How social media reacted to F1’s “elimination style” qualifying session

Social media can be your best friend. It can bring new viewers to your product as an event builds to a crescendo. In the UK, you only need to look at television programmes such as The Great British Bake Off or The X Factor as examples of this over the years. On the other hand, social media can be your worst enemy. Unfortunately, Formula 1 fell into the latter category today.

Of course, we are talking about the elephant in the room. Elimination qualifying. Qualifying has its exciting moments, but you can’t expect every minute to be exciting, irrespective of what format you bring in. In the old days of one-hour qualifying, the first 20 minutes would be empty, but nine times out of ten, the format built up to a fantastic conclusion. I think it is fair to say that most people were prepared to give the new format a chance. The end result was a lot different to what I expected. Today, Formula 1 got it wrong.

This isn’t the place about talk the what and the why of the new format, what is worth talking about on here is the broadcasting and social media element. What social media brought this morning was instant reaction to the format, as it unfolded.

All times below are UK:

05:38 – Sky F1 Insider: Very excited to see the new Qualy format are you?
05:47 – Adam Cooper: This will be a fascinating session. Will be interesting to see what happens if the VSC comes out at a critical time.
06:00 – Q1 begins.
06:07 – Q1 eliminations begin, but the countdown graphics do not show immediately.
06:08 – Byron Young: Almost everyone in the press room talking – a real buzz in the room. First time in a long time.
06:10 – Andrew Benson: Knock-out countdown is on the timing screens but not on the TV. Seems a bit of an oversight.
06:12 – Countdown graphics make an appearance.
06:16 – F1 Broadcasting: Countdown not really needed for final elimination given that the driver can finish their lap but sensible graphic. Like it.
06:16 – Q1 ends.
06:18 – Dimi Papadopoulos: I like the new format? Lots of action!
06:18 – Racecar Engineering: Q1 – that was utterly awesome. Super entertaining. Teams misread it a bit it seems.
06:19 – Glenn Freeman: In the spirit of making a snap judgement, new-style Q1 is rubbish. Less action, if anything, other than the first few mins.

That was the reaction to the first part of qualifying. A mixed response, but positive feelings in there as well. Watching at home, I did feel like some teams got timing badly wrong, which was somewhat strange in itself for a sport which times itself to perfection. Moving onto the second part:

06:24 – Q2 begins.
06:28 – Byron Young: On first experience I’ve got to say that was quite fun. Will it be the same when it all settles down and the ‘panic’ factor disappears?
06:32 – Glenn Freeman: Cars being eliminated while sat in the pits. How is this better than what we had before?
06:38 – F1 Broadcasting: Problematical now at the end of each session where there is an empty track and not a crescendo build up any more. Not sure about this.
06:38 – Marc Priestley: So as predicted, teams happy to settle for P9/10 & free tyre choice over running at end of Q2.
06:39 – Q2 ends.
06:42 – Adam Cooper: I tweeted the other day that those in 9th and 10th would ‘stick’ and take the free tyre choice for the start and look what happened…
06:42 – Joe Saward: General feeling in Media Centre is new qualifying is rubbish…

Quite clearly, as Saward’s tweet shows, things are heading downwards. The main issue here is that both Force India’s decided not to go out, leaving three minutes at the end of Q2 of dead-air. The further issue that became apparent was that viewers were spending time looking at the timing wall rather than watching the cars. Q3 was almost ‘anti qualifying’:

06:46 – Q3 begins.
06:55 – Glenn Freeman: F1 qualifying – even worse than I thought it was going to be. To those who came up with this system – hang your heads in shame.
06:55 – Simon Lazenby: Hmmmmm.
06:55 – F1 Broadcasting: If anyone in F1 has sense, this system will be quickly trashed and no one will remember it ever existed.
06:57 – Byron Young: Not a single car in the track with three minutes to go. That’s shameful. I can see fans getting up to go!
06:57 – Joe Saward: The strategists said nothing would happen in the last few minutes. They were right. Who invented this daft structure?
06:57 – F1 Fanatic: Another triumph for Ecclestone and his Strategy Group cohorts (sarcasm).
07:00 – Q3 ends.
07:01 – Jon Noble: Don’t forget that at Barcelona testing, teams agreed plan to revert Q3 to how it was last year. But it never went back to F1 Commission…
07:03 – F1 Broadcasting: Remind me. Who said qualifying was a problem in the first place? Because the fans certainly didn’t.

Within Q3, the reaction turned completely negative. The above is just a snapshot, but the negative reaction was widespread. Formula 1 launched their new Facebook page on Wednesday, and three days later their comment feeds are littered with negativity about the new qualifying format. It was even worse at the track, where the fans in the stands had no timing wall to look at on the big screens. If Formula 1 wants to do the right thing, then the format has to be changed for Bahrain, without question. Whether we go back to the 2015 format, or something else.

There will certainly be pressure from broadcasters to change the format after today. As regular readers will know, 2016 marks a new broadcasting deal in the UK with Channel 4 taking over the BBC. Channel 4 want to bring a new, younger audience to Formula 1. The new qualifying format risks undermining the fantastic publicity work that the broadcaster has carried out in the past few weeks. They can work around today’s problems in their highlights edit later today. But, if this format remains for Bahrain, Channel 4 will have a real issue: casual viewers are not going to watch a new qualifying format that has been lambasted. That in turn has a knock-on effect for their race day programming… and so on and so forth.

Broadcasters’ will not like what they have seen today. And neither do the fans…

Formula 1 finally launches on Facebook

A year after Twitter, YouTube and Instagram, but better late than never: Formula 1 finally has an official page on Facebook!

The page, which has been verified by Facebook, made its first post earlier today. The launch comes fifteen months after Marissa Pace, Formula One Management’s Digital Media Manager, confirmed plans for a Facebook page. So far, the page has posted video content, including archive footage from both the 1999 and 2002 Australian Grand Prix.

It is fair to say that this has been a long time in the making. If 2015 was a big year for Formula One Management from a social media perspective, it looks like 2016 will be even bigger.

Update on March 16th at 18:40 – Facebook is in the process of migrating all the likes from the old Formula 1 fan page (which, for those familiar, would have just contained the generic Wikipedia description with no content) into the official page. As I write this, the official page has 322,795 likes. Two hours ago, that number was around 20,000 likes… it is pretty clear that Facebook are merging all the likes from the old page into the official page. The old page had 1.8 million likes, so if the official page has 1.8 million likes within the next few hours or so, we know why. I strongly doubt this is a case of FOM buying followers.

Update on March 16th at 19:50 – This is definitely Facebook transferring the likes over. The official page has jumped through the half a million barrier now as a result. You know they are real likes as well. In my case I can see that some other people I know are now liking the official version having previously liked the fan page. Also, FOM have prohibited sites from embedding videos externally, which page owners have the right to do.

This post will be updated in forthcoming days.

Looking ahead to 2016

The first three quarters of 2015 saw a lot of ‘mini stories’, from Formula One Management overhauling their online output to the inaugural Formula E season coming to a successful conclusion. But the events of the last two weeks have set the scene for what looks set to be a busy start to 2016.

A lot is going to unfold over the course of the next three months concerning Channel 4’s Formula 1 coverage. In no particular order, Channel 4’s…

– line-up
– production
– scheduling (and pick process with Sky Sports)

Each one of those bullet points sets off a new story. Does Channel 4’s line-up have any new faces? Is Channel 4’s scheduling different to that we have seen on the BBC in the past four years since 2012? How will their production fare, will Channel 4 be on location for every race? There are endless number of questions that we do not know the answer to at this stage. The countdown is on until the Australian Grand Prix.

Aside from Channel 4, there will be inevitably be other broadcasting stories in the Formula 1 landscape. With the BBC now back to their pre-2009 coverage level, attention turns to Sky Sports F1’s coverage as Sky enter year five. Over on the social media side, surely 2016 is the year we see Formula One Management launch an official presence on Facebook. “A day late and a dollar short” is the phrase, but FOM cannot afford to be a dollar short with this one.

Elsewhere, there will be the usual articles covering BT Sport’s MotoGP coverage and ITV’s Formula E programming. MotoGP was fantastic this season, and I hope that 2016 is just as good on BT Sport. Formula E looks set to get a boost from season three onwards with Jaguar joining the fray, although the alarmingly low UK viewing figures as of late should be a cause for concern. As for Formula 1, I’m hopeful that the talking in 2016 happens on the track rather than off it as was the case in 2015.

Channel 4 to take over BBC’s F1 TV coverage from 2016

It is official – Channel 4 are to broadcast Formula 1 from the 2016 season. The BBC have exited their portion of the contract three years early. Channel 4 will broadcast races advert free, with 10 races live and all 21 races broadcast again in highlights form. Their deal also covers practice and qualifying, so like-for-like with the current BBC F1 contract. Their deal will expire at the end of the 2018 season, whilst Sky Sports’ portion of the contract remains unaffected.

> 2011: The direction never taken: Formula 1 and Channel 4

Bernie Ecclestone said: “I am sorry that the BBC could not comply with their contract but I am happy that we now have a broadcaster that can broadcast Formula 1 events without commercial intervals during the race. I am confident that Channel 4 will achieve not only how the BBC carried out the broadcast in the past but also with a new approach as the World and Formula 1® have moved on.”

David Abraham, Channel 4 Chief Executive said: “Formula One is one of the world’s biggest sporting events with huge appeal to British audiences. I’m delighted to have agreed this exciting new partnership with Bernie Ecclestone to keep the sport on free-to-air television.”

Channel 4's proposed "Ten Point Plan" — The ten point plan that Channel 4 proposed in Summer 2011 to try and capture exclusive UK F1 rights.

Jay Hunt, Channel 4 Chief Creative Officer said: “Channel 4 and Formula One are the perfect partnership. We’ve the same appetite for innovation and we’ll be demonstrating that to fans by becoming the first free-to-air commercial broadcaster to show the races ad free.”

Analysis
The major surprise is that it is Channel 4 replacing BBC’s TV coverage and not ITV, as was reported last week. On his BBC Radio breakfast show on November 24th, Chris Evans noted that Channel 4 were likely to take over, so Evans was spot on the money.

Before we get into what Channel 4 could and could not do, first we need to investigate why not ITV. I have reached out to them to find out if they were approached at all, and will update the site when I get a response. ITV were odds on favourite, so either the broadsheets last week were wrong, or the deal fell through at the eleventh hour. The Euro 2016 picks last Monday left the door open for ITV to broadcast Formula 1. Channel 4’s release states that races will be shown commercial free. Were ITV unwilling to comply with that, and therefore lost out? ITV announced a Top Gear rival last week called Driven, which looks odd now given that they failed to secure the F1.

There could be a bigger game for ITV with the horse racing rights. If ITV believe horse racing is a better prospect than Formula 1, that’s a thoroughly depressing thought, although the cost of horse racing rights would be lower than Formula 1. From a reach perspective, ITV wins out, but Channel 4 skews younger than ITV. Formula 1 has notoriously struggled to reach younger viewers in the past few years (some through its own doing, admittedly). On Channel 4, you can guarantee crossover with some of their younger skewing shows, notably Gogglebox and TFI Friday. A crossover involving the former is bound to happen and I’d be stunned if it did not materialise.

Is Channel 4 guaranteed to get less viewers than ITV for Formula 1? I would say it is likely, but I do not think the difference is as big as some may expect. I should probably whisper this, but the good news I feel about a Channel 4 deal is that they will bring something different to the table. I say whisper it, that is a reference to Whisper Films. For those of you unfamiliar, Whisper Films was set up in 2010 by Jake Humphrey, David Coulthard and Sunil Patel. And who owns an equity stake in Whisper Films? Channel 4. I think you can connect the dots. One thing that probably won’t jump ship is The Chain. Channel 4 will want to create their own identity and I simply do not see that happening.

From a scheduling stand-point, Channel 4’s ten point plan from 2011, located above, gives us a great idea about the potential that they could have going forward. I am sure we can all get behind more historical coverage from FOM’s archive and a greater range of programming on the station. Some of the points are no longer relevant, given that Channel 4 are now in a shared deal with Sky Sports, but it is food for thought. My final point would be: don’t judge Channel 4 on what they do or don’t deliver at the 2016 Australian Grand Prix, but judge them on what they do in the latter half of 2016 and 2017. It will already be a logistical squeeze getting everything in place for March 2016, but I am confident Channel 4 can do it.

I’ll write up a piece concerning who I think will slot in where over the Christmas break, as one era ends, and another begins…

Report: ITV to take over BBC’s F1 TV coverage from 2016

Posted on December 17th, 2015 – Broadcast are reporting this evening that the BBC are to exit broadcasting Formula 1 on television with immediate effect, with ITV taking over their coverage from 2016.

This has yet to be confirmed. As soon as we have any news, I will update this blog. My gut instinct though is that the report is true, and that ITV will confirm this officially tomorrow (Friday 18th December). That is my opinion, I’m not privvy to anything that is not currently in the public domain. If the news is true, it marks the end of BBC’s return to covering Formula 1 on television, which started back in 2009. Alongside the various news stories that have been covered recently, the news earlier this week that BBC’s Euro 2016 picks run right through the Canadian Grand Prix window mean that the BBC were not planning to pick the race live. Of course, that is the usual pick process – but now we have a clearer reason why that was probably the case.

Regarding the source: Broadcast is a reputable industry magazine, and not a website that would pluck stories out the air for ‘hits’. The fact they have published it means that it is more likely to be true than false. Tomorrow is likely to be the last day that any deal would be announced (it being the last business day before Christmas, early next week being slow down days), leads me to believe that ITV’s return will be announced tomorrow. If that happens, questions inevitably turn to the personnel. ITV should swoop in for the majority of BBC’s team… but that is a question for later rather than now (although we are only four months away from Melbourne). Another question surrounds the return of adverts during F1 races, and lastly if ITV taking Formula 1 affects their Formula E rights.

Either way, there’s little point speculating until we have official confirmation from BBC or ITV. So, for the moment, we wait patiently, but it looks like The Chain is going to be broken….

Update on December 18th at 18:05 – To my surprise, we have heard no news today. A request for comment from this blog to the BBC resulted in no comment, which is to be expected in the middle of rights negotiations. The BBC Sports Personality of the Year is being held on Sunday, so both parties may have mutually decided to hold off an announcement until Monday. Realistically, if we hear nothing either Monday or Tuesday, then it will be a wait until the New Year. Other media and motor sport outlets have since covered the story, mostly repeating Broadcast’s original story, including Motorsport.com, the Daily Mail and the Telegraph. Neither AUTOSPORT or The Guardian have yet covered the story.

In an interview with the Press Association via Motorsport.com in response to the latest story, Bernie Ecclestone said “The bottom line is that they [BBC] are cutting back on all types of sport and if we really, really, really had to, we’d say ‘you have got a contract and you better get on with it.’ They can’t leave the contract early. The Beeb have always done a very, very good job. I have no problem at all with them. It is just they can’t afford to continue with what they have done in the past.” Ecclestone concludes by saying that he does not know what will happen in 2016, which sounds worrying.

Ecclestone’s lines are again expected, he said very similar last month. The situation we are in is bizarre. Party 1 wants to exit contract and Party 2 is interested. Sport 1 wants to stay with Party 1 and appears to be distancing himself from Party 2. The more Ecclestone tries and persuades BBC to stay, the less interested ITV will become. Does Ecclestone really want an uninterested BBC to stay on-board, and potentially limit resources as much as possible? I’m not entirely sure that is the best option. In my opinion: If BBC want to get out of the contract, and ITV want to take over, then let that happen. Don’t hold it up. Yes, ITV may give you fewer viewers, but they are still free to air. They will still bring in between two and three million viewers a weekend. Annoying ITV and prolonging any negotiations will not do F1 any good in the long run.