Dramatic Formula E decider peaks with 1.2 million

The final two races of the Formula E season performed solidly on both ITV and ITV4 across this past weekend, overnight viewing figures show.

Saturday
Live coverage of round ten was broadcast live on ITV4 on Saturday. Qualifying, which aired from 11:30 to 13:15, averaged 146k (1.5%), peaking with 184k (3.1%) at 12:35. Up until that point, it was the most watched qualifying programme for the sessions that ITV4 had covered live. In fact, the peak number for London’s Saturday qualifying session was higher than the peak number recorded for the Moscow race three weeks earlier, showing that it was a strong number in isolation.

ITV4’s live race coverage aired from 15:00 to 17:30. The programme averaged 274k (3.7%), peaking with 460k (5.7%). The peak, up until that point again, was the strongest since Beijing which peaked with 477k (6.8%). Against a backdrop of mediocre ratings over the past few months, this was a much needed strong figure. I also think this underlines how well the previous European races could have done had they not clashed with Formula 1.

The highlights programme on ITV, which aired from 22:55 to 23:55, averaged 387k (3.6%). You could argue that it is higher than the ITV4 race programme, therefore it is a better figure, however in reality, that figure is very poor for ITV, a picture which is unfortunately the same for Sunday’s highlights programme.

Sunday
Due to the British Touring Car Championship on ITV4, and presumably also ITV wanting to give Formula E a bit of extra coverage, programming was switched to ITV for Sunday’s qualifying and race, which formed the final round of the season. Live coverage of the race, airing on ITV from 15:00 to 17:45, averaged 700k (6.7%). The race peaked with 1.18m (10.7%) at 16:50 as Nelson Piquet Jnr won the championship.

Live coverage of the race began with 406k (4.6%) at 15:00, growing to 811k (8.3%) as the race started at 16:00. It crossed the million barrier at 16:25, remaining above a million until the race concluded. The programme itself did not win the slot, but this was due to the long pre and post-race analysis rather than the race itself under-performing. Live coverage of qualifying on ITV from 11:30 to 13:15 averaged 395k (4.9%), peaking with 503k (5.9%). Not great. Repeats of The Jeremy Kyle Show on the channel generated a higher audience in the equivalent timeslot on Saturday. However, purely because of the ‘ITV factor’, qualifying and the race will stand as record high numbers for the series.

Sunday’s highlights programme, which aired from 22:20 to 23:20, averaged 454k (3.3%). Again, it is not a great audience for the channel. Over on ITV4, live coverage of the British Touring Car Championship averaged 263k (2.8%) from 11:00 to 18:15, peaking with 460k.

Analysis
For Formula E, the numbers are brilliant, in that they are significantly higher than previous rounds, and further cement the case for the championship to be shown on ITV’s main channel. Of course, that works on the assumption that Formula E want to keep working with ITV. Given that the top headline currently on Formula E’s website surrounds yesterday’s viewing figures in the UK, one has to assume that Formula E do not plan to take he championship off free-to-air television. The two questions surround the nature of the deal from a scheduling perspective, but also whether ITV are willing to pay any cash for it. Do ITV see more value in the series after season one, and are they therefore willing to hand over money as a result. I don’t think Formula E has everything their own way, yet.

From a slot average perspective, the numbers on ITV’s main channel did not exceed the slot average. Does that make the live numbers disappointing? No. Yeah, they’re solid for ITV, no more, no less. I doubt it made ITV’s executives go “wow” when they saw the overnights this morning. However, I would argue that if Formula E can peak with 1.2 million viewers for a championship decider at the end of its inaugural season, then what can do it do in a year’s time, with perhaps more airtime and advertising on ITV’s main channel? Interest is only going to grow over time. That 1.2 million peak could be 2 million twelve months from now.

This requires commitment from both sides. I think logical progression from both sides would be to retain the current deal, but air the opening race of the 2015-16 season on ITV, along with two or three other races (the calendar hasn’t yet been released, so it is impossible to say which ones), with ITV committing to an on-site presence for those races. I think having every race live on ITV’s main channel could do more harm than good. I’ll elaborate on the above in a future post, but let’s keep things moving naturally rather than committing to anything too big, too soon.

But, first and foremost, we need an announcement about season two’s rights. So ITV and Formula E. What are you waiting for?

Austrian Grand Prix up year-on-year

The Austrian Grand Prix saw a ratings increase compared with last year’s race, overnight viewing figures show.

The race, won by Nico Rosberg and broadcast live on Sky Sports F1, averaged 528k (6.3%) across three and a half hours from 12:00 to 15:30. A further 224k (2.7%) watched the action on Sky Sports 1 during the same timeslot, bringing the combined Sky Sports number to 752k (9.0%). The combined number is up on last year’s Sky Sports F1 only figure of 721k (9.6%). In isolation, the Sky Sports F1 number for 2015’s race is low, with Sky Sports 1 dragging the numbers up.

Despite an almost identical Sky Sports audience compared with Canada – the viewer split between 1 and F1 differs a fair bit – 84% vs 16% in Canada compared to 70% vs 30% for Austria. So, why the difference? There are two reasons I feel, the time of day and also exclusivity. Sky shared live coverage with the BBC, whereas Sky had exclusive live coverage of coverage. The numbers imply that casual viewers are more likely to watch F1 on Sky Sports 1 than Sky Sports F1, which is unsurprising given the name of one of those two channels, but an interesting observation nevertheless.

BBC One’s highlights programme, which aired from 17:05 to 18:35, averaged 3.11m (23.1%). The number is comfortably up on 2014’s figure of 2.45m (12.2%), but the comparison is invalid given that last year’s highlights programme aired on BBC Two from 19:00, so it is difficult to compare the two. However, it does show the pull of BBC One in comparison to BBC Two as a whole.

The combined BBC and Sky average of 3.86m is up on 2014, due to the highlights scheduling factor. There’s not anything else to note given that Austria was off the calendar prior to that for a decade.

The 2014 Austrian Grand Prix ratings report can be found here.

24 Hours of Le Mans peaks with 428,000 viewers

The 2015 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans peaked with nearly half a million viewers across British Eurosport and Quest TV, overnight viewing figures reveal.

The race, screened live on British Eurosport from 13:45 on Saturday through to 14:15 on Sunday, averaged 70k (1.1%), which is up on last year and equal with 2013’s average. The 5-minute peak on Eurosport of 172k (2.0%) came at 13:50 on Sunday afternoon, again up on 2014, but down on 2013’s peak audience of 248k. Of course, that is taking Eurosport’s figures in isolation. When you take into account Quest’s numbers, the picture is significantly different.

Quest TV aired four programmes: two live programmes at the start and end of the race respectively, alongside two highlights programmes. The start of the race on Quest, from 13:30 to 15:30 on Saturday, averaged 140k (1.7%). In comparison, Eurosport averaged 131k (1.6%) from 13:45 to 15:30. The combined peak during this time period was a whopping 345k (4.1%) at 15:20, with the audience split 190k (2.3%) on Quest versus 154k (1.8%) on Eurosport.

Unsurprisingly, the highlights programming on Quest rated lower than the live action, with 94k (0.5%) at 21:00 on Saturday and 45k (1.6%) at 07:00 on Saturday, although both numbers were higher than the equivalent timeslot on Eurosport. Quest’s live programme on Sunday from 13:00 to 14:30 averaged 198k (2.3%), their most watched programme of the day. The combined peak audience for the entire race came at 14:00 on Sunday, as 428k (5.0%) watched the #19 Porsche car win outright. At the time of the peak, 258k (3.0%) were watching on Quest, with a further 171k (2.0%) on British Eurosport.

What is interesting about the numbers is that Eurosport never lost any viewers, their audience broadly stayed the same year-on-year. Quest TV’s audience appears to be new, because of the wider reach that the channel has, and presumably filled with viewers who can not access Eurosport. Looking at the breakdowns, Quest’s live programming outperformed the slot average comfortably, suggesting that what they did this year worked. It bodes well for them increasing their coverage in 2016, although I don’t think a complete simulcast of Eurosport’s coverage is viable or feasible. It should be remembered that both Eurosport and Quest TV are owned by Discovery Communications, this is simply two channels with the same owner working together for the greater good. Quest TV provided their own, distinct colour to the coverage with Louise Goodman and Marc Priestley presenting their shows.

Quest TV isn’t the most well known channel, but it shows what can be done. I do think Le Mans could do even better if the UK rights were not restricted by Discovery exclusivity. I can understand why it is done, as it makes the event easier to distribute across Europe, but from a viewing figures perspective, it limits the potential. According to BARB, ITV4 reaches triple the number of Quest TV, and could therefore bring triple the viewers with it. As shown, any change would not be detrimental to Eurosport’s numbers. Nevertheless, looking at 2015, the numbers are superb for Le Mans and hopefully can be built on further if the “Quest formula” is repeated and more importantly enhanced upon.

The 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans ratings report can be found here

Hamilton’s Canadian win peaks with 6.4 million

Lewis Hamilton’s victory in the Canadian Grand Prix peaked with 6.4 million viewers in the UK, according to overnight viewing figures.

Race
The race, broadcast live on BBC One from 18:25 to 21:00, averaged 4.62m (25.0%). The number is near identical to the past two years. 2013’s race averaged 4.61m (23.6%) from 18:15 to 21:10, whilst coverage in 2014 averaged 4.59m (23.3%) from 18:20 to 21:00. To have three different years separated by just 30k shows how consistent the numbers have been for BBC’s coverage in Canada. BBC’s peak audience of 5.48m (26.0%) came as Lewis Hamilton crossed the line, marginally down on 2013’s peak of 5.55m. In the grand scheme of things, the numbers are good, perhaps they would have liked it to be slightly higher but it’s not a disappointing result by any stretch of the imagination.

Over on Sky Sports F1, their coverage averaged 619k (3.4%) from 18:00 to 21:30. Last year’s coverage across the equivalent slot averaged 818k (4.2%), which is a fairly hefty drop of 24 percent year-on-year. However, including the Sky Sports 1 simulcast, which averaged around 117k (0.6%), brings the percentage drop down to 10 percent. Which is still bad, but not as bad, although I question whether you should bundle Sky Sports 1 and F1 together and then make a comparison with the Sky Sports F1 only figure from last year. Either way, it is again not a pretty picture for Sky. Why have Sky’s ratings dropped compared to 2014, and more interestingly, will the trend continue? It was a similar story for Sky’s peaks: 1.13m last year compared with 952k this year (including Sky Sports 1), a 16 percent drop.

The combined audience of 5.35m is down on both 2013 and 2014 marginally. 2014 averaged 5.40m, whilst 2013 averaged 5.36m. It is the third race in a row which has seen viewership drop year-on-year. The Austrian Grand Prix is guaranteed to reverse that trend, with highlights being screened on BBC One this year as opposed to BBC Two last year.

Formula E drops further
The inaugural Formula E season continued to stumble towards the finishing line, hitting a near low for the Moscow ePrix. Live coverage of the race, airing on ITV4 from 13:00 to 15:30 on Saturday, averaged just 77k (1.0%). If it wasn’t for the Putrajaya ePrix, which averaged 66k (5.1%) in the early hours of the morning last November, that number would have been a series low.

The race, won by Nelson Piquet Jr, peaked with 128k (1.7%), compared with 137k (7.2%) for Putrajaya, so from a peak perspective, Moscow was a series low. The series low’s should stop now, with the London ePrix up next, but it is impossible to tell how much the numbers will increase with the series being on home turf.

The 2014 Canadian Grand Prix ratings report can be found here.

Monaco Grand Prix remains above 4 million

The Monaco Grand Prix performed solidly during the Bank Holiday weekend, unofficial overnight viewing figures show.

Race
With warm weather damaging ratings across the board on Saturday and Sunday, Formula 1 escaped relatively unscathed thanks to a good figure for BBC’s highlights show, although Sky Sports F1’s live coverage was hit badly. Live coverage of the race on Sky Sports F1 averaged 797k (8.5%) from 12:00 to 15:30, which compares with 1.10m (12.1%) for the equivalent slot last year. That’s a drop of around 30 percent across both viewer and share measures. The total TV audience for the slot was marginally up yesterday for the slot, so for whatever reason, the race just didn’t perform well, unsurprisingly perhaps given that very little happened in the first 60 laps. There’s a pattern emerging that Sky’s coverage is struggling ratings wise year-on-year, which needs to be tracked as the season progresses.

BBC’s highlights programme was up year-on-year. The show averaged 3.44m (23.3%) from 17:05 to 18:05, up on last year’s highlights number of 3.33m (23.3%). That’s a good number, when you consider that last year’s highlights programme was boosted by Nico Rosberg’s qualifying incident. Overall, the combined audience of 4.23m is down 4.7 percent on last year’s audience of 4.44m. It is, however, up on 2013’s number of 4.00m. Overall, it is a good number, although I suspect one side will be a lot more pleased than the other.

Formula E and Indianapolis 500
Over the weekend, viewers failed to turn up for ITV4’s Formula E coverage from Berlin, which dropped to its lowest number since the Putrajaya ePrix last November. Live coverage on ITV4 from 14:00 to 16:30 averaged 112k (1.6%), peaking with 154k (2.2%) at 15:05. What’s unusual here is that the pre-race portion was above 100k for the majority, which is unusual, except that the programme failed to gain viewers after 15:00, and remained stagnant around 140k. It’s not a good number, being on the same weekend as the Monaco Grand Prix won’t help matters. Hopefully under the “lessons learnt” category for season one, the organisers add “don’t clash with F1.” As a general rule of thumb, having a race at the end of May won’t help anyone as all the attention from motor sport media is elsewhere.

Speaking of elsewhere, the Indianapolis 500 averaged 19k (0.1%) from 16:00 to 21:00 on ESPN. The race itself, from around 17:30 to 20:50 averaged 22k (0.1%), peaking with 46k (0.3%) at 18:15. One point I’d like to add, especially in the case of the 500, is that the numbers don’t include online viewing. Anyone (including myself) who watched via the BT Sport app will not be included in the above number, and the same applies for anyone who watched via any other sources.

The 2014 Monaco Grand Prix ratings report can be found here.