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.

A peak audience of nearly two million viewers watched Lewis Hamilton become a five-time Formula One Drivers’ Champion live on Sky, overnight audience figures show.

As with last year’s championship decider, the Mexican Grand Prix weekend aired exclusively live on Sky, with highlights airing on Channel 4 later in the evening.

Overnight audience figures exclude viewers who watched the action via on-demand platforms such as Sky Go and Now TV. In addition, the numbers presented do not include anyone who watched the programming after 02:00 the next morning.

Race
Live coverage of the race aired across two of Sky’s outlets to an audience of 1.28m (5.9%) from 18:00 to 21:30, an increase of 7.4 percent on last year’s audience of 1.09m (4.8%) across the same time slot and channels.

An audience of 857k (4.0%) watched via the dedicated F1 channel, with a further 490k (2.2%) watching via Sky Sports Main Event. The audience figures and shares do not add up to the combined figure, as Main Event joined the broadcast later at 18:30.

The race started with 1.79m (8.3%) at 19:10 across the two channels, reaching 1.86m (8.4%) at 19:25. After a mid-race dip, reaching a low of 1.57m (6.5%) at 20:10, audiences slowly climbed again towards the chequered flag.

A peak audience of 1.87m (8.3%) watched as Max Verstappen won the Grand Prix at 20:50, an increase of 241,000 viewers on Sky’s peak audience from 2017. At the time of the peak, 1.22m (5.4%) were watching Sky Sports F1’s broadcast, with 651k (2.9%) watching Main Event. Main Event’s broadcast peaked somewhat earlier, at 19:25, with 716k (3.2%).

By both average and peak metrics, Sky’s audience is their highest since the 2014 United States Grand Prix, which peaked with 1.93 million viewers. Back then, Hamilton was heading towards his second championship.

Sky’s audience figures for Mexico also mean that, barring any unusual trends for Brazil and Abu Dhabi, their live F1 programming never once peaked above two million viewers via the traditional television set during their 2012 to 2018 contract (with the BBC until the end of 2015 and more recently Channel 4).

Channel 4’s late-night broadcast struggled and, not for the first time, was beaten by its pay-TV counterpart. Their free-to-air broadcast averaged just 642k (13.9%) from 23:05 to 01:15, easily their lowest ever audience for a race day broadcast, and a significant decrease on last year’s figure of 1.05m (15.4%) which aired in a time slot that was 30-minutes earlier.

Hamilton’s title victories (average)
2008 – 8.9 million [Brazil]
2014 – 5.7 million [Abu Dhabi]
2015 – 3.3 million [USA]
2017 – 2.1 million [Mexico]
2018 – 1.9 million [Mexico]

Hamilton’s title victories (broadcast)
2008 – ITV [live]
2014 – Sky [live], BBC [live]
2015 – Sky [live], BBC [highlights]
2017 – Sky [live], C4 [highlights]
2018 – Sky [live], C4 [highlights]

Their highlights show peaked with 915k (14.5%) at 23:35 as the race edit started, the audience decreasing throughout the edit, finishing with 590k (18.9%) at 00:45.

The combined average audience of 1.92 million viewers is the lowest for the Mexican round for the championship on record, and a decrease on last year’s average of 2.13 million viewers. In addition, the combined peak audience of 2.82 million viewers is a decrease of 11.1 percent on last year’s figure of 3.17 million viewers.

To show how much Formula 1 loses out, and will continue to do so in future years, when the sport is not live on free-to-air television, last weekend’s United States Grand Prix averaged 3.46 million viewers, peaking with 5.54 million viewers.

In other words, F1 lost half of its audience between USA and Mexico in the UK because the latter was not live on free-to-air television. Sky’s peak audience may have increased by 452,000 viewers week-on-week, but that is small fish to fry compared to the overall difference week-on-week of 2.7 million viewers.

Qualifying
An audience of 334k (1.7%) watched Sky Sports F1’s live coverage of qualifying on Saturday evening, which aired from 18:00 to 20:30. Their programme peaked with 659k (3.4%) at 19:55 as Daniel Ricciardo claimed a shock pole position in his Red Bull.

However, Sky’s qualifying audience was some way down in both metrics compared with 2017, last year’s qualifying programme having brought in 423k (2.1%) across the F1 channel and Main Event.

Later in the evening, Channel 4’s highlights programme attracted 837k (6.1%) from 22:00 to 23:30, a slight decrease on last year’s figure of 873k (6.1%). The free-to-air broadcaster’s peak audience of 1.11m (9.7%) was up on the equivalent number from 2017 of 1.06m (8.8%).

The combined average audience of 1.17 million viewers is the lowest ever for Mexico and down 9.7 percent on last year’s average of 1.30 million viewers, with the peak audience of 1.77 million viewers down by 4.0 percent year-on-year.

Given that last year’s championship battle ended at the same stage, viewing figures for Brazil and Abu Dhabi should hold up year-on-year, but nevertheless low compared to what you would usually expect as the season heads to its climax.

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

Kimi Raikkonen was the man with the X Factor in Austin on Sunday evening, helping Formula 1 climb to its highest peak audience in nearly three years, overnight UK viewing figures show.

Race
As in Japan two weeks ago, live coverage of the race aired across Channel 4 and three of Sky’s outlets. A slight difference year-on-year is that the race started an hour earlier compared with 2017, but this does not make a material difference to audience figures.

Channel 4’s broadcast, encompassing the build-up segment and the race itself, averaged 2.55m (11.9%) from 18:00 to 21:15, a decrease of 8.4 percent on their average audience last year of 2.78m (12.8%) across a time slot of the same length.

Last year, Sky’s coverage aired on the dedicated F1 channel and Sky Sports Main Event, whereas this year Sky 1 also joined the party, boosting their total audience. An audience of 915k (4.2%) watched their output from 18:00 to 21:30, an increase of 184,000 viewers on last year’s Sky audience of 730k (3.5%).

The F1 channel averaged 533k (2.5%), with Main Event and Sky 1 adding 266k (1.2%) and 154k (0.7%) respectively. Main Event’s broadcast was shorter in length, joining the other two channels at 18:30, hence why the Sky total audience is slightly different compared to the three numbers added together.

The audience breakdown tells a fascinating story about F1’s demographics, as the Grand Prix faced multiple top-hitters on Sunday evening. The race itself started with 4.79m (22.0%) at 19:15, reaching 4.96m (22.4%) fifteen minutes later.

However, BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing sliced nearly 700,000 viewers off Formula 1’s audience from 19:45 onwards, with the race dropping to a low of 4.25m (17.8%) at 20:10. The Grand Prix then gained 706,000 viewers in one five-minute segment as the dancing competition finished, jumping to 5.20m (23.6%) at 20:30.

Despite denting both Strictly and Doctor Who, Formula 1 was some way behind both shows. However, the Grand Prix did defeat ITV’s The X Factor head-to-head, averaging 4.62m (20.3%) in the 20:00 hour, whilst the singing competition averaged 4.02m (17.6%).

The race peaked with 5.54m (25.6%) at 20:40 as Raikkonen claimed victory for the first time since Australia 2013, denying Lewis Hamilton his fifth championship for the moment. At the time of the peak, 4.14m (19.1%) were watching Channel 4’s broadcast, a record high F1 peak for them, with 1.40m (6.4%) watching Sky’s three channels, a split of 75:25 in Channel 4’s favour.

Sky’s peak audience is their highest ever peak for races that they have shared with a free-to-air broadcaster, a remarkable statistic. Whether you are completely comparing apples with apples is up for debate, given that they have had to air the race across three of their outlets to achieve that, but it is an interesting stat nevertheless.

The combined average audience of 3.46 million viewers is the highest of 2018 so far, but marginally down on last year’s average audience of 3.51 million viewers.

The reason for this is that, a portion of the race aired against Strictly, and the race had a lower audience following the chequered flag than last year (no post-race shenanigans this time around), meaning that the average audience suffered.

However, the combined peak audience of 5.54 million viewers is considerably higher than last year’s peak audience of 5.19 million viewers, and the highest peak audience for a Grand Prix in nearly three years. The last race to record a peak of more than 5.5 million viewers was the 2015 Brazilian Grand Prix, which peaked with around 5.7 million viewers.

Qualifying
Channel 4’s extended build-up to qualifying performed solidly on Saturday evening, overnight audience figures show. Their live coverage, which aired from 20:25 to 23:30 averaged 1.35m (8.5%), an increase on last year’s figure of 1.18m (7.0%) across a shorter time slot.

Meanwhile, an audience of 396k (2.8%) watched Sky’s coverage across the F1 channel, Main Event and Sky 1 from 21:00 to 23:30, an increase on last year’s total of 315k (1.9%). 250k (1.7%) watched via the F1 channel, with 76k (0.6%) and 70k (0.5%) watching via Main Event and Sky 1 respectively.

Impressively, apart from the first five-minute segment, Channel 4’s build-up to qualifying remained steady, keeping north of one million viewers. The combined audience of 1.74 million viewers is the highest for USA since 2015 and the second highest of 2018 so far.

The qualifying broadcast peaked with 2.40m (18.7%) at 22:55 as the session ended, the highest for USA since 2012.

At the time of the peak, 1.67m (13.1%) were watching Channel 4, with a further 724k (5.7%) watching Sky’s broadcast. Channel 4’s show peaked earlier in the hour, with 1.76m (10.9%) at 22:15, likely because Match of the Day started on BBC One at 22:30.

This weekend, Formula 1 heads to Mexico, and with free-to-air highlights not airing until 23:00, expect the cumulative audience figures to be significantly lower as a result.

The 2017 United States Grand Prix ratings report can be found here.