The Monaco Grand Prix struggled over the Bank Holiday weekend in the United Kingdom, overnight viewing figures show.

Race
Live coverage of the race itself, broadcast on Channel 4 from 12:00 to 15:10, averaged 1.96m (23.8%), peaking with 2.68m (30.6%) at 14:30. Channel 4 have not lucked in with their choice of live races so far this season, with their last two choices (Russia and Monaco) turning into poor races, and Baku likely to throw up the same next month.

Sky Sports chose to simulcast their coverage across Sky Sports 1 and Mix, to an average audience of 591k (7.2%) from 12:00 to 15:30. Their audience was split 425k versus 167k in Sky Sports F1’s favour. Sky’s coverage peaked with 861k (9.8%) at 14:35 as Vettel claimed victory.

It was the first live free-to-air broadcast for the Monaco round of the championship since 2012. Nevertheless, a combined average audience of 2.55 million viewers is still lower than last year’s audience of 2.78 million viewers when Channel 4 aired highlights, and the lowest on record for this Grand Prix. Viewing figures were down 39.8 percent on the combined average in 2015 of 4.23 million viewers.

The combined peak audience came at 14:35, as 3.53 million viewers (40.2%) watched across Channel 4 and Sky, the lowest since 2006. At the time of the peak, 76 percent of viewers were watching on Channel 4, with a quarter watching across Sky F1 and Mix. The shares across the board are slightly higher than usual, with warm weather having an effect across the country – a 40 percent share is still impressive irrespective of circumstances.

Qualifying
Live coverage of qualifying, broadcast on Channel 4 from 11:55 to 14:30, averaged 1.14m (15.5%), peaking with 1.75m (21.7%) at 13:35 as Lewis Hamilton was eliminated from qualifying. The third session of qualifying rated lower than the second phase, which is unusual, given that qualifying typically builds up to a crescendo.

Sky Sports F1’s broadcast, which aired from 12:00 to 14:40, averaged 277k (3.8%), peaking at the end of the session with 491k (5.9%). The combined average audience of 1.42 million viewers and combined peak audience of 2.23 million viewers (27.6%) are both down on last year’s figures of 1.65 million and 2.34 million respectively.

Next up, the Formula 1 heads to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix. With Channel 4 airing highlights of the race for the second year in a below, expect a very low average – potentially under two million viewers. Furthermore, Sky’s live coverage clashes with a competitive international football weekend, which will only deplete audiences further.

The 2016 Monaco Grand Prix ratings report can be found here.

The Spanish Grand Prix continued Formula 1’s recent upward trajectory in the ratings following on from positive numbers in Bahrain and Russia, overnight viewing figures show.

Race
Year-on-year comparisons are difficult for this race for the individual broadcasters, as both channels aired the race live last year, whereas Sky Sports had exclusive live coverage this season. However, the numbers do show an interesting pattern. As always, figures exclude on-demand methods such as Now TV, Sky Go and All 4.

Live coverage of the race, broadcast on Sky Sports F1 from 12:00 to 15:30, averaged 530k (6.7%), peaking with 888k at 14:35 as Lewis Hamilton claimed victory. In comparison, Sky’s coverage last year, despite sharing with Channel 4, averaged 559k (6.4%), with a peak figure of 883k. So, despite having exclusivity, Sky’s figures failed to increase.

A peak figure below one million viewers for a Sky exclusive European round is disappointing, especially considering that two Premier League games on Sky Sports 1 brought in audiences over the magic million mark (West Ham vs Liverpool and Tottenham vs Man United).

Channel 4’s highlights programme, which aired from 18:45 to 21:00, averaged 2.12m (11.5%), peaking with 2.89 million viewers. Their highlights number marks an increase on the number for their Spanish Grand Prix live programme last year. Overall, Channel 4 should be pleased, with a number that is higher than a lot of their highlights programming from 2016, only behind Austria and Germany.

The combined audience of 2.65 million viewers is up 6.4 percent on last year’s average audience of 2.49 million viewers. The combined peak audience of 3.78 million viewers is up 5.6 percent on last year’s peak audience of 3.58 million viewers. Whilst both metrics represent a sizeable drop compared to 2015, the viewing figures mark a positive step in the right direction as the championship battle continues to heat up.

Qualifying
Live coverage of qualifying, broadcast on Sky Sports F1 from 12:00 to 14:40, averaged 289k (4.0%), peaking with 476k. Channel 4’s highlights programme from 17:30 to 19:00 added a further 1.14m (8.1%), with 1.56m watching at its peak.

The qualifying highlights followed an identical pattern to that of the race a day later: Channel 4 up slightly, Sky Sports down slightly despite the latter having exclusivity.

The combined average audience of 1.43 million viewers is up 9.3 percent on last year’s average audience of 1.31 million viewers. However, and failing to complete a ‘clean sweep’ as a result, the peak audience was down slightly year-on-year, with a combined peak audience of 2.04 million viewers recorded compared with a peak of 2.16 million viewers in 2016.

The 2016 Spanish Grand Prix ratings report can be found here.