Scheduling: The 2015 Chinese Grand Prix

It is a mammoth weekend of motor racing next weekend. Alongside the third round of the Formula One season from China, there is also MotoGP action from Texas, IndyCar action from Louisiana and the first round of the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship season from Silverstone. It is definitely one of the busiest weekends that I can remember in a long time. The victim, from a UK scheduling perspective is the IndyCar Series, which finds itself consigned to BT’s Red Button as a result.

The main broadcasting news is that Jennie Gow will be returning to the 5 Live team, as she never travelled to either of the first two races due to scheduling clashes, in the case of the Australian Grand Prix, it clashed with Formula E, which Gow presents for ITV. Elsewhere, there is not much to report, although it appears that Anna Woolhouse will be back presenting the Midweek Report.

Sky’s offering outside of the race weekend continues to remain distinctly thin, with very few new Classic F1 races appearing in the schedule, whilst there is no sign of F1 Legends returning yet, either (although why they can’t do a similar series with the journeymen of the sport, I don’t know). Tales from the Vault should be back soon, as episodes are being taped this month.

Below are all the scheduling details, for what will hopefully be Hamilton vs Vettel – Round 2…

BBC F1
BBC One
11/04 – 13:00 to 14:15 – Qualifying Highlights
12/04 – 14:00 to 15:55 – Race Highlights

BBC News Channel
11/04 – 18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1
12/04 – 18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1

BBC Radio
09/04 – 21:30 to 22:00 – Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)
10/04 – 02:55 to 04:35 – Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
10/04 – 06:55 to 08:35 – Practice 2 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
11/04 – 04:55 to 06:05 – Practice 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
11/04 – 07:55 to 09:05 – Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
12/04 – 06:30 to 09:00 – Race

Sky Sports F1
Sessions
10/04 – 02:45 to 04:50 – Practice 1
10/04 – 06:45 to 09:00 – Practice 2
11/04 – 04:45 to 06:15 – Practice 3
11/04 – 07:00 to 09:45 – Qualifying
12/04 – 05:30 to 10:15 – Race
=> 05:30 – Track Parade
=> 06:00 – Pit Lane Live
=> 06:30 – Race
=> 09:30 – Paddock Live

Supplementary Programming
09/04 – 08:00 to 08:30 – Driver Press Conference
09/04 – 20:45 to 21:00 – Paddock Uncut: Malaysia
10/04 – 09:00 to 09:45 – Team Press Conference
10/04 – 11:00 to 12:00 – The F1 Show
15/04 – 20:30 to 21:00 – Midweek Report

NEW Classic Races
12/04 – 18:15 to 19:00 – 1990 French Grand Prix Highlights

MotoGP – Texas (BT Sport 2)
10/04 – 15:00 to 22:00
=> 15:00 – Practice 1
=> 17:45 – Reaction and Build-Up
=> 19:00 – Practice 2
11/04 – 15:00 to 22:15
=> 15:00 – Practice 3
=> 18:00 – Qualifying
12/04 – 16:30 to 21:00 – Races
12/04 – 21:00 to 22:00 – Chequered Flag

MotoGP – Texas (BT Sport Xtra)
12/04 – 14:50 to 16:30 – Warm Up

MotoGP – Texas (ITV4)
13/04 – 20:00 to 21:00 – Highlights

IndyCar Series – Louisiana (BT Sport Xtra)
12/04 – 20:00 to 23:00 – Race

World Endurance Championship – Silverstone (Motors TV)
12/04 – 11:30 to 18:30 – Race

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

Vettel’s win draws 4.16 million to Malaysian GP

An average audience of 4.16 million watched Sebastian Vettel win the Malaysian Grand Prix, unofficial overnight viewing figures show.

Race
As with Australia two weeks ago, the change in start time compared with 2014 means that it is difficult to make too many direct comparisons year-on-year. Nevertheless, live coverage on BBC One from 07:00 to 10:30 averaged 2.03m (33.6%), peaking with 3.23m. In comparison, last year the race averaged 2.45m (32.7%) an hour later, from 08:00 to 11:15, peaking with 3.26m. There is a big difference in the average, which I would put down to more viewers flicking on the TV as the race progressed due to the earlier start time than last year.

Sky Sports F1 added 473k (7.7%) from 07:00 to 10:30, peaking with 720k, compared with an average of 574k (7.7%) and a peak of 826k from last year. I don’t think you can read too much into the respective numbers, both BBC’s and Sky’s live showings were down around 17 percent year-on-year. That’s no shock, the race started earlier, meaning that less people were around. Sky’s peak did suffer as well mind, whereas BBC’s peak numbers are almost identical. Any loss in live numbers was made up by BBC in their re-run programme, which averaged 1.66m (14.7%), significantly higher than last year’s 1.07m (12.5%).

What the numbers mean is that 2015’s combined average of 4.16m is up on 2014’s 4.09m, but down on 2013’s “multi 21” controversy. The combined peak of 5.77m is not too far away from 2013’s peak of 6.01m. Overall, the pattern remains the same as Australia: slight, but optimistic gains year-on-year, which should be taken as a positive.

Qualifying
The Malaysian Grand Prix qualifying session delivered exceptional numbers for both BBC and Sky, with increases across the board. A few disclaimers, as this was a very unusual situation – qualifying began at 09:00 UK time, whereas the race began at 08:00 UK time, although due to the clocks going forward, it really felt like 07:00, which is why the live figures look a lot closer between qualifying and the race. Also, the qualifying numbers include the rain delays of varying proportions.

Live coverage of qualifying averaged 1.83m (24.6%), peaking with 2.30m, up on 2014’s 1.41m (24.0%). Sky Sports F1 averaged 395k (5.1%) from 08:00 to 11:00, peaking with 639k. 2014’s live action on Sky averaged around 300k. BBC’s highlights programme averaged a further 1.27m (13.3%). The combined audience is a very impressive 3.49m, which is good, yet bewildering at the same time. I’m not entirely sure why qualifying did as well as it did, Saturday’s session is one of the most watched qualifying sessions in recent history. The combined peak was a whopping 4.38m.

Sebastian Vettel’s emergence for Ferrari on Sunday will only be good news for viewing figures. Yes, a British driver doing well is good for viewing figures, but a good champion needs an equally good challenger. A Vettel versus Hamilton battle this season is good news for the whole of Formula 1. It will be interesting to see how the viewing figures, both here and in Germany, fare going forward.

If you’re looking for MotoGP viewing figures, they will be posted mid-week.

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

Scheduling: The 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix / Qatar MotoGP

The Formula 1 paddock heads from Australia to Malaysia for round two of the season. Round two is the first live race for the BBC this season, with coverage airing on BBC One as usual.

Elsewhere, the 2015 MotoGP championship begins on BT Sport. In the second year of their exclusively live contract, as of writing, no details about their coverage have been officially announced, I’ve compiled what we know so far here. As revealed on this blog earlier this year, ITV4 will again be broadcasting highlights on Monday evenings. Also beginning is the IndyCar Series live on ESPN, an agreement which will run through to 2022.

NOTE: Clocks go forward one hour on Sunday 29th March, with the change from Greenwich Mean Time to British Summer Time. The times listed are for GMT on Saturday and before; BST for Sunday and afterwards…

BBC F1
BBC TV – Sessions
27/03 – 01:55 to 03:35 – Practice 1 (BBC Two)
27/03 – 05:55 to 07:35 – Practice 2 (BBC Two)
28/03 – 05:55 to 07:05 – Practice 3 (BBC Two)
28/03 – 08:00 to 10:30 – Qualifying (BBC One)
28/03 – 14:00 to 16:00 – Qualifying Replay (BBC One)
29/03 – 07:00 to 10:30 – Race (BBC One)
29/03 – 10:30 to 11:30 – Forum (BBC Red Button)
29/03 – 14:00 to 16:00 – Race Replay (BBC One)

BBC Radio – Sessions
27/03 – 01:55 to 03:35 – Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
27/03 – 05:55 to 07:30 – Practice 2 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
28/03 – 05:55 to 07:05 – Practice 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
28/03 – 08:55 to 10:05 – Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
29/03 – 07:30 to 10:00 – Race (BBC Radio 5 Live)

BBC News Channel
27/03 – 18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1
28/03 – 18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1

Sky Sports F1
Sessions
27/03 – 01:45 to 03:50 – Practice 1
27/03 – 05:45 to 08:00 – Practice 2
28/03 – 05:45 to 07:15 – Practice 3
28/03 – 08:00 to 10:45 – Qualifying
29/03 – 06:30 to 11:15 – Race
=> 06:30 – Track Parade
=> 07:00 – Pit Lane Live
=> 07:30 – Race
=> 10:30 – Paddock Live

Supplementary Programming
26/03 – 07:00 to 07:30 – Driver Press Conference
26/03 – 20:45 to 21:00 – Paddock Uncut: Australia
27/03 – 08:00 to 08:45 – Team Press Conference
27/03 – 10:00 to 11:00 – The F1 Show
01/04 – 20:30 to 21:00 – Midweek Report

MotoGP – Qatar (BT Sport 2)
26/03 – 15:00 to 19:45 – Practice
27/03 – 14:45 to 19:00 – Practice
28/03 – 14:30 to 18:30 – Qualifying
29/03 – 16:00 to 20:00 – Races
29/03 – 20:00 to 21:00 – Chequered Flag

MotoGP – Qatar (BT Sport Xtra)
29/03 – 13:50 to 16:00 – Warm Up

MotoGP – Qatar (ITV4)
30/03 – 20:00 to 21:00 – Highlights

IndyCar Series – St Petersburg (ESPN)
29/03 – 20:00 to 21:30 – Race

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

BBC “will have 10 live races” even if German GP disappears

With the German Grand Prix looking increasingly likely to disappear from the 2015 Formula One season, a few people have wondered whether this will affect the current BBC and Sky picks for this season.

As it stands, the BBC are set to broadcast ten live races out of the twenty on the calendar, with the mid-season schedule looking like this:

– June 21st – Austria (Red Bull Ring) – Sky
– July 5th – Britain (Silverstone) – BBC and Sky
– July 19th – Germany (TBA) – Sky
– July 26th – Hungary (Budapest) – BBC and Sky
– August 23rd – Belgium (Spa) – BBC and Sky
– September 6th – Italy (Monza) – Sky

If the German Grand Prix disappeared, then the BBC would be left with three consecutive live races, and with more than 50 percent of the races live (10 out of 19). Neither of those two statements has been true since the current contract came into effect at the beginning of 2012.

However, a BBC spokesperson has confirmed to The F1 Broadcasting Blog that the 2015 picks will not change if the German Grand Prix is removed from the calendar. The spokesperson said “If Germany (and it is an ‘if’ at this stage) comes out of the calendar, it won’t affect what we show as the picks are done at the start of the season. So if Germany goes we will have 10 lives from a total of 19 races.”

F1 2015 starts off with 3.5 million

A depleted grid for the Australian Grand Prix meant that off-track talk continued to dominate the agenda, but the 2015 Formula One season began with 3.5 million viewers this past Sunday, unofficial overnight viewing figures show.

Race
From the outset, it is important to note that direct comparisons for Sky are difficult, as the race was held an hour earlier this year. Another issue is that, for Australia at least, Sky have decided to split their live programming on race day into four segments instead of three as in 2014. This blog has always tried to make the fairest comparisons. Going forward, I will continue to use the three and a half hour block from an hour before the race to an hour after the race, irrespective of what Sky do or don’t regarding scheduling. For this piece, I will provide both comparisons in the interest of clarity. As always, figures exclude Sky Go and BBC iPlayer.

Sky Sports F1’s numbers were down year-on-year, unsurprisingly given the change in start time. In 2014, from 05:00 to 08:30, the channel averaged 594k (26.9%), which compares with 517k (29.5%) from 04:00 to 07:30 for this year. The 05:30 to 08:30 slot in 2014 averaged 659k (27.2%) versus 586k (32.9%) from 04:30 to 07:30 for yesterday’s race. So either measurement puts Sky down around 70k year-on-year. I would say that the drop is due to the start time change rather than anything more, although the figures do include anyone who watched the live Sky broadcast later in the day. Having said that, the 2015 average was identical to 2013, which is an impressive feat all considering. Sky’s 2015 coverage peaked with 789k (40.3%) at 06:10, compared to a peak of 945k (21.2%) from 2014. 2013’s coverage peaked with 893k (21.1%). Looking at the breakdown, more people watched Sky’s post-race coverage in comparison with previous years. On one hand that is surprising as the race was uneventful, but there was a British winner so it evens out really.

Over on BBC One, highlights of the race averaged 3.03m (27.7%) from 13:15 to 14:40, which is up on 2.88m (25.4%) from 2014 but marginally down on 3.05m (21.9%) from 2013. There’s an argument about whether you can compare those figures as BBC’s highlights programme was 35 minutes shorter than in previous years. The share is strong, the raw figure, not so much. Yesterday was Mothering Sunday in the UK, which may explain that one. BBC’s coverage peaked with 3.38m (29.7%) at 14:15, up on 2014’s peak figure of 3.15m (26.6%), but down on 2013’s peak of 3.69m (24.5%). It is a mixed bag, but nothing disastrous either way.

The combined total is bang in line with 2013 and 2014, and up on 2012. 2013 averaged 3.57m, whilst 2014 averaged 3.47m. The 2015 Australian Grand Prix slides straight in the middle of those two figures with 3.54m. You can’t read too much into figures, I’d say it is just ‘good’ rather than anything more or less.

Qualifying and Formula E
Live coverage of qualifying averaged 261k (12.7%) on Sky Sports F1, with a further 54k (2.6%) watching on Sky1, and an additional 24k (1.2%) choosing to watch on Sky Sports 1. The three combined means that an average of 339k (16.4%) watched across Sky’s platforms, although both the Sky1 and Sky Sports 1 airings were not promoted. BBC One’s coverage averaged 2.29m (24.5%). The total number of 2.63m is a solid start to the season where qualifying is concerned.

Formula E’s underperformed on ITV4 for round five of its championship from Miami. Live coverage of the race from 19:00 to 21:30 on Saturday averaged 150k (0.7%), peaking with 269k (1.3%) at 20:45. Highlights the following day averaged 71k (0.9%). Both numbers were below the respective slot averages for ITV4. I don’t think Miami was helped by being on the same weekend as the Formula 1 season opener and also by being up against two big Saturday night shows on both BBC One and ITV. Is it concerning yet that the highest audience for the series in the UK is still the inaugural race? I really like Formula E, in fact Miami was better than Melbourne, but for whatever reason, the series is not yet taking off in the UK.

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