisper Films win award; Channel 4 to air motor racing documentaries

It has been a little quiet lately, but there have been a few snippets worth reporting on, as Whisper Films have picked up awards for their Formula 1 coverage and FOM have made small innovations to their TV product.

Whisper Films win award
Whisper Films’ Formula 1 production has earned the respect of plaudits, coming away from the AIB (Association for International Broadcasting) Awards as victor in the Sport category. Specifically, their production of Channel 4’s Spanish Grand Prix was commended. The judging panel said that their coverage, specifically surrounding the Spanish Grand Prix, had “translated to a great experience for the viewer.”

Outside of their Channel 4 coverage, Whisper have continued to produce Formula 1 documentaries this year, notably a 30-minute documentary covering Mercedes following the Spanish Grand Prix entitled ‘Two Weeks to Win’ and a 60-minute documentary for Red Bull’s TV station looking at the history of the pit stop in motor racing. Sky Sports aired the Mercedes documentary a few weeks ago, but it demonstrates how much content Whisper is producing now.

Winning the Channel 4 production contract showed that Whisper meant business, and they have since recruited people from Sky and BBC to bolster their team. Like I’ve said before, I hope Whisper produces Sky’s Formula 1 coverage from 2019 onwards, simply because their team is bringing together the best from multiple different sides.

Channel 4 to air three motor racing documentaries in Abu Dhabi build-up
Whilst Whisper Films produce Channel 4’s main Formula 1 programming, two other production companies have produced two new documentaries that will air on Channel 4 in the lead up to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. ‘0 to 60mph: Britain’s Fastest Kids’, produced by Finestripe Productions, tracks three families as their youngsters chase their Formula 1 dream.

Meanwhile, Philip Glenister and Ant Anstead try to restore the Lotus Elite, which was designed by Colin Chapman. The documentary builds up to the Tourist Trophy classic car event at Silverstone, where Glenister and Anstead hope to race the restored Lotus Elite. The show, entitled ‘The Lost Lotus: Restoring a Race Car’, is produced by Love Productions.

The two 60-minute documentaries will air back to back from 19:00 on Sunday 20th November on Channel 4. A third programme, an in-depth interview with Mark Webber, will air on Saturday 26th November at 11:25 between the Abu Dhabi practice and qualifying sessions.

FOM evolutions on offer in Mexico
There were a few new graphics on offer during the Mexican Grand Prix weekend. Notably, new graphics were shown during the formation lap tracking the gap between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg as the 2016 season has progressed. During the race, graphics were used in replay segments to identify cars easier for the various turn one incidents.

Alongside this, FOM have experimented with having guests speaking to drivers’ during the formation lap and warm down lap. Following the Japanese Grand Prix qualifying session, Johnny Herbert spoke to Nico Rosberg over the radio whilst Juan Montoya chatted to Esteban Guttierez prior to the Mexican Grand Prix.

It is nice to see Formula One Management (FOM) making changes and refining their offering. As always though with FOM it feels that they experiment with something only to ditch it a few weeks later. Innovations such as line comparison and thermal cameras for whatever reason were dropped a long time ago, yet virtual advertising is kept.

I mention line comparison in light of the recent addition to Dorna’s MotoGP coverage. The Malaysian MotoGP saw a brilliant comparison aired between four of MotoGP’s leading riders at the turn 15 hairpin, showing the different apex’s that are taken. Unlike FOM, Dorna (most of the time) keep and run with their innovations whereas FOM haphazardly drop them for no apparent reason.

As I’ve mentioned previously, FOM’s entire product and direction needs a strategic re-think in order to bring some of the ‘rawness’ back to Formula 1, it feels like their television coverage has stagnated in recent years, a trend which needs to be reversed. Team radio helps, as Sebastian Vettel demonstrated in Mexico but that is only one piece of the wider puzzle.

Meanwhile over at Sky
We should see Sky Sports’ Christmas schedule filter through soon. With a lot of attention on Johnny Herbert and Damon Hill with their recent book releases, it was interesting to note that a 60-minute documentary was actually planned on Herbert in 2014 but shelved. This filtered through to Sky’s Christmas schedules that year but never materialised. Whilst incredibly disappointing, this leads me onto the next point about Hill.

Twitter users would have seen a lot of coverage on Hill returning to the Williams FW18 at Silverstone. Nothing has been confirmed yet, but I really hope that this forms part of a wider 1996 one-hour long programme instead of a five-minute snippet. I think it will be the latter, but Sky need to commit to Formula 1 more given that they are taking the sport on exclusively from 2019, and with that in mind I hope Sky to deliver on a longer edit for the Hill segment.

Scheduling: The 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix / Valencian MotoGP

One season just starting, one season coming to an end, and the other could see its world champion crowned this weekend. The Formula One season moves onto Interlagos for the Brazilian Grand Prix, where Lewis Hamilton will be hoping to continue his good form and take his championship battle with Nico Rosberg down to the wire in Abu Dhabi.

Sky Sports are live as usual, with no simulcasting this weekend on either Sky Sports 1 or Sky Sports Mix the race being simulcast on Sky Sports 1. So, the only way you can watch this one live (and legally) in the UK is with a Sky subscription or via Now TV. Channel 4’s highlights are at a more sociable time than USA, but they will be hoping for the championship to go to the season finale otherwise it will be the second season in a row where the championship decider has not aired live on free-to-air television.

Elsewhere, if you haven’t noticed there has been a lot of publicity related to Ross Brawn lately (he has a new book out, but I’m sure that’s not the reason…). Nevertheless, there is a half an hour F1 Report special with him discussing all things F1 with Natalie Pinkham in the lead up to Brazil (this follows a 5 Live F1 special that aired last week). BT Sport’s MotoGP coverage for 2016 comes to a conclusion in Valencia with Suzi Perry back in the presenting hot seat.

Lastly, Formula E’s season heads to Marrakesh with qualifying being broadcast live on Spike. Rather ridiculously, the race clashes with the Formula 1 qualifying session. However, there is good reason for the Marrakesh date: the United Nations Climate Change Conference is taking place in Marrakesh next week. So, even though the date on the surface looks illogical, underneath there is very good reason for Formula E’s choice of date. Saying that, there was nothing preventing them from bringing the time of the race forward to avoid the direct clash.

Below are the full scheduling details for the weekend.

Channel 4 F1
12/11 – 20:00 to 21:30 – Qualifying Highlights
13/11 – 22:00 to 00:05 – Race Highlights

Sky Sports F1
Sessions
11/11 – 11:45 to 13:50 – Practice 1
11/11 – 15:45 to 18:00 – Practice 2
12/11 – 12:45 to 14:15 – Practice 3
12/11 – 15:00 to 17:45 – Qualifying
13/11 – 14:30 to 19:15 – Race
=> 14:30 – Track Parade (also on Sky Sports 1)
=> 15:00 – Pit Lane Live (also on Sky Sports 1)
=> 15:30 – Race (also on Sky Sports 1)
=> 18:30 – Paddock Live

Supplementary Programming
09/11 – 20:30 to 21:00 – F1 Report: Preview
09/11 – 21:00 to 21:30 – F1 Report: Ross Brawn Special
10/11 – 13:00 to 13:30 – Driver Press Conference
10/11 – 20:45 to 21:00 – Paddock Uncut
11/11 – 18:00 to 18:30 – Team Press Conference
11/11 – 18:30 to 19:00 – The F1 Show
16/11 – 20:30 to 21:00 – F1 Report: Review

BBC Radio F1
10/11 – 21:00 to 22:00 – Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)
11/11 – 12:00 to 13:35 – Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
11/11 – 15:55 to 17:35 – Practice 2 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
12/11 – 12:55 to 14:05 – Practice 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
12/11 – 16:30 to 17:05 – Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
13/11 – 16:00 to 18:06 – Race (BBC Radio 5 Live)

MotoGP – Valencia (BT Sport 2)
11/11 – 08:00 to 15:00
=> 08:00 – Practice 1
=> 10:45 – Reaction and Build-Up
=> 12:00 – Practice 2
12/11 – 08:00 to 15:15
=> 08:00 – Practice 3
=> 11:00 – Qualifying
13/11 – 08:00 to 09:15 – Warm Up
13/11 – 09:30 to 15:00
=> 09:30 – Moto3 race
=> 11:15 – Moto2 race
=> 12:45 – MotoGP race
=> 14:00 – Chequered Flag

MotoGP – Valencia (ITV4)
14/11 – 20:00 to 21:00 – Highlights

Formula E – Marrakesh (online via Channel 5’s social media channels and YouTube)
12/11 – 07:55 to 08:55 – Practice 1
12/11 – 10:25 to 11:10 – Practice 2

Formula E – Marrakesh
12/11 – 11:45 to 13:10 – Qualifying (Spike)
12/11 – 15:30 to 17:30 – Race (Channel 5)
13/11 – 09:10 to 10:15 – Highlights (Spike)

If anything is added, I will update the schedule.

Update on November 11th – Minor changes to 5 Live’s schedule and Sky’s coverage is being simulcast after all, thanks both in the comments for that.

Formula 1’s UK viewing figures soar to season high in Mexico

The story that is the 2016 Formula One season continued in Mexico to a strong audience in the UK, overnight viewing figures show. The previous sentence sounds confusing given that seven days ago we were reporting a ten-year low for the United States Grand Prix. But, as always there are stories beyond the headline, this one included.

Race
Live coverage of the race, broadcast on Channel 4 from 18:00 to 21:05, averaged 2.89m (12.6%), peaking with 3.93m (16.0%) at 20:40 as Lewis Hamilton claimed victory. For a commercial channel, up against Strictly Come Dancing and The X Factor, these are good numbers and comfortably ahead of Channel 4’s slot average.

Sky’s live coverage, simulcast across Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports 1, attracted a weighted average of 876k (3.8%). The dedicated F1 channel averaged 653k (2.8%) from 18:00 to 21:30, with Sky Sports 1 adding a further 261k (1.1%) from 18:30 to 21:30. Sky’s coverage peaked with 1.21m (5.4%) at 19:05. Considering this wasn’t an exclusive race for Sky, the numbers are good all round in the context of the season.

The race began with 4.89m (21.5%) at 19:05, but viewing figures started to drop from the offset, declining to 4.3 million by 19:30. There are two main factors here: the race simply was not good enough to keep viewers tuned in, and the first half of the race clashed with Strictly Come Dancing on BBC One. This is noticeable in the breakdown at 19:55: viewing figures ‘jumped’ by 300,000 viewers from 4.4 million to 4.7 million as viewers switched from BBC One to Channel 4.

The audience hovered around the 4.6 million mark, hitting 4.66m (19.1%) at 20:10. As is usually the case, the audience improved to a high of 5.13m (20.9%) at 20:40 as the race came to a fascinating climax. At the time of the peak, the audience was split 77:23 in Channel 4’s favour.

Analysis and Qualifying
The combined average audience of 3.77 million viewers is comfortably the highest of 2016 so far, and the highest since the 2015 Brazilian Grand Prix. The combined peak audience referenced above of 5.13 million is also the highest since Brazil last year. The numbers are extremely positive for the sport, especially considering Mexico was against The X Factor and Strictly. Canada, when live on the BBC, did tend to rate a bit higher, although it had easier competition in its June slot. It is fair to say Formula 1 has gone through a very rough patch in recent months where UK viewing figures are concerned.

Unlike a lot of analysis on this site, the reason for the upsurge can be painted in five words: live, and free-to-air. USA recorded the lowest UK F1 numbers in ten years last weekend. The reason? The race was exclusively live on pay TV, consigning free-to-air highlights to a graveyard timeslot. Mexico had a live, free-to-air shop window and the viewers came. It is something Liberty Media need to remember: money cannot buy you viewers. But free-to-air television can. Nine times out of ten, it will pay off.

Elsewhere, live coverage of qualifying attracted 1.22m (6.0%) across an extended timeslot from 18:00 to 21:00 on Channel 4. Sky’s coverage on their F1 channel and Sky Sports Mix added a further 350k (1.7%), bringing the combined audience to 1.57 million viewers, in line with the season average so far.

The 2015 Mexican Grand Prix ratings report can be found here.

overnights.tv-bannersF1