Scheduling: The 2019 Chinese Grand Prix / Rome E-Prix

Formula 1 heads to China for not only round three of the 2019 season, but also for the 1,000 F1 race in history (at least, according to the official statistics).

The race airs across Sky’s F1 channel, Sky Sports Main Event and Sky One, with highlights following on Channel 4 later in the day. The expectation is that this is the last race for the moment that Sky are simulcasting on Sky One.

As in Bahrain two weeks ago, Nico Rosberg will be with Sky’s F1 team for the Shanghai race weekend. Joining Rosberg, and the rest of the Sky Sports F1 team for the first time in 2019 is Ted Kravitz.

As exclusively revealed by this site prior to the start of the season, Kravitz fell out of favour within the Sky ranks during the latter half of 2018, but a decision to axe him from their F1 coverage was overturned. China will be the first of 13 rounds, not 14 as previously reported, for Kravitz with Sky this year alongside his F1 TV commitments.

Sky’s programming slate is like Australia and Bahrain, with no sign of Ted’s Notebook as expected. One late addition to the schedule is Race to the Equator, which follows United Autosports’ quest to win the Asian Le Mans Series.

Elsewhere, a congested sporting schedule on both the BBC and BT Sport has left the Rome E-Prix with the short straw. Gymnastics and Final Score, crossing both BBC One and the Red Button, means that the electric series will air live on Connected TV and online, with delayed coverage following on the Red Button.

BT’s schedule of football, MotoGP, rugby, and the Indian Premier League cricket series also means that both the Formula E and Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy races air behind BT’s Red Button.

The congested schedule may explain why Formula E’s deal with Quest had the provision for live action from the outset, as that is where the race, as well as Paris in two weeks’ time, turns up on.

The clash between Formula E and Formula 1 means that Jack Nicholls is not commentating on the BBC F1’s coverage of practice or qualifying, with Alex Jacques substituting in his absence.

Inside the motor sport arena, MotoGP, IndyCar, and World Superbikes are amongst the other championships competing for attention across the weekend.

Channel 4 F1
13/04 – 13:00 to 14:30 – Qualifying Highlights
14/04 – 15:00 to 17:00 – Race Highlights

Sky Sports F1
Sessions
12/04 – 02:45 to 04:45 – Practice 1 (also Sky Sports Main Event)
12/04 – 06:45 to 08:45 – Practice 2 (also Sky Sports Main Event)
13/04 – 03:45 to 05:30
=> 03:45 – Practice 3
=> 05:10 – Paddock Walkabout
13/04 – 06:00 to 08:30 – Qualifying (also Sky One and Sky Sports Main Event)
=> 06:00 – Pre-Show
=> 06:55 – Qualifying
14/04 – 05:30 to 10:30 – Race
=> 05:30 – Pit Lane Live (also Sky One and Sky Sports Main Event)
=> 06:30 – On the Grid (also Sky One and Sky Sports Main Event)
=> 07:05 – Race (also Sky One and Sky Sports Main Event)
=> 09:00 – Paddock Live (also Sky One and Sky Sports Main Event)
=> 10:00 – Notebook

Supplementary Programming
09/04 – 19:30 to 20:00 – The Championship Begins
09/04 – 20:00 to 21:00 – Race to the Equator
11/04 – 07:00 to 07:30 – Drivers’ Press Conference (also Sky Sports Main Event)
11/04 – 10:00 to 10:30 – Welcome to the Weekend (also Sky Sports Main Event)
12/04 – 09:00 to 09:30 – The Story so Far (also Sky Sports Main Event)
13/04 – 08:30 to 09:00 – The F1 Show (also Sky Sports Main Event)
17/04 – 18:00 to 18:30 – F1 Weekend Debrief

BBC Radio F1
11/04 – 21:00 to 21:30 – Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)
12/04 – 02:55 to 04:35 – Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
12/04 – 06:55 to 08:35 – Practice 2 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
13/04 – 03:55 to 05:05 – Practice 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
13/04 – 06:55 to 08:05 – Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
14/04 – 07:00 to 09:00 – Race (BBC Radio 5 Live)

MotoGP – Austin (BT Sport 2)
12/04 – 14:45 to 22:15 – Practice 1 and 2
13/04 – 15:00 to 22:15
=> 15:00 – Practice 3
=> 18:00 – Qualifying
14/04 – 14:30 to 22:00
=> 14:30 – Warm Ups
=> 16:15 – Moto3
=> 18:00 – Moto2
=> 19:30 – MotoGP
=> 21:00 – Chequered Flag

MotoGP – Austin (Quest)
15/04 – 18:00 to 19:00 – Highlights

Formula E – Rome
Shakedown, Practice and Qualifying also air live on YouTube…
12/04 – 14:45 to 15:30 – Shakedown (BT Sport/ESPN)
13/04 – 06:15 to 07:30 – Practice 1 (BT Sport/ESPN)
13/04 – 08:45 to 09:45 – Practice 2 (BT Sport/ESPN)
13/04 – 10:30 to 12:00 – Qualifying (BT Sport Extra 2 and Eurosport 2)
13/04 – 14:30 to 16:30 – Race: World Feed
=> live on BBC’s website and Connected TV
=> live on Quest
=> live on BT Sport Extra 2
=> live on Eurosport 2
13/04 – 14:30 to 16:10 – Race: Voltage (YouTube)
13/04 – 17:30 to 19:30 – Race: World Feed Delayed (BBC Red Button)

IndyCar Series – Long Beach (Sky Sports F1)
13/04 – 19:45 to 21:30 – Qualifying
14/04 – 21:00 to 00:00 – Race

Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy Series – Rome
13/04 – 07:30 to 08:15 – Qualifying (BT Sport/ESPN)
13/04 – 12:45 to 13:45 – Race (BT Sport Extra 2)

Virgin Australia Supercars – Phillip Island (BT Sport 2)
13/04 – 06:15 to 08:00 – Race 1
14/04 – 04:30 to 06:30 – Race 2

World Superbikes – Assen
12/04 – 09:25 onwards (Eurosport 2)
=> 09:25 to 10:25 – SBK: Practice 1
=> 13:55 to 14:55 – SBK: Practice 2
=> 14:55 to 15:55 – SSP: Practice 2
13/04 – 09:30 to 14:15 – Qualifying and Race 1 (Eurosport 2)
14/04 – 09:30 to 15:15 – Support and Race 2 (Eurosport 2)
18/04 – 20:00 to 21:00 – Highlights (ITV4)

The schedule will be updated if listings change.

Update on April 7th – Sky’s EPG has updated to cover the Chinese Grand Prix, and with it contains a 30-minute post-race show following Paddock Live called ‘Notebook’. Sounds familiar. I do not know if Kravitz is presenting the new Notebook, but will work to confirm.

Elsewhere, Race to the Equator will now premiere on Tuesday 9th April, not yesterday as mentioned previously.

Update on April 8th – It is indeed Kravitz presenting the new Notebook. Article online here.

Update on April 9th – A third update, the inclusion of ‘The Championship Begins’, an edit of the 1950 British Grand Prix airing tonight at 19:30 on Sky Sports F1.

Hamilton’s Bahrain victory peaks with 3.8 million viewers

Lewis Hamilton’s victory in a dramatic Bahrain Grand Prix peaked with 3.8 million viewers across Sky’s and Channel 4’s television platforms, overnight audience figures show.

Race
As in Australia two weeks ago, live coverage of the race aired across Sky Sports F1 and Sky’s general entertainment outlet Sky One. Viewing figures exclude those who watched via on demand platforms, such as Sky Go, Now TV and All 4.

> Ratings: an explainer

Sky’s offering from 15:00 to 18:30 averaged 1.00m (9.2%), their highest ever audience for Bahrain.

An audience of 607k (3.6%) watched via the F1 channel, with a further 397k (3.6%) watching on Sky One, whereas the F1 channel only last year averaged 524k (3.7%) when live coverage also aired on Channel 4.

What is fascinating is the trajectory of the two channels during the race, as the race faced fierce opposition from Liverpool versus Tottenham, also on Sky.

The F1 channel peaked with 1.04m (10.7%) as the race started, but dropped below one million viewers from 16:30 onwards when the football match started. In contrast, Sky One’s simulcast, which may have attracted a different type of viewer, rose significantly throughout the race, peaking with a strong 755k (5.9%) as the race concluded.

All of this leads to a combined peak audience of 1.71m (13.9%) for Sky’s programme at 17:30. At the time of the peak, 994k (8.1%) were watching via Sky F1, with 715k (5.8%) watching via Sky One.

Channel 4’s highlights programme struggled against BBC One juggernaut Line of Duty, averaging 1.39m (8.2%) from 21:00 to 23:00.

However, Channel 4’s audience jumped by half a million viewers as the BBC One programme finished, peaking with 2.05m (13.4%) as the race edit finished. Channel 4’s audiences dropped by over 40 percent from last year, when they covered the Bahrain race live.

The lack of live free-to-air presence, amongst other factors, meant that the combined audience of 2.39 million viewers is down by 504,000 viewers on twelve months ago. The combined peak audience of 3.75 million viewers is down by 698,000 viewers, both down by around 16 percent year-on-year.

The Bahrain average is the lowest on record for the Sakhir circuit, whilst the peak figure is the lowest since 2007.

Qualifying
Live coverage of qualifying also aired across both Sky’s F1 channel and Sky One, with an audience of 340k (5.1%) watching from 14:00 to 16:30. 228k (3.4%) watched via the F1 channel, with 111k (1.7%) watching on Sky One.

Sky’s average is up on their 2018 combined audience of 273k (2.5%) when Channel 4 covered the action live. However, their average audience is down on their qualifying numbers from 2012 to 2017 for Bahrain.

Qualifying unusually recorded a five-minute peak figure at 15:05, with 568k (8.7%) watching half way through Q1. The individual Sky Sports F1 and Sky One peaks came at different times: Sky F1 with 431k (6.6%) at 15:15 and Sky One with 176k (2.4%) at 15:50.

The peak audience is up on last year’s Sky figure of 497k (3.9%), but again down on the 2012 to 2017 figures.

Channel 4’s highlights programme averaged 1.13m (7.2%) from 19:00 to 20:30, peaking with 1.52m (9.7%) as their qualifying edit ended.

The combined average audience of 1.47 million viewers is up by 114,000 viewers on last year’s figure, but the peak metric of 2.09 million viewers is down by over 200,000 viewers on last year’s equivalent number.

Final thoughts
For various reasons, Australia is a bit of an outlier where viewing figures are concerned, and Bahrain tends to give a ‘truer’ picture of the state of play.

A drop of over half a million viewers year-on-year looks bad, and rightly so. However, the race last year clashed with Chelsea versus West Ham, whereas this year it clashed with Liverpool versus Tottenham.

Even if F1 aired live on free-to-air television yesterday, audiences may still have dropped with the tougher football opposition, maybe not by half a million viewers though. Yesterday’s peak audience of 3.76 million viewers is closest to the 2016 peak of 4.01 million viewers.

When you combine the football with Line of Duty, and Mother’s Day in the UK, it makes for the perfect storm, where actually F1’s viewing figures look worse than what they are.

However, to swing the debate the other way, a dramatic race such as yesterday’s may have sent more viewers towards the F1 had it aired live on free-to-air television instead of behind a pay wall on Sky, an argument supported by the trajectory for Sky One’s audience figures.

As in Australia two weeks ago, Sky One’s viewing figures were strong in Bahrain. But again, where are those viewers heading after China? Does Sky continue to air F1 races on Sky One, which in turn would make a mockery of their ‘best-ever offer‘?

It is a worry because Sky One’s figures could be hiding the true drop that is yet to come moving forward, unless all of Sky One’s viewers migrate either to the Sky F1 channel or to Channel 4’s highlights.

If few of Sky One’s viewers have opted in to Sky Sports F1, then that is a major concern beyond the Chinese Grand Prix, which takes place in two weeks’ time.

The 2018 Bahrain Grand Prix ratings report can be found here.

Scheduling: The 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix / Argentine MotoGP

From Australia, Formula 1 heads onto Bahrain, for the second round of the 2019 season.

2016 Drivers’ Champion Nico Rosberg and Anthony Davidson join Sky Sports F1 for the first time this year. As announced during Melbourne, Ted Kravitz returns to their weekend coverage in China. Sky are again airing the race across both their F1 channel and their general entertainment outlet Sky One.

The Grand Prix faces tough competition, as qualifying on Saturday starts at the same time as the 15:00 football matches, whilst the race goes head-to-head with Liverpool versus Tottenham, a match that could prove pivotal in the Premier League title race.

Channel 4’s highlights air later in the evening, the race programme starting at 21:00, with Billy Monger providing analysis alongside David Coulthard and Steve Jones.

Excluding adverts, the length of the highlights show is not too dissimilar to the BBC highlights show for Bahrain. From 2012 to 2014, the BBC’s three race day shows lasted 80, 95 and 90 minutes respectively, although the amount of action in Channel 4’s show this Sunday will be shorter than BBC’s previous efforts.

Elsewhere, in the Sky Sports F1 schedule, Natalie Pinkham’s pre-season interview with Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo gets a 30-minute run-out at various points in the build-up to Bahrain, whilst the Formula Two series returns for a new season.

Further west, Argentina plays host to round two of the MotoGP season, and the World Rally Championship heads to France for the Tour de Corse.

NOTE: Clocks go forward one hour on Sunday 31st March, with the change from Greenwich Mean Time to British Summer Time. The times listed are for GMT on Saturday and before; BST for Sunday and afterwards…

Channel 4 F1
30/03 – 19:00 to 20:30 – Qualifying Highlights
31/03 – 21:00 to 23:00 – Race Highlights

Sky Sports F1
Sessions
29/03 – 10:45 to 12:45 – Practice 1 (also Sky Sports Main Event)
29/03 – 14:45 to 16:45 – Practice 2 (also Sky Sports Main Event)
30/03 – 11:45 to 13:30
=> 11:45 – Practice 3
=> 13:10 – Paddock Walkabout
30/03 – 14:00 to 16:30 – Qualifying (also Sky One)
=> 14:00 – Pre-Show
=> 14:55 – Qualifying (also Sky Sports Main Event)
31/03 – 14:30 to 19:00 – Race (also Sky One)
=> 14:30 – Pit Lane Live
=> 15:30 – On the Grid
=> 16:05 – Race
=> 18:00 – Paddock Live

Supplementary Programming
28/03 – 15:00 to 15:30 – Drivers’ Press Conference
28/03 – 17:00 to 17:30 – Welcome to the Weekend
30/03 – 16:30 to 17:00 – The F1 Show (also Sky Sports Main Event)
03/04 – 18:30 to 19:00 – F1 Midweek Debrief

BBC Radio F1
28/03 – 21:00 to 22:00 – Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)
29/03 – 11:00 to 12:30 – Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
29/03 – 15:00 to 16:30 – Practice 2 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
31/03 – 16:00 to 18:10 – Race (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)

MotoGP – Argentina (BT Sport 2)
29/03 – 11:45 to 19:00 – Practice 1 and 2
30/03 – 12:00 to 19:00
=> 12:00 – Practice 3
=> 15:00 – Qualifying
31/03 – 13:30 to 21:00
=> 13:30 – Warm Ups
=> 15:15 – Moto3
=> 17:00 – Moto2
=> 18:30 – MotoGP
=> 20:00 – Chequered Flag

MotoGP – Argentina (Quest)
01/04 – 18:00 to 19:00 – Highlights

Formula Two – Bahrain (Sky Sports F1)
29/03 – 08:25 to 09:20 – Practice (also Sky Sports Main Event)
29/03 – 13:45 to 14:20 – Qualifying
30/03 – 10:00 to 11:20 – Race 1
31/03 – 12:05 to 13:10 – Race 2

World Rally Championship – Tour de Corse (All Live – BT Sport Extra 1)
Every stage also live via WRCPlus.com
29/03 – 07:00 to 18:45 – Stages 1 to 6
30/03 – 06:00 to 17:30 – Stages 7 to 12
31/03 – 08:00 to 12:45 – Stages 13 and 14

World Rally Championship – Tour de Corse
29/03 – 21:45 to 22:15 – Day 1 Highlights (BT Sport 3)
30/03 – 15:00 to 16:00 – Stage 11 (BT Sport/ESPN)
31/03 – 22:30 to 23:00 – Day 2 Highlights (BT Sport 1)
31/03 – 11:00 to 12:30 – Stage 14 [Power Stage] (BT Sport 2)
31/03 – 19:00 to 19:30 – Day 3 Highlights (BT Sport 1)
01/04 – 19:00 to 20:00 – Highlights (5Spike)

This post will be amended if anything changes.

ASA receives complaints over Sky’s F1 pre-season promotion

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has received complaints surrounding Sky’s Formula 1 pre-season promotion, the body has confirmed.

The authority, which is the UK’s regulator of advertising, received eleven complaints in total from members of the public. Complainants challenged Sky’s pre-season strategy around their ‘best-ever offer‘, suggesting that Sky’s advertising was misleading.

Sky are running an offer through March that allows fans to subscribe to the Sky Sports F1 channel for an additional £10.00 on top of their existing Sky package.

However, complainants argued that advertising across their social media outlets and website did not make it clear that customers could only activate the offer on top of Sky’s entry-level Entertainment package, and that the offer was unavailable to customers of other services (such as Virgin Media).

Shy have since amended the wording to make it clearer for consumers, following intervention from the authority.

> Doing the sums: the cost of viewing Sky Sports F1 in 2019

In a statement to Motorsport Broadcasting, the regulator said “We approached Sky with the concerns that had been raised. They accepted that they had made an editorial mistake on their Twitter feed and on their website about the F1 package.”

“They deleted the tweet and amended the website claims to make it immediately clear that consumers can only get this channel for £10 a month on top of a subscription.”

Based on viewing figures from last weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, Sky’s F1 deal has attracted new customers to their platform. In isolation, the average audience for their Melbourne race programme on the F1 channel increased in volume by 14 percent year-on-year.

The Grand Prix season continues next weekend in Bahrain.

Scheduling: The 2019 Sanya E-Prix

Formula E remains in the far east for the second leg of its Asian tour, as the championship heads to China for the Sanya E-Prix.

After its one-off appearance on BBC Two last time out in Hong Kong, the series returns to BBC’s Red Button on Saturday, with World Feed only coverage returning. As always, Vernon Kay and Nicki Shields preside over proceedings, with Bob Varsha, Jack Nicholls, and Dario Franchitti in the commentary box.

On the radio side, Tom Gaymor, Claire Cottingham and Marc Priestley will commentate on the action for Formula E Radio as well as BBC 5 Live Sports Extra.

Over in the west, the Circuit of the Americas plays host the IndyCar Series. Barring any technical difficulties, the race itself will run without commercials for UK viewers on Sky Sports F1, a stark contrast to the first race in St Petersburg when the UK programme followed the same ad-break pattern as their US counterparts.

Formula E – Sanya
Shakedown, Practice and Qualifying also air live on YouTube…
22/03 – 07:45 to 08:45 – Shakedown (BT Sport 1)
22/03 – 23:15 to 00:15 – Practice 1 (BT Sport 1)
23/03 – 01:30 to 02:15 – Practice 2 (BT Sport 1)
23/03 – 03:00 to 04:45 – Qualifying (BT Sport 1 and Eurosport)
23/03 – 06:30 to 08:30 – Race: World Feed
=> live on BBC’s digital platforms
=> live on BT Sport 1
=> live on Eurosport
23/03 – 06:30 to 08:10 – Race: Voltage (YouTube)
24/03 – 00:00 to 01:00 – Highlights (Quest)

Formula E Radio – Sanya (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
23/03 – 03:15 to 04:50 – Qualifying
23/03 – 06:45 to 08:20 – Race

Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy Series – Sanya (BT Sport 1)
23/03 – 00:15 to 01:00 – Qualifying
23/03 – 04:45 to 05:45 – Race

IndyCar Series – Austin (Sky Sports F1)
23/03 – 19:00 to 20:30 – Qualifying
24/03 – 17:00 to 20:00 – Race

If anything changes, the schedule will be updated.