News round-up: Sky explore YouTube; online battle for readership continues

In the second round-up catching up on the stories of the past month, this blog looks at the ongoing battle for readers across various websites and the advances over on YouTube.

Sky explore YouTube, but did anyone notice?
Sky Sports conducted an interesting experiment with the Friday 24th April episode of The F1 Show. Under the #AskCrofty banner, the episode was streamed live on YouTube. I believe this was the first time that Sky have ever streamed F1 content on the video sharing website, traditionally it had only been available to pay-TV subscribers via the usual ways. Personally, I think that such an occasion would have been good to ‘big up’ with some extra advertising or hype via social media, maybe try and reach out to a few new subscribers. For whatever reason, that didn’t happen.

The episode was streamed live on YouTube to around a few hundred people, a number which can only be described as shockingly low. Yes, it is only an F1 talk show on a Friday night, but you can’t defend numbers as low as that. I’d have expected at least a few thousand people to watch it live via YouTube, given the amount of people that the Sky Sports brand reaches on Facebook, Twitter and their own website on a daily basis. This experiment failed before it even started, to be honest. The low number also in its own way confirms the low TV viewing figures that The F1 Show receives, never hitting 100k and very rarely hitting 50k.

Sticking with YouTube, and the news that the official F1 channel appears to be forming some sort of partnership with NBC. Eagle eyed viewers will have noticed that the F1 website tends to take NBC’s interviews conducted from the broadcast pen, as of course Formula One Management (FOM) own all the content that is filmed inside a race track. That relationship appears to be evolving, with NBC features possibly appearing on F1’s YouTube channel, according to NBC’s pit lane reporter Will Buxton who commented on it during a recent AMA on reddit. Obviously such a development, should it come to fruition, is positive news as it means more people will be able to experience the content that NBC’s F1 team produce.

F1 2016 schedule and the implications
The provisional 2016 Formula One schedule presents some interesting decisions for both BBC and Sky should the schedule not change. The good news is that the season would start after the conclusion of the Six Nations and after the Boat Race. The Australian Grand Prix, scheduled currently for April 3rd, would not clash with any of the big standalone events. The Chinese Grand Prix would be held on the same weekend as the Grand National, but not a direct clash. It is the Bahrain Grand Prix that would suffer, clashing with the London Marathon and the FA Cup semi finals, but on the other hand it could provide BBC with a bumper Sunday if they showed the Grand Prix live after the marathon.

However, with both the football European Championship and the Olympic Games taking place next year, it means a congested Summer of sport. Provisionally, the Canadian, Austrian and British rounds of the championship will take place during Euro 2016, whilst the Hungarian Grand Prix clashes with the opening weekend of the Olympic Games. And that hasn’t even taken into account Wimbledon…. of course, it is impossible to avoid everything. But, the promoters and governing body of the sport must ensure that F1 is given the best scheduling opportunities where possible, minimising the chance of direct clashes.

AUTOSPORT widen their horizons
The online battle for readers has increased over the past year, with multiple talent changes across AUTOSPORT and Motorsport.com. The talent changes are now in place, which should result in stronger competition across the board, as Motorsport.com tries to take a slice of the action from AUTOSPORT and other related websites. In theory, the changes can only mean good things for the consumer. The quality should increase as both sites strive to make their portfolio of content as strong as possible, irrespective of whether it is two wheels, four wheels, tarmac or gravel.

AUTOSPORT are further bolstering their line-up with a new website currently in beta, so that will only help things for them in the online department. Their commitment to all things two and four wheels was demonstrated a few weeks ago, with Kris Meeke’s victory at the Rally Argentina their lead story on the cover of AUTOSPORT Magazine, despite rallying traditionally not a strong selling point in comparison to Formula 1. Edd Straw, AUTOSPORT’s editor, justified the decision noting that he hoped that AUTOSPORT’s readership would respond to a different cover “better than expected”, whilst it was simply “the right thing to do” due to the story behind Meeke’s victory. It should be noted that some mainstream media covered Meeke’s victory, both the BBC and Sky covered the victory on their respective websites.

Elsewhere, the recent general election alongside Floyd Mayweather’s victory against Manny Pacquiao in the boxing meant that the BBC smashed their own online records, with 12.3 million browsers accessing the BBC Sport website in total on Sunday 3rd May. 8.7 million browsers were from within then UK, with the remaining 3.6 million browsers from outside the UK. In comparison, as the aftermath of the general election was felt, a whopping 28.3 million browsers accessed the BBC News website, of which 20.6 million were from within the UK. The numbers are simply staggering.

Scheduling: The 2015 Monaco Grand Prix / Berlin ePrix

Next weekend sees two of the three blue riband events take place in the form of the Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500! The Monaco Grand Prix is exclusively live on Sky Sports F1, with the Indianapolis 500 exclusively live on ESPN. For those without the F1 channel, qualifying for Monaco is also live on Sky Sports 1.

Over on the BBC, their radio output is depleted due to Test Match cricket on 5 Live Sport Extra meaning that practice commentary will be via the website only. I know it is the luck of the draw sometimes, but I’m mildly amused that BBC’s qualifying highlights show is longer than their race highlights show, which is certainly a first since their current deal came into effect at the beginning of 2012. In terms of supplementary programming, Sky are airing their first Tales from the Vault programme of 2015 looking back at past Monaco races.

The Indianapolis 500 is being broadcast live on ESPN from 16:00 next Sunday. As noted earlier, it appears that BT’s output has been reduced with less studio coverage. If that changes, I will update the schedule, but it doesn’t appear that way at the moment. Over at Formula E’s Berlin ePrix, Mike Conway will again be alongside Jack Nicholls in the commentary box with Andy Jaye presenting the coverage for ITV.

Below are all the details you need for the blue riband events, plus much more…

BBC F1
BBC One
23/05 – 17:10 to 18:45 – Qualifying Highlights
24/05 – 17:05 to 18:35 – Race Highlights

BBC Radio
21/05 – 21:00 to 22:00 – Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)
23/05 – 13:00 to 14:00 – Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live)
24/05 – 13:00 to 15:00 – Race (BBC Radio 5 Live)

Supplementary Programming
22/05 – 18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)
23/05 – 16:10 to 17:10 – F1 Rewind (BBC Two)
23/05 – 18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Sky Sports F1
Sessions
21/05 – 08:45 to 11:00 – Practice 1
21/05 – 12:45 to 15:00 – Practice 2
23/05 – 09:45 to 11:15 – Practice 3
23/05 – 12:00 to 14:15 – Qualifying (Sky Sports 1)
23/05 – 12:00 to 14:45 – Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
24/05 – 11:30 to 16:15 – Race
=> 11:30 – Track Parade
=> 12:00 – Pit Lane Live
=> 12:30 – Race
=> 15:30 – Paddock Live

Supplementary Programming
20/05 – 14:00 to 14:30 – Driver Press Conference
20/05 – 20:45 to 21:00 – Paddock Uncut: Monaco
21/05 – 16:00 to 16:45 – Team Press Conference
21/05 – 17:00 to 18:00 – The F1 Show
22/05 – 17:00 to 18:00 – The F1 Show
22/05 – 18:00 to 19:00 – Tales from the Vault: Monaco Special
27/05 – 20:30 to 21:00 – Midweek Report

GP2 Series – Monaco (Sky Sports F1)
21/05 – 11:00 to 11:50 – Practice
21/05 – 15:10 to 15:50 – Qualifying
22/05 – 10:10 to 11:40 – Race 1
23/05 – 15:05 to 16:20 – Race 2

World Series by Renault – Monaco (BT Sport 2)
24/05 – 10:00 to 11:00 – Race

Formula E – Berlin (online via FIAFormulaE.com)
23/05 – 07:10 to 08:10 – Practice 1
23/05 – 09:25 to 10:10 – Practice 2

Formula E – Berlin (ITV4)
23/05 – 11:00 to 12:15 – Qualifying
23/05 – 14:00 to 16:30 – Race
24/05 – 08:30 to 09:30 – Highlights

IndyCar Series – Indianapolis 500 (ESPN UK)
24/05 – 16:00 to 21:00 – Race

Speedway Grand Prix – Czech Republic (British Eurosport 2)
23/05 – 18:00 to 21:00 – Race

World Superbikes – Donington Park (British Eurosport 2)
23/05 – 11:45 to 13:00 – Superpole
24/05 – 11:15 to 16:30 – Races

As always, if anything changes, I will update the above schedule.

Spanish Grand Prix falls to seven year low

After a promising start to the year, Formula 1 ratings in the UK have hit the rocks, with the Spanish Grand Prix falling to its lowest number since 2008, according to unofficial overnight viewing figures.

Race
Live coverage of the race, which was broadcast exclusively live on Sky Sports F1, averaged 674k (7.0%) from 12:00 to 15:30. The exclusivity aspect is interesting, given that BBC covered the Spanish Grand Prix live in 2012, 2013 and 2014. This is the first year since they acquired the rights from ITV that BBC have not covered Spain live. However, Sky’s numbers were boosted very little. Last year’s coverage from 12:00 to 15:30 averaged 642k (5.5%) in comparison. The share may be up 27 percent, but the raw number is up only 5 percent, implying that there could be external weather factors associated in Sky’s increase not being as big as expected. It is, however, Sky’s second lowest ever number for an exclusive European-based round, only in front of the 2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix which averaged 667k.

BBC’s highlights coverage did not make up any ground as a result of Sky’s lower than expected numbers. Highlights, which aired on BBC One from 17:05 to 18:30, averaged 2.90m (19.7%). In comparison, last year’s live coverage averaged 3.44m (28.7%). For a BBC highlights programme, that is a poor number, although the share stands out for me more, under 20 percent share of the available audience is unusual. The combined audience of 3.57m is the lowest since 2008 for the Spanish round. Australia, Malaysia and Bahrain were up year-on-year, whilst China was stable, so the drop in viewers for Spain is unexpected and surprising. As always with viewing figures, it remains to be seen if this number is just a blip and nothing more, or whether it is part of a trend.

Qualifying too strong for Formula E
The Formula E series moved to Europe with the Monaco ePrix attracting a peak audience of 239k (2.5%) on Saturday afternoon. Live coverage of the race on ITV4 averaged 151k (1.6%) from 14:00 to 16:35, with the peak coming as the race concluded at 15:45. The coverage thrashed the GP2 Series on Sky Sports F1, which averaged 32k (0.3%) from 14:35 to 16:05, although it wasn’t enough to beat Formula 1 qualifying itself. Live coverage of F1 Qualifying on Sky Sports F1 averaged 336k (3.9%). Bear in mind that ITV4 is available to a lot more people than Sky Sports F1, and you start to see the scale of the task ahead for the electric series.

In my opinion, Formula E has been brilliant so far in its inaugural season, but the viewing figures are not moving a muscle on ITV4. ITV’s advertising seems to have stopped, which is preventing viewing figures from improving. They need to get the message out in my opinion about the series, but are failing to do so. The scheduling hasn’t been great, but it looks like season two will be better in that regard. You could argue that they have lost faith in the series already, but ITV did air Formula E qualifying live on ITV4 for the first time this past weekend to an audience of 42k (0.6%). When you look at the audiences though, I think that Formula E needs ITV more than ITV needs Formula E. The moment Formula E goes to BT Sport live is the moment you kill the series in this country. And that wouldn’t be good for anyone involved.

Elsewhere, Formula 1 qualifying highlights on BBC One averaged 2.25m (16.8%).

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

Survey: Your Formula 1 2015 television viewing habits

After a week dominated by polling, The F1 Broadcasting Blog continues the trend with our annual survey. For the past two years, I have conducted a survey on this blog looking at your Formula 1 television viewing habits. Both times the survey has attracted a vast range of responses, with 350 viewpoints aired last year. I released the results in April 2014 and did some analysis. Just over a year on since then, and nearly at the halfway stage of the current BBC and Sky contract, it is a good time as any to conduct some analysis.

I’ve made multiple changes to the survey in response to last year’s feedback, and have published the branches below for sake of complete clarity.

Page 1 – General
Q1 – Where do you currently reside?
Anyone outside the United Kingdom will be taken to Page 10.
Q2 – What is your age?
Q3 – What is your gender?

Page 2 – Platform
Q4 – Have your viewing habits or situation changed between 2014 and 2015?
Q5 – What pay-TV platform do you subscribe to?
BSkyB subscribers will skip Page 4.
Virgin Media subscribers will skip Page 3.
‘Other’ will jump to Page 6 and skip Page 8.
‘None’ will jump to Page 6 and skip Page 8.

Page 3 – BSkyB subscribers
Q6 – What is your status regarding Sky Sports F1?
‘I was a subscriber’ will skip Page 8.
‘I have never been a subscriber’ will skip Pages 5 and 8.

Page 4 – Virgin Media subscribers
Q7 – What is your status regarding Sky Sports F1?
‘I was a subscriber’ will skip Page 8.
‘I have never been a subscriber’ will skip Pages 5 and 8.

Page 5 – What do you watch
Q8 – What shows on Sky Sports F1 have you watched?

Page 6 – Sky exclusively live races
Q9 – How did you consume Formula 1 in 2014?
Q10 – How are you consuming Formula 1 in 2015?

Page 7 – BBC live races
Q11 – How did you consume Formula 1 in 2014?
Q12 – How are you consuming Formula 1 in 2015?

Page 8 – BBC live races
Q13 – Which broadcaster do you watch live when BBC are live?

Page 9 – Year-on-year comparisons
Q14 – BBC F1 – 2014 vs 2015
Q15 – Sky Sports F1 – 2014 vs 2015

Page 10 – Comments
Further comments can be made here.

There’s a few additions to last year, notably the age and gender parts at the start of the survey. Unfortunately, WordPress doesn’t provide a breakdown of the demographics of the blog. Whilst I can hazard a guess of what the demographic is, I’ve never had it explicitly confirmed, so this survey would be a good opportunity to do so.

The options on Pages 3 and 4 have been cleaned up. We’re in year four of Sky Sports F1. Initially I think there was five or six options for the questions on those pages, which looks messy and difficult to decipher, so I’ve made it simpler: you either are a subscriber, you were a subscriber, or you’ve never been a subscriber, depending on pay-TV company.

A question concerning what option Sky subscribers choose when both BBC and Sky are live has been added on Page 8. This was suggested by multiple readers last year, one said that “the end result of the survey will tell you whether people who have Sky still prefer to watch the BBC when it’s live.” Hopefully the addition of question 13 will give us a clearer picture where that is concerned. Regarding pay-TV, ‘None’ has been added to question 5, following up again on a suggestion made last year.

Like last year, the survey will remain open for around a month. Again, although the survey is related to Formula 1, viewpoints are welcome on other formulae in the comments area at the end of the survey. If there are any errors in the survey, leave a comment below this post and I’ll adjust if necessary.

The survey can be found here. The results will be published in mid-June 2015.

Scheduling: The 2015 Spanish Grand Prix / Monaco ePrix

Formula 1 returns to action in May after a break following the four flyaway races with the Spanish Grand Prix. The action is exclusively live on Sky Sports with highlights on BBC television. It should be noted that, due to the 2015 general election, the BBC schedules could change at short notice in the event of a hung parliament, so it is worth keeping an eye out as the weekend approaches.

The BBC Radio team are without Jennie Gow for at least the first two days of the weekend, with Suzi Perry down to do the radio preview show on BBC Radio 5 Live. Gow has other commitments, with round seven of the 2014-15 Formula E season from Monte Carlo. As of writing, no details are available concerning ITV4’s studio line-up for Monaco.

Below are all the details for Formula E and the F1, along with BTCC and IndyCar action from Indianapolis…

BBC F1
BBC One
09/05 – 17:10 to 18:20 – Qualifying Highlights
10/05 – 17:05 to 18:30 – Race Highlights

BBC News Channel
08/05 – 18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1
09/05 – 18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1

BBC Radio
07/05 – 20:00 to 21:00 – Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)
09/05 – 09:55 to 11:05 – Practice 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
09/05 – 12:55 to 14:05 – Qualifying Updates (BBC Radio 5 Live)
10/05 – 12:45 to 15:00 – Race (BBC Radio 5 Live)

Sky Sports F1
Sessions
08/05 – 08:45 to 11:00 – Practice 1
08/05 – 12:45 to 15:00 – Practice 2
09/05 – 09:45 to 11:15 – Practice 3
09/05 – 12:00 to 14:35 – Qualifying (also Sky1)
10/05 – 11:30 to 16:15 – Race
=> 11:30 – Track Parade
=> 12:00 – Pit Lane Live
=> 12:30 – Race
=> 15:30 – Paddock Live

Supplementary Programming
07/05 – 14:00 to 14:30 – Driver Press Conference
07/05 – 20:45 to 21:00 – Paddock Uncut: Spain
08/05 – 16:00 to 16:45 – Team Press Conference
08/05 – 17:00 to 18:00 – The F1 Show
13/05 – 20:30 to 21:00 – Midweek Report

GP2 Series – Spain (Sky Sports F1)
08/05 – 11:00 to 11:50 – Practice
08/05 – 14:50 to 15:30 – Qualifying
09/05 – 14:35 to 16:05 – Race 1
10/05 – 09:30 to 10:45 – Race 2

GP3 Series – Spain (Sky Sports F1)
09/05 – 08:45 to 09:25 – Qualifying
09/05 – 16:15 to 17:15 – Race 1
10/05 – 08:20 to 09:20 – Race 2

Formula E – Monaco (online via FIAFormulaE.com)
09/05 – 07:10 to 08:10 – Practice 1
09/05 – 09:25 to 10:10 – Practice 2
09/05 – 10:45 to 12:10 – Qualifying

Formula E – Monaco (ITV4)
09/05 – 11:00 to 12:15 – Qualifying
09/05 – 14:00 to 16:30 – Race
10/05 – 09:55 to 11:00 – Highlights

British Touring Car Championship – Thruxton (ITV4)
10/05 – 11:00 to 18:30 – Races

IndyCar Series – Indianapolis Road Course (ESPN UK)
09/05 – 20:30 to 23:00 – Race

As always, if anything changes, I will update the above schedule.

Update on May 3rd – In an interesting u-turn compared with earlier this season, ITV4 are screening qualifying live from Monaco for the first time ever, which is great news all around.