Formula 1’s closing act of 2018 in Abu Dhabi performed solidly across the weekend, despite there being little on the line to whet the appetite, overnight viewing figures show.

Race
Sky’s coverage aired across their dedicated F1 channel and Sky 1, whilst Channel 4’s programme marked their final live race until next year’s British Grand Prix, with every other round in 2019 airing in highlights form. As always, audience figures exclude those who watched via on-demand platforms such as Sky Go, Now TV and All 4.

An audience of 1.99m (19.1%) watched Channel 4’s broadcast from 12:00 to 15:30, an increase of 132,000 viewers on last year’s figure of 1.86m (18.7%) across a shorter 190-minute time slot.

Meanwhile, Sky’s programme averaged 625k (6.0%) across the same time slot, an increase of 75,000 viewers on last year’s figure of 551k (5.5%), when coverage aired on both the F1 channel and Sky Sports Mix. This past Sunday, Sky Sports F1 averaged 535k (5.1%), with Sky 1 adding a further 91k (0.9%).

The race started with 3.57m (34.2%) at 13:15, fluctuating around 3.5 million viewers for the first hour of the race. Sky’s coverage peaked with 931k (8.4%) at 14:20 during the half-time interval of Arsenal versus Bournemouth. The individual channels peaked separately: Sky F1 with 794k (7.3%) at 13:45 and Sky 1 with 144k (1.3%) at 14:15.

Audience figures for the Grand Prix rose from 14:15 onwards, peaking with 3.87m (33.4%) at 14:45 as Lewis Hamilton won the final race of the season. At the time of the peak, 2.96m (25.5%) were watching via Channel 4, with 912k (7.9%) watching via Sky’s television channels, a split of 76:24 in Channel 4’s favour.

The combined average audience of 2.62 million viewers is an increase on last year’s figure of 2.41 million viewers, in identical circumstances. Whilst down on 2016 as expected due to that race being a title decider, the 2018 audience is marginally up on the 2015 finale, which averaged 2.61 million viewers on BBC Two and Sky Sports F1.

A peak of 3.87 million viewers watched the race, a comfortable rise on the 2017 peak audience of 3.47 million viewers, and an increase on the 2015 peak figure of 3.70 million viewers.

So, despite there being little to play for, both broadcasters had plenty to smile about, with year-on-year increases across the board.

Qualifying
Live coverage of qualifying followed the same positive trajectory as the race.

Channel 4’s near three-hour broadcast from 11:55 to 14:45 averaged 1.03m (12.3%), an increase on last year’s figure of 945k (11.7%).

Sky were not as lucky, their programme, which aired across both their F1 channel and Sky 1, averaged 290k (3.4%) from 12:00 to 14:30, a dip on last year’s figure of 319k (3.9%). Last Saturday, the F1 channel averaged 255k (2.9%), with Sky 1 bringing in a further 36k (0.4%).

The qualifying hour peaked with 2.13m (22.0%) at 13:55 as Hamilton snatched pole, an increase of just over 100,000 viewers year-on-year. At the time of the peak, 1.63m (16.9%) were watching via Channel 4, with a further 497k (5.1%) watching via Sky’s two channels.

The combined average audience of 1.32 million viewers and combined peak audience of 2.13 million viewers falls in between 2016 and 2017, again a good number considering neither championship was up for grabs.

Keep an eye on the site in the forthcoming weeks, as we dissect and analyse the UK F1 viewing figures picture for 2018, looking at where the viewers were won and lost over the course of the season.

The 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ratings report can be found here.

A peak audience of just 2.8 million viewers watched Lewis Hamilton win a dramatic Brazilian Grand Prix last Sunday, overnight viewing figures show.

There were several factors different about the Grand Prix last weekend compared with yesteryear. Both the qualifying and race started at 17:10 UK time, the latest slot for the Brazilian round of the season since 2009. That year, qualifying started at 18:00 UK time, with the race starting an hour earlier.

Whilst a later time slot should result in higher audience figures, Formula 1 faced strong competition over the weekend, including the Manchester derby. Outside the sporting arena, there were also a variety of events broadcast on television to mark 100 years since the end of World War I.

Race
For the first time for a Sky-exclusive Grand Prix, the pay-TV broadcaster opted to air the race on their general entertainment channel Sky 1 as well as their dedicated F1 channel. An audience of 998k (5.6%) watched from 16:00 to 19:30 across the two channels, their lowest for Brazil since 2015 when BBC One also aired live coverage.

682k (3.8%) watched via the F1 channel, with a further 370k (2.0%) watching via Sky 1, the two numbers combined slightly higher than the total audience reported above, as Sky 1 joined the programme later at 16:30.

After a brief increase to 1.49m (8.9%) by 17:25 as Max Verstappen clawed his way through the pack, audience figures dipped to a low of 1.35m (7.2%) during the second half of the Manchester derby. Figures increased rapidly from 18:25 onwards as the final whistle blew at the Etihad, the race peaking with 1.72m (9.0%) at 18:35 as Hamilton won the Grand Prix.

Sky’s peak figure of 1.72m is an increase on their 2017 peak of 1.60m (9.8%), but down on the equivalent 2016 figure of 1.75m (8.1%). The F1 channel peaked with 1.13m (5.9%) at 18:25, the first five-minute segment after the final whistle. Sky 1’s simulcast peaked with 616k (3.2%) at 18:40, a solid number considering the channel rarely airs Formula 1 action.

Nevertheless, Sky themselves are happy with both their Brazil audience, and Mexico figures from two weeks ago. Barring any very low figures for Abu Dhabi, Sky’s overnight F1 viewing figures on race-day will be higher than what they were on average throughout the 2017 season, which is good news for them heading into 2019.

Later in the evening, Channel 4’s highlights programme attracted just 748k (9.3%) from 22:30 to 00:45, down on last year’s number of 968k (13.0%) across the same time slot, a very poor number considering the circumstances for both years were identical from a championship perspective.

Channel 4’s broadcast this year peaked with 1.04m (10.3%) at 23:05, compared with a peak figure last year of 1.38m (13.1%). A plausible explanation is that the Sky 1 simulcast resulted in Channel 4’s highlights programme losing some of their audience, but does not account for all of the differential in my view.

The combined average audience of 1.75 million viewers is the third lowest of 2018, and the lowest for Brazil on record. The figure is a decrease of 11.4 percent on last year’s audience of 1.97 million viewers.

The peak audience of 2.76 million viewers is down by a slightly lower 7.4 percent year-on-year, but is still comfortably the lowest for the Interlagos round since at least 2005, if not before.

Qualifying
Live coverage of qualifying on Sky Sports F1 averaged 339k (2.2%) from 16:00 to 18:35, a decrease on last year’s audience of 436k (3.7%).

What is telling is how few people are tuning in to Sky’s build-up programming. Last year, 334k (3.3%) watched their pre-session discussion, compared with just 76k (0.6%) last weekend, the heavy drop a direct result of Sky splitting their qualifying show up into two distinct segments in the television schedules.

Sky’s coverage peaked with 645k (3.9%) when Lewis Hamilton clinched pole, also down on the equivalent number last year of 743k (5.5%) in an earlier time slot.

An audience of 1.02m (5.2%) watched Channel 4’s highlights show from 20:45 to 22:15, a drop compared with the 2017 audience of 1.14m (5.4%). Both Channel 4’s average and peak figures were down in raw volume, but broadly level in share.

1.42m (7.1%) were watching Channel 4’s broadcast towards the end, compared with a peak of 1.49m (7.2%) twelve months ago.

Both combined audience metrics were down by a similar margin when compared to their race counterparts. The average audience of 1.36 million was down by 13.7 percent, whilst the peak audience of 2.06 million viewers decreased by 7.5 percent year-on-year.

The 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix ratings report can be found here.