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.

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.

The United States Grand Prix dropped to a new low for the 2016 Formula One season as Sky Sports’ coverage of the race beat Channel 4’s highlights programme, overnight viewing figures show.

Race
Live coverage of the race, broadcast on Sky Sports 1 and F1 from 19:00 to 22:30, averaged 984k (4.6%). An audience of 569k (2.7%) watched on Sky Sports F1, with a further 416k (1.9%) watching on Sky Sports 1, the audience split 58:42 in the dedicated channel’s favour. Sky Sports 1’s coverage benefited from following Chelsea’s 4-0 thrashing of Manchester United, which 1.47m (10.3%) watched from 15:30 to 18:30.

The numbers are Sky’s lowest for USA since 2013 when the championship was already wrapped up. Since then, Sky Sports F1’s numbers have dropped, with Sky Sports 1’s simulcast increasing slightly, arresting the decline. Sky’s average is down 13 percent on 2015 and down 26 percent on 2014. On the other hand, Sky’s USA viewing figures are their highest of the season so far.

Channel 4’s highlights programme averaged 841k (13.5%) from 23:00 to 01:00. In the Channel 4 landscape, based on that timeslot, it is a good number and will be above their own slot average. In the Formula 1 landscape, this is a frankly awful number and one that raises a lot of questions. There are a lot of takeaways from this number that are worth mentioning.

Sky Sports beat Channel 4’s highlights programme. Only just, at a ratio of 54:46, but they can say that they’ve done it, although I wouldn’t shout about it considering both channels averaged less than one million viewers. The time slots are imbalanced and in Sky’s favour, but it shows how times have changed from BBC’s viewing figures last season. Let’s make it clear: viewers have not switched from free-to-air to pay TV in how they consume Formula 1. They’ve either switched off completely or moved to other methods of viewing, such as Now TV and Sky Go.

“Viewing of F1, EFL and cricket is up strongly year on year, and The Open saw a reach of 8m on TV and 2.8m unique users online. Through our growing digital platforms and apps, On Demand service and Now TV offering, there is something for every sports fan.” – Sky Sports’ Managing Director Barney Francis, speaking to The Guardian in response to press articles about declining football viewing figures

The shared contract between Sky and BBC/Channel 4 has underlined how poor the deal has been with respect to the North American races. Historically, North American races would have been a four to five million plus banker rating. Now, thanks to the way the ‘pick’ system works, America has been reduced to being aired on the fringes of primetime to a depleted audience. It simply is not good enough. Nothing will change on this front anyway, but Channel 4’s number illustrates the point well in my opinion.

The other point is that Channel 4’s scheduling was poor. Scheduling a film premiere before it is good, but it was not blockbuster power. The Grand Budapest Hotel averaged 1.22m (6.7%) from 21:00 to 23:00. Formula 1’s highlights programme ideally should have started at 22:30, with a 90-minute run-length. Stretching it out until 01:00 was only going to deplete viewing figures, which should have been considered when scheduling the highlights. It was by choice as opposed to a contractual obligation: in 2014, the BBC’s highlights programme started at 22:30 despite the race starting at 20:00.

The combined audience of 1.83 million viewers is the lowest Formula 1 has averaged in the overnight viewing figures since the 2006 French Grand Prix. That race averaged 1.82m (23.2%) from 12:05 to 14:55 on July 16^th, 2006 on ITV. It is a desperately poor number in a season that has continued to lose interest since the Summer break. The consolidated numbers won’t change the picture too much unless a significant number of people time shifted the highlights programme.

Qualifying
Live coverage of qualifying averaged 306k (1.5%) on Sky Sports F1 from 18:00 to 20:45, a record low for USA. 2014’s qualifying session averaged 532k (2.8%), airing an hour earlier.

Channel 4’s highlights programme averaged 1.00m (7.1%) from 22:00 to 23:30 meaning that their qualifying programme beat their race programme, which is extremely rare. It probably isn’t too surprising when you compare the respective time slots but underlines why the highlights need to be aired in the earliest possible time slot for the American races.

The combined average of 1.31 million viewers is the second lowest of 2016, only ahead of Japan from two weeks ago.

The 2015 United States Grand Prix ratings report can be found here.

An average audience of fewer than two million viewers watched the Japanese Grand Prix across Channel 4 and Sky Sports yesterday, overnight viewing figures show.

Race
Comparisons with previous years are slightly more complex as Sky’s live coverage was shared with the BBC from 2013 to 2015, whilst the time slot has also varied over the years.

Live coverage of the race, broadcast across Sky Sports 1 and F1, averaged 316k (14.8%) from 05:00 to 08:30. The dedicated channel averaged 277k (13.0%) with Sky Sports 1 adding a further 39k (1.8%). Last year’s Sky programme averaged 276k (10.9%), so there is a slight jump year-on-year. Sky’s F1 channel peaked with 522k, with Sky Sports 1 peaking with 90k, resulting a combined peak audience of around 600k.

Highlights on Channel 4 averaged 1.65m (17.2%) from 13:30 to 15:30. According to Channel 4’s press office on Twitter, the programme peaked with 2.2m and won the slot in the key demographics. Given the lack of sporting competition yesterday afternoon, this is a disappointing number, there was an opportunity to sweep up a few extra viewers with no Premier League competition which didn’t materialise. It is Channel 4’s second lowest number of the year, only ahead of Canada.

The Japanese Grand Prix has traditionally recorded poor numbers, although there have been exceptions along the way, notably 2011 and 2014. When the early season viewing figures for Australia and China came in, I feared that we would see a combined average audience of less than two million viewers at some point. The Japanese Grand recorded a combined average audience of just 1.97 million viewers, down 25.6 percent on last year’s average of 2.65 million viewers. The 2006 Italian Grand Prix was the last Formula 1 race to average under two million viewers.

Qualifying and some Hamilton analysis
Live coverage of qualifying averaged 236k (7.4%) from 06:00 to 08:45 on Saturday morning across Sky Sports F1, 1 and Mix. Channel 4’s highlights programme averaged 1.01m (12.9%) from 12:30 to 14:00. The combined audience of 1.24 million viewers is the lowest of the season so far.

Whilst there were a few battles during the Grand Prix itself, the battle that dominated attention was off the track: billed as Lewis Hamilton versus the media. I covered this briefly on Friday, but it continued to be a talking point as the weekend progressed. The trajectory of the viewing figures in recent years makes the next sentence abundantly clear.

With Jenson Button taking a sabbatical at the end of this year, if Hamilton chose to do the same thing, then Formula 1 in this country will turn into a minority sport quicker than anyone thinks or anticipates. How long Hamilton chooses to stick around will dictate the future trajectory of viewing figures. Hamilton’s replacement is not waiting in the wings like he was ten years ago.

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

A record low audience watched Daniel Ricciardo win a memorable Malaysian Grand Prix across Channel 4 and Sky Sports this past weekend, overnight UK viewing figures show.

Race
Comparisons with previous years are slightly more uneven than usual due to the ever-changing time that the Sepang race occurs at in the UK, varying from a start time of 07:00 (2006 and 2008), 08:00 (2007, 2013, 2015 and 2016), 09:00 (2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014) and 10:00 (2009). Nevertheless, a valid year-on-year comparison can be conducted, which unfortunately for both Channel 4 and Sky, does not look good.

Live coverage on Channel 4 averaged 1.30m (21.1%) from 07:00 to 10:45. The audience peaked with 2.11m (24.6%) as Ricciardo clinched a Red Bull one-two. Both metrics are down around 35 percent on BBC One’s audience of 2.03m (33.6%) and peak audience of 3.23m. I think Channel 4’s live number is as good as you expect. However, the re-run number of just 747k (4.8%), peaking with 1.00m (5.8%) at 18:30 is disappointing. I would have hoped for the re-run to grab a few more viewers, the race itself was excellent but that didn’t materialise into generating more repeat viewers later on. In hindsight, I think Channel 4 should have aired the re-run earlier so it didn’t clash with the early primetime line-up.

Over on Sky Sports, their live coverage simulcast across the dedicated Formula 1 channel and Mix averaged 382k (4.2%) from 07:00 to 10:30, significantly down on last year’s average audience of 473k (7.4%). It is one of the very few times that Sky’s average race day audience has slipped below 400k since they started covering the sport in 2012. Split out, Sky Sports F1 averaged 293k (2.9%), with Mix adding a further 89k (1.3%). Early morning time slot or not, that is a really low number and doesn’t bode well for Japan next weekend, which Sky will be airing exclusively live. Sky’s audience peaked with 625k (7.6%) at 09:15 as Lewis Hamilton retired from the race.

The race audience across Channel 4 and Sky climbed from 2.14m (36.1%) at 08:05 to 2.34m (33.6%) at 08:30. Numbers stabilised at around 2.3 million before picking back up to 2.46m (31.1%) at 09:00. The number continued to climb… until a Mercedes went bang. The combined live peak audience of 2.69m (32.8%) came at 09:15. Ten minutes later (i.e. after Hamilton retired), 2.57m (31.7%) people were watching, meaning that around 119,000 viewers tuned out. A much bigger proportion bailed out of Sky’s coverage at that point: 33,000 tuned out of Channel 4’s coverage, with 86,000 turning over from Sky F1 and Mix.

The combined audience of 2.43 million viewers is the lowest for the Malaysian Grand Prix on record, by a large margin. It is also slightly lower than the season average so far, and continues the dip in numbers that Formula 1 has experienced since the Summer break. The combined peak audience of 3.69 million viewers is also the lowest on record and below the season average. Malaysia has previously rated well, due to its favourable early slot in the calendar and the effect of bringing casual viewers in for the afternoon re-run.

Qualifying
As with the race, comparisons are uneven with qualifying varying from a start time of 06:00 (2006 and 2008), 07:00 (2007), 08:00 (2012 to 2014) 09:00 (2011, 2012 and 2015) and 10:00 (2009 and 2016). A later live time slot, plus the added benefit of a late-afternoon re-run should have helped viewing figures.

Live coverage of qualifying, broadcast on Channel 4 from 09:00 to 11:30, averaged just 811k (11.4%) peaking with 1.22m (15.7%) at 10:55. The number is down around half on BBC One’s 2014 and 2015 live qualifying numbers, a larger percentage drop than usual. BBC One’s Saturday morning line-up is usually Breakfast and Saturday Kitchen, meaning that when the F1 usually moved into that slot for early morning qualifying session, it mopped up a larger number of viewers than anticipated, which has helped the numbers across the years. Not that the above argument is any excuse – Channel 4’s live number is still poor.

Sky Sports F1’s live programme averaged 278k (3.9%), peaking with 488k (6.3%) at 10:55. Despite the better slot year-on-year, Sky’s numbers are down around a quarter on 2015’s average of 395k (5.5%) from 08:00 to 11:00. It is Sky’s lowest numbers for a Malaysia qualifying session on record. Later in the day, Channel 4’s replay averaged 658k (4.8%) from 16:30 to 18:30, peaking with 987k (6.5%).

The combined audience of 1.75 million viewers is the lowest for the Malaysian Grand Prix qualifying session since 2008. The audience for qualifying (excluding for 2013 which had a snow-uplift effect in the UK and an unusually high 2015) was down around 24.1 percent on the usual audience of around 2.3 million from 2009 onwards. The combined peak audience of 2.70 million is the lowest since 2009 but reasonably close to other numbers recorded, so the audience there is not too bad.

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