Sky Sports F1 – Top 10 ratings (week ending 6th January, 2013)

From BARB:

1 – 17k – McLaren Season Review (Monday, 11:31)
2 – 14k – Toro Rosso Season Review (Monday, 13:59)
3 – 14k – Marussia Season Review (Monday, 15:00)
4 – 14k – Caterham Season Review (Monday, 14:31)
5 – 12k – HRT Season Review (Monday, 15:30)
6 – 9k – Red Bull Season Review (Tuesday, 19:32)
7 – 8k – Williams Season Review (Monday, 13:30)
8 – 7k – Marussia Season Review (Thursday, 21:30)
9 – 7k – Red Bull Season Review (Monday, 10:30)
10 – 6k – HRT Season Review (Wednesday, 21:30)

Fairly solid figures here in comparison to previous weeks, unsurprisingly though still very low in the off-season. Motors TV recorded viewing figures around the same level as well.

USP Content retain Allen and Gow for 5 Live coverage

USP Content have retained James Allen and Jennie Gow for their BBC Radio 5 Live coverage of Formula 1, it has been confirmed today by Rob Jones, the CEO of USP Content. Both Allen and Gow joined the team at the start of 2012. The status of Jaime Alguersuari remains up in the air as of writing, but a new co-commentator looks likely alongside Allen.

Furthermore, it has been confirmed that Chessie Bent is the new producer for their coverage, succeeding Jason Swales in the role. The change means that the official 5 Live F1 Twitter is now located at @F15Live instead of @5LiveF1. Bent joins USP Content from BBC Radio, having been apart of their Olympics and Paralympics coverage.

Humphrey: 2012 doing F1 “wasn’t the same”

Jake Humphrey has said that he hopes to return to the Formula 1 paddock in the future, whilst saying that presenting Formula 1 in 2012 “wasn’t the same”.

Speaking at the AUTOSPORT Show, Humphrey said “It’s time for a new challenge. When you are on the road, all the time, March to November, I just needed a bit of time to be at home and with Harriet. The BT Sport job offer was a really amazing opportunity so it was the end of an era [with BBC F1]. In some ways, we’re not live at every race now, and I think the best it was ever going to get, for me probably, was 2009, 2010 and 2011. Those for me were my stand-out years of my F1 career, and although it was still good after that, it wasn’t the same. It just felt like everything had come to a natural end.”

“I don’t want to be gone forever. I see myself walking away from F1 for maybe three or four years, I would love to come back. I’d quite like David [Coulthard] and Eddie [Jordan] to retire now and come back in a blaze of glory in four years time and do it all over again, but that is wishful thinking. I’d love to stand in the pit lane again with them and do live Formula 1.”, Humphrey said regarding his Formula 1 future.

Commenting on the news that Suzi Perry will be the new BBC F1 presenter, Humphrey said “I wish Suzi Perry nothing but the best. I certainly feel, personally, that Lee McKenzie would have been fantastic in that role, but Suzi has got that job, and I feel she will do it brilliantly.”

In my opinion, I would say a return to Formula 1 for Humphrey is highly likely, but not as soon as he is predicting. Assuming Formula 1 is similar in nature ten or fifteen years down the road, then I can see Humphrey presenting again (like Steve Rider did in his two stints), but not as soon as four or five years time.

Brundle “very happy” with first year at Sky

Martin Brundle has expressed his happiness at how his first year with the Sky Sports F1 team has gone.

Speaking at the AUTOSPORT Show, Brundle said “I’m very happy. Last year, sitting here at the AUTOSPORT Show, I was wondering [about my decision] because it took me a long time to make the decision as I liked what we were doing at the BBC, but I also liked what Sky were proposing to do and the role they wanted me to play. It wasn’t until the first race in March that I quickly began to realise that I really was happy with my decision. I think they put on a great show [for their first year], and we’ve got a good rapport among the people working in vision at Sky and those working behind [the scenes] as well.”

“We’re putting out 14 hours a weekend at a grand prix, a huge amount of content, and I’m probably working twice as hard as ever before on Formula 1 television. We’ve got the resource, and if you look back through the Olympics, who was still running F1 stuff? Sky. If you look through the Winter, who is out there with F1? Sky. Nobody is really out there [doing anything] in the television world.”, Brundle said regarding the amount of output Sky produced.

Brundle also commented about how Formula 1 broadcasting has moved on, noting “In the ITV days, we had 5 x 2’45” breaks which the fans did not like at all, we would have gone back to that. I think the solution was quite an elegant, at the time the fans were upset [about the BBC and Sky deal]. I don’t get that kind of feedback any more.”

In my opinion, it depends whether you look at Sky Sports F1 as a programme or a channel. If you just see it as a programme, then yes the first year has been very successful. But as a channel, there is significant room for improvement, as outlined before. The weekend output, which Brundle is involved in, is largely fine. Okay, there needs to be some changes to perfect it, but for the first year it was a good starting point to begin at. I’m not sure I particularly agree with Brundle’s point about being still on air throughout the Winter, after all the Sky Sports F1 channel is full of repeats from 2012, there is nothing in the schedules to bring the aficionado into watch.