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.

Hamilton’s Bahrain win peaks with 6.3 million

It was a good day for both Formula 1 and MotoGP this past Sunday, with both two and four wheels delivering solid figures across the board. Lewis Hamilton’s victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix peaked with 6.26 million, whilst Valentino Rossi’s battle with Marc Marquez sent BT Sport’s MotoGP coverage flying above the 300k barrier, according to unofficial overnight viewing figures.

Race
Live coverage of the Formula 1 race, screened live on BBC One from 15:00 to 18:05 averaged 3.83m (26.0%), peaking with 5.31m (30.8%) at 17:35 as Hamilton crossed the finishing line. Over on Sky, their coverage from 15:00 to 18:30 (using the equivalent slot to 2014), averaged 640k (4.3%), peaking with 951k (5.5%). It should be noted that with the race beginning at a later time, the total TV audience as the race draws to a conclusion is higher than usual, which means that figures are higher in previous years, but with lower shares.

The combined average of 4.47m is the third highest ever for Bahrain, only behind 2010 and 2012, with the combined peak of 6.26m (36.3%) only just shy of 2010’s 6.29m (47.9%). It’s a really good number for Bahrain and again shows the importance of having the mid-afternoon races on free-to-air television in order to draw in the casual viewers. Overall during the race, for every one viewer watching on Sky, there were a further 4.88 viewers watching on the BBC.

MotoGP and BTCC
Away from Bahrain, the main story surrounded the ongoing rise of BT Sport’s MotoGP figures. In Qatar, BT’s coverage peaked with 263k (1.4%), this number increased to 281k (1.2%) for Texas. Argentina was the first time ever that BT Sport’s MotoGP coverage surpassed the 300k barrier, as a record peak of 313k (1.4%) watched Valentino Rossi win on BT Sport 2. From 19:30 to 21:00, their coverage averaged 240k (1.1%) which is significantly above any number recorded in 2014.

ITV4’s highlights, screened at the later time of 22:00 on Monday due to the FA Youth Cup final, averaged 297k (2.1%), peaking with 379k (3.1%). I would put BT’s consistent rise down to the draw of Valentino Rossi, who is clearly back on form this season and drawing people to BT’s live coverage, which they need to take advantage of. Whether it will continue, I don’t know, but it is a shame that there is no live free-to-air coverage of the series. Yes, I’m afraid that klaxon had to be raised.

Staying with ITV4, their British Touring Car Championship from Donington Park peaked with 424k (3.8%) at 14:50. Their average of 199k (1.8%) is across eight hours from 10:30 to 18:30. The numbers slumped after 15:00 against the F1, never once hitting 200k.

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

F1 stable but low, BT’s MotoGP coverage increases

The Chinese Grand Prix drew an identical number to last year’s ratings low, according to unofficial overnight viewing figures.

Race
For the third time in as many races, direct comparisons are difficult, as the Chinese Grand Prix began an hour earlier this year compared with last year. Live coverage of the race, screened on Sky Sports F1 from 06:00 to 09:30, averaged 589k (14.4%). The Pit Lane build-up from 06:00 averaged 90k (8.4%), with the race portion itself, as billed in the EPG, averaging 672k (14.4%). Paddock Live, from 09:30 to 10:15, averaged a strong 244k (3.4%). The numbers compare with 681k (11.2%) for last year’s race show from 07:00 to 10:30, with Paddock Live bringing in 173k (2.1%). Paddock Live seems to be performing better this year than last, even on occasions when the race aired earlier than last year.

Over on BBC One, the highlights programme averaged 2.97m (24.5%), which compares with 2.87m (21.1%) from 2014. So the 100k that Sky lost transferred directly over to BBC’s highlights, which again I suspect it due to the earlier start time, like with Australia and Malaysia. Overall though, the total of 3.56m is identical to 2014’s 3.55m. If you want to get statistical about it, then 2015 was up 0.24 percent on 2014. Either way, both numbers are lower than previous years

MotoGP and World Endurance Championship
Heading over to two wheels, BT Sport’s MotoGP coverage (or shall we call it #WaterSpillage?) peaked with 281k (1.2%), which is a record high for them and follows on from the Qatar high two weeks ago. The MotoGP portion from 18:30 to around 21:40 averaged 234k (1.0%), also a record high for their coverage. It was a big day for Moto3 and Moto2 as well on Sunday, and this was replicated in the ratings. Moto3 peaked with 127k (0.9%) at 17:15, whilst Moto2 peaked with 218k (1.1%) at 19:00. I believe that is Moto2’s highest ever peak figure for BT Sport.

Unfortunately, any good racing by the British riders was not replicated in ITV4’s highlights rating, which tumbled on Monday evening to 283k (1.3%), peaking with 349k (1.5%). If you think BT and ITV’s numbers look closer than last year, then you are not alone in that thought. That’s not necessarily good. Yes, more people are watching live – excellent. But at the expense of the highlights audience, and more critically, substantially below BBC levels, in my opinion, that’s not good at all. BT will be happy, but the overall picture is not great. It is worth noting that ITV have added more airings of the MotoGP Highlights programmes, so the aggregated picture could be better, but you can’t start adding all the airings together. As I’ve always said, how do you do the line in that situation.

Elsewhere, live coverage of the first round of the World Endurance Championship season averaged 11k (0.1%) from 11:30 to 18:30 on Motors TV, peaking with 24k. That number does not include anyone who watched via online streaming. Don’t get me wrong, I like the championship and thoroughly enjoyed going to Silverstone this time last year, but anyone who thinks that it is about to become the next big thing is wrong in my opinion. The series needs a free-to-air highlights package. As far as I’m aware, it currently doesn’t have that. There’s more chance of Formula E becoming the next big thing (if there is such a thing) than WEC. Why? Because it actually has a presence on a major television platform in the UK which it can build upon. WEC does not have that in the UK, and I don’t believe it trended on Twitter on Sunday. A lot of noise, but not much movement from those outside of the bubble.

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

Scheduling: The 2015 Bahrain Grand Prix

The Formula 1 and MotoGP paddocks quickly head out of China and America respectively, onto Bahrain and Argentina, as both series see back-to-back races for the first time this year. The Bahrain Grand Prix is the fourth round of the Formula 1 season, with Argentina round number three in MotoGP’s season.

BBC and Sky Sports will both be screening the Formula 1 action live, with some differences compared to BBC’s usual live output. A congested weekend of live sport for them means that the qualifying show on BBC One is truncated, with half an hour of build-up and very little reaction afterwards due to the FA Cup semi-final. As far as I can see, there is not extra coverage on the Red Button for qualifying. On the brighter side, the new F1 Rewind show on BBC Two begins on Friday, as Suzi Perry and Murray Walker look back at classic F1 races, the first episode focusses on classic championship deciders.

Over on Sky, the new-look GP2 Series makes a return. The series in 2015 will feature DRS as well as a new commentator. The identity of the new commentator has yet to be revealed, but GP2’s Twitter page promises us that the revealing will be “soon enough.” So, we shall see. Elsewhere, a new classic race on the channel – the 1995 San Marino Grand Prix. Below are all the details you need…

BBC F1
BBC TV – Sessions
17/04 – 11:55 to 13:35 – Practice 1 (BBC Red Button)
17/04 – 16:00 to 17:40 – Practice 2 (BBC Two)
18/04 – 12:55 to 14:05 – Practice 3 (BBC Two)
18/04 – 15:30 to 17:05 – Qualifying (BBC One)
19/04 – 15:00 to 18:05 – Race (BBC One)
19/04 – 18:05 to 19:00 – Forum (BBC Red Button)

BBC Radio – Sessions
17/04 – 11:55 to 13:35 – Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
18/04 – 12:55 to 14:05 – Practice 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
18/04 – 15:55 to 17:05 – Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
19/04 – 15:55 to 19:00 – Race (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)

Supplementary Programming
17/04 – 15:00 to 16:00 – F1 Rewind (BBC Two)
17/04 – 18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)
18/04 – 18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Sky Sports F1
Sessions
17/04 – 11:45 to 13:50 – Practice 1
17/04 – 15:45 to 18:00 – Practice 2
18/04 – 12:45 to 14:15 – Practice 3
18/04 – 15:00 to 17:45 – Qualifying
19/04 – 14:30 to 19:15 – Race
=> 14:30 – Track Parade
=> 15:00 – Pit Lane Live
=> 15:30 – Race
=> 18:30 – Paddock Live

Supplementary Programming
16/04 – 13:00 to 13:30 – Driver Press Conference
16/04 – 20:45 to 21:00 – Paddock Uncut: Australia
17/04 – 19:00 to 19:45 – Team Press Conference
17/04 – 20:00 to 21:00 – The F1 Show
22/04 – 20:30 to 21:00 – Midweek Report

NEW Classic Races
16/04 – 21:00 to 21:45 – 1995 San Marino Grand Prix Highlights

GP2 Series – Bahrain (Sky Sports F1)
17/04 – 10:00 to 10:50 – Practice
17/04 – 17:55 to 18:35 – Qualifying
18/04 – 11:05 to 12:35 – Race 1
19/04 – 12:10 to 13:25 – Race 2

MotoGP – Argentina (BT Sport 2)
17/04 – 13:00 to 20:00
=> 13:00 – Practice 1
=> 15:45 – Reaction and Build-Up
=> 17:00 – Practice 2
18/04 – 13:00 to 20:15
=> 13:00 – Practice 3
=> 16:00 – Qualifying
19/04 – 13:30 to 15:15 – Warm Up
19/04 – 16:30 to 21:00
=> 16:30 – Races
=> 21:00 – Chequered Flag

MotoGP – Argentina (ITV4)
20/04 – 20:00 to 21:00 – Highlights

IndyCar Series – Long Beach (ESPN)
19/04 – 21:00 to 23:30 – Race

British Touring Car Championship – Donington Park (ITV4)
19/04 – 10:30 to 18:30 – Races

As always, if anything changes, I’ll update the schedule.