Canadian Grand Prix marginally up year-on-year

The Canadian Grand Prix pulled in solid numbers across the weekend, and was marginally up year-on-year, unofficial overnight viewing figures show.

Race
Live coverage of the race, screened live on BBC One averaged 4.59m (23.3%) from 18:20 to 21:00. It is down slightly on last year’s number of 4.61m (23.8%) despite a smaller timeslot, which may be considered a tad disappointing, but no doubt Soccer Aid took one or two viewers away. For the third race in a row, and what is now turning into a trend, Sky Sports F1’s coverage was up compared with 2013. The race show from 18:00 to 21:30 averaged 818k (4.2%), compared with 743k (3.8%) for the identical slot last year.

With both numbers not a million miles away from last year, the combined numbers are in the same ballpark: 2014’s combined average of 5.40m is 50k up on 5.35m from 2013. It will end up being the second most watched Canadian Grand Prix in the past decade and a bit, only behind the 2011 race which averaged a massive 6.12m across five and a half hours. Part of me wishes yesterday’s race did a little better, but it is still a very good rating.

Elsewhere, Paddock Live from 21:30 averaged 166k (0.8%), whilst the Track Parade brought 221k (1.6%) from 17:30 to 18:00.

Practice and Qualifying
Live coverage of Qualifying on BBC One from 17:00 to 19:20 averaged a solid 2.43m (16.6%), which is virtually identical to last year’s 2.41m. Sky Sports F1’s coverage brought in a further 435k (2.8%), up nearly 100k on last year’s number of 351k (2.6%). The combined figure of 2.87m will be the second highest in the past decade, only behind 2011 which had an extremely high number of above 3.5m.

It is worth mentioning Practice 3 which did very well on Saturday afternoon. BBC Two’s coverage averaged 850k (8.8%), with Sky Sports F1 adding 142k (1.5%) – so almost 1 million viewers watching practice which is a brilliant stat. Overall it has to be said another that on the ratings front, things are starting to come together and is really a complete 180 from the first four races, which is great to see. We’re also setting some fascinating trends: BBC’s numbers have largely stagnated whilst Sky is increasing its numbers every so slightly. Next up is Austria, meaning that there is nothing for me to compare against. The only potential comparison is with the European Grand Prix’s that were held in late June when it was held in Valencia, but I’ll pull together a ratings article for Austria nevertheless. Frustratingly, the race highlights are on BBC Two, which is going to hurt numbers.

The 2013 Canadian Grand Prix ratings report can be found here.

Why F1 is still experiencing a viewer decline – even with VOD included

Yesterday, AUTOSPORT published an article noting that BBC’s iPlayer figures for Formula 1 have increased 33 percent, whilst their Radio 5 Live figures have increased 53 percent. The paragraph concludes by noting that “there is a growing view that the way people consume F1 is changing dramatically”. Whilst I agree that habits are changing, I’m not entirely convinced by the validity of that sentence.

Let’s come back to that later, and instead look at some other statistics. Compared with the first six races last year, BBC’s Formula 1 coverage has dropped by 12 percent, whilst Sky Sports F1’s live race coverage has increased by 11 percent according to unofficial overnight viewing figures from Overnights.tv. If you knew absolutely nothing about viewing figures, you might be led to believe that Sky’s ratings are beginning to move mountains and are taking viewers off BBC hand over fist. Well…. not quite.

In fact, whilst BBC’s figures have dropped 426k for a variety of factors already covered in detail on this blog, Sky’s viewing figures have increased only 79k. See how things now look different? Because Sky Sports F1’s viewing figures are coming from a low base, it means that any increase it makes will seem massive percentage wise. The combined figures for the UK are down 8 percent or 350k. The point I’m making is that percentages do not always tell the full story, and they certainly don’t here.

All the percentages we have are listed below:

+ 53 percent = BBC Radio
+ 33 percent = BBC iPlayer
+ 11 percent = Sky TV (+79k)
– 8 percent = BBC TV + Sky TV (-350k)
– 12 percent = BBC TV (-426k)

Thanks to BBC’s monthly iPlayer reports, we have some Formula 1 figures dating back a few years, which are as follows:

2011
– 254k – Australia
– 297k – China
– 286k – Canada
– 277k – Germany
– 262k – Singapore

2012
– 417k – Australia highlights
– 316k – China live

2013
– 484k – Australia highlights

2014
– 521k – Bahrain highlights

From a percentage point of view, 33 percent seems like a huge increase. It’s worth noting that AUTOSPORT probably would not have been given the raw figures from BBC’s Media Centre team, I imagine that the only figures they were given were percentage increases. But what about from a raw figures perspective? The 33 percent increase is about 100k, which definitely does not cover the entirety of BBC TV’s drop this season, nor does it account for 350k drop overall. Or, for that matter, why Formula 1’s UK viewing figures have dropped over half a million viewers between 2011 and 2014. And if BBC iPlayer is ‘only’ averaging 500k for Formula 1, one assumes the Sky Go/On Demand effect is negligible. I’d also argue that the reason Bahrain is showing above is because of the TV timeslot it was in – had that race been broadcast live on free-to-air television, it definitely would not have had 521k via iPlayer.

Whilst there is changing viewing habits, you cannot escape the fact that there are fans no longer watching the sport and are not being replaced by new fans at the same rate, whether it is due to the on-track action changing (DRS, Pirelli’s, turbo’s), those in charge of the sport running into a power-trip with no direction thanks to rules nobody wishes to see (double points), fans feeling distant from the sport (expensive ticket prices) or because Formula 1 is moving to a pay TV model, thus pricing people out of the sport – MotoGP fans know what that feels like. I’ll let you decide…

Scheduling: The 2014 Canadian Grand Prix

Formula 1 heads for its annual trip across the pond for the Canadian Grand Prix. The good news is that the race is live on both BBC One and Sky Sports F1, in my view it is always good to see a live race airing in primetime on free-to-air television. It’ll be interesting to see how the race coverage rates given that it is going up against Soccer Aid on ITV.

For the second year in a row, Natalie Pinkham will not be in Canada, this year she is presenting Sky’s coverage of the Hockey World Cup throughout the first half of June. I’m guessing both Rachel Brookes and Craig Slater will be out in Canada, Brookes presenting The F1 Show alongside Ted Kravitz. Kravitz will be back with the team after needing to go home from the Monaco Grand Prix weekend early. On a scheduling related note, I’m disappointed that BBC Three’s practice two coverage will not have more reaction and analysis, that being one of the highlights of last year’s coverage.

Whilst there is no GP2 and GP3 during the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, there is BTCC and the IndyCar Series to whet the appetite. Below is the full schedule:

Thursday 5th June
16:00 to 16:45 – F1: Driver Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
21:30 to 22:00 – F1: Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)

Friday 6th June
07:00 to 07:15 – F1: Gear Up for Canada (Sky Sports F1)
14:45 to 16:50 – F1: Practice 1 (Sky Sports F1)
14:55 to 16:30 – F1: Practice 1 (BBC Two)
18:45 to 21:00 – F1: Practice 2 (Sky Sports F1)
19:00 to 20:35 – F1: Practice 2 (BBC Three)
21:00 to 21:45 – F1: Team Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
23:00 to 00:00 – The F1 Show (Sky Sports F1)

Saturday 7th June
14:45 to 16:15 – F1: Practice 3 (Sky Sports F1)
14:55 to 16:05 – F1: Practice 3 (BBC Two)
17:00 to 19:20 – F1: Qualifying (BBC One)
17:00 to 19:45 – F1: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)

Sunday 8th June
01:30 to 04:00 – IndyCars: Firestone 600 (BT Sport 2)
– repeated on Sunday 8th June at 13:00
11:15 to 17:40 – BTCC: Oulton Park (ITV4)
17:30 to 22:15 – F1: Race (Sky Sports F1)
=> 17:30 – Track Parade
=> 18:00 – Race
=> 21:30 – Paddock Live
18:20 to 21:00 – F1: Race (BBC One)
21:00 to 22:00 – F1: Forum (BBC Red Button)
22:15 to 23:15 – GP Heroes: Clay Regazzoni (Sky Sports F1)

Wednesday 11th June
20:30 to 21:00 – Midweek Report (Sky Sports F1)

Classic F1 on Sky Sports F1
I believe this is the first time that Sky have shown the 1998 Canadian Grand Prix. I am disappointed that it is not the full race given that races post 1996 have tended to be the full race, so one assumes this is the original ITV highlights minus pre and post race analysis. EDIT on June 5th: Or not, its since disappeared from the schedule.

31/05 – 21:00 to 21:40 – 1982 Caesars Palace Grand Prix Highlights
01/06 – 21:00 to 23:30 – 2007 Chinese Grand Prix
02/06 – 21:00 to 23:00 – 2012 Canadian Grand Prix (Sky commentary)
03/06 – 21:00 to 00:00 – 2011 Canadian Grand Prix
04/06 – 21:00 to 23:15 – 2007 Canadian Grand Prix
05/06 – 21:00 to 23:30 – 2008 Canadian Grand Prix
06/06 – 22:00 to 23:00 – 1978 Season Review
07/06 – 19:45 to 20:45 – 1991 Canadian Grand Prix Highlights
09/06 – 21:00 to 21:45 – 1984 Brazilian Grand Prix Highlights
10/06 – 21:00 to 23:15 – 1998 Japanese Grand Prix
11/06 – 21:00 to 21:45 – 1983 United States Grand Prix West Highlights
12/06 – 21:00 to 23:00 – 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix
13/06 – 21:00 to 21:45 – 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix Highlights

As always, if there are any amendments, I’ll update this schedule.

Monaco Grand Prix hits 2014 high

The on-going rivalry at Mercedes between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg helped the Monaco Grand Prix ratings in the UK, unofficial overnight figures show. After a bleak first four races, ratings began to pick up in Spain, signalling the start of a turnaround.

Race
Live coverage of the race itself, screened on Sky Sports F1 from 12:00 to 15:30, averaged 1.10m (12.1%). Finding an equivalent rating for last year is somewhat difficult due to the red flag period, but using a similar 12:00 to 16:15 slot brought an average of 889k (11.5%), so Sky was about 25 percent up year-on-year. BBC’s ratings were up 7 percent year-on-year. Highlights on BBC One from 17:05 averaged 3.33m (23.3%), up on the 3.11m (22%) recorded last year.

The combined figure of 4.44m is not only the highest number of the year so far, which in my view is a sign of how poorly the first four races did, but also the highest Monaco Grand Prix number since 2011. 2012 and 2013 averaged 3.80m and 4.00m respectively, whilst 2011 averaged a massive 4.99m. 2011 was helped somewhat by the red flag period which meant that programme sustained higher viewership numbers for longer. 2010 also slots in above 2014, which makes 2014 the third highest number in the past decade and a bit. On the front of it, its a very good number for the F1. It also makes for a potentially great Canadian Grand Prix number in two weeks time. The Track Parade from 11:30 averaged 268k (3.5%), whilst Paddock Live averaged 230k (2.2%) from 15:30.

Qualifying
The ratings trajectory for Qualifying was identical to the race. Sky’s live coverage from 12:00 to 15:00 averaged 578k (6.5%). That number is a record high for the channel where Qualifying is concerned. No doubt the Rosberg incident helped significantly, but I do admit to being surprised by that, mainly because they had an hour post-session reaction yet it rated higher than those programmes with only 35 minutes reaction. BBC’s highlights averaged 2.53m (16.8%). With both channels up on last year, the combined Qualifying figure of 3.11m is the highest for Monaco since 2011, and the second highest on record. From a ratings point of view, it was a very, very good weekend for Formula 1.

I’ll be interested to see if that was replicated across Europe. I think certain people in Formula 1 need to blame themselves for the poor start to the season ratings wise. When you are throwing negative hyperbole into the media about the sound, what do you expect? No one is going to be drawn towards a product that the main players are criticising, hence it really was no surprise that the first quartet failed to do well. For the moment, the media will continue to push the Hamilton and Rosberg angle, a good news story for Formula 1, as long as they can. In my opinion, the casual fans like personalities more than the technology. The Mercedes story is a great story for the media to push, and you can guarantee that Sky will be pushing it into Montreal. Whilst I may not like seeing ‘Hamilton overdrive’ at times, with ratings like the above, in some ways, I can’t say I particularly blame them.

Indianapolis 500
Over on BT Sport 2, live coverage of the Indianapolis 500 peaked with 36k (0.3%) at 18:50. The main programme from 16:30 to 21:00 averaged 23k (0.1%). The number is up comfortably on 2013, and at the lower end of the Sky Sports numbers. Since I’ve started this blog, a recurring question is always “why so low”, where the Indianapolis 500 is concerned. Sadly, the answer is, and always will be fairly simple for me to answer, as I noted two years ago.

The 2013 Monaco Grand Prix ratings report can be found here.

A look back at ‘Senna Week’

‘Senna Week‘ was a great example, perhaps one of the best examples, of what a dedicated Formula 1 channel should do. Not all of the programming was of top quality, but as a week taken in isolation, it was fantastic to see some effort go into the Sky Sports F1 schedule on each night. I think it was the first time this has happened since the channel launched.

Arguably, the best programme that was broadcast during ‘Senna Week’ was the one that aired first. The Last Team Mate seen Damon Hill and David Brabham travel back to Imola to relieve that fateful weekend twenty years ago. After watching the programme, and in the context of the later programmes, I was surprised that this started the week. Overall, I found the documentary a brilliant, yet very poignant watch. More importantly, I was happy that it reflected both on Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger. I will admit to being surprised though at the fact that it covered the entire 1994 season, I was expecting it to stop at the immediate aftermath. I’m not sure whether that added or detracted from the programme, it perhaps slightly took away from the main focus of attention, although this is purely a personal view point. If Sky wanted to cover the wider 1994 season (which was touched upon but never fully explored), perhaps a series of episodes covering the year should have been commissioned separately to the ‘Senna Week’ strand.

Nevertheless, The Last Team Mate was still by far the best produced show of the week and it showed. The next show up with the Journalists Special with Simon Lazenby, Maurice Hamilton, David Tremayne and Murray Walker. The issue upfront here was that, at an hour in length (45 minutes excluding commercials), that it would be difficult to cover Senna’s career in detail. Saying that, the editing guys did the best job they could in the circumstances, albeit a longer extended version turned up on Sky On Demand later (I’m unsure why this didn’t air on the channel). I was refreshed to hear the three journalists focus on Senna’s flaws as both a driver and character instead of looking through rose tinted glasses as can happen in these types of shows. One of them summed it up best by saying that they wished we just got to know him a lot more outside of the race track, as the only time any of them got to see Senna was when he was constantly under pressure, scrambling for the last tenth here and there.

Echoes of the Past and Ted’s Senna Notebook formed the middle part of the week, at 15 minutes and 30 minutes respectively. Both were good in their own right, Nigel Roebuck with his own unique reflections, whilst Kravitz walked around the McLaren Technology Centre, looking at each of Senna’s McLaren cars individually. Alongside The Last Team Mate, the other programme which I thought was top notch was the Roland Ratzenberger tribute programme. With contributions from Adam Cooper, David Brabham and Humphrey Corbett. I felt it was important more than anything to have a programme dedicated to Ratzenberger, and I’m very glad they did.

Aside from The F1 Show, the remaining three new programmes were Prost on Senna, A Winning Partnership and F1 Legends focussing on Senna. I probably should have expected two of those three to be re-edits of what had already aired during the respective F1 Legends episodes, which was disappointing. Prost on Senna was taken entirely from the interview Prost had with Steve Rider and there was not much new content during the F1 Legends episodes. A Winning Partnership was a Ron Dennis interview conducted by Tom Clarkson for the media at McLaren Technology Centre. If it was me doing the scheduling, the programmes with the most effort in should have gone as close to the anniversaries as possible. Clearly The Last Team Mate had the most work put into it, so why it ended up starting the week and premièring on a Saturday, I don’t know. I’m not saying it was bad that those three programmes were rehashes, just that it was underwhelming. On reflection, The Last Team Mate and the Journalists Special should have aired as close to the anniversaries as possible given that both programmes featured mostly new material, with the F1 Legends and Prost programmes starting the week. It was somewhat confusing that another two programmes turned up during the Spanish Grand Prix weekend with little fanfare.

Over on BBC, and it has to be said that whilst TV chose not to do anything in terms of programming, they did air a fantastic tribute with Eddie Jordan voicing it over at the start of the Spanish Grand Prix Qualifying session with contributions from personalities such as Gerhard Berger and Pat Symonds. The fifteen minute tribute was BBC’s VT guys at their absolute best, and they deserve to be given a pat on the back. I really wish that they were given the tools to produce a one hour tribute to Senna and Ratzenberger. I really do, sadly for reasons probably beyond the BBC F1 TV’s direct control, that didn’t happen, which is a real shame. 5 Live however did pay tribute to Senna and Ratzenberger, with a 90 minute live broadcast, fronted by Jennie Gow alongside Simon Taylor, Maurice Hamilton and James Allen. During the show, we heard Simon Taylor’s original 5 Live commentary from Imola 1994. Having heard Walker’s shout as Senna crashed, it was fascinating to hear directly from Taylor and Hamilton on how 5 Live handled the entire situation. I enjoyed listening to the show, which is still available as a podcast until the beginning of June.

I think Sky could learn a lot with Senna Week. Going forward, I think it would be great if we had more themed weeks in the future. Whilst Sky have been showing Classic F1 races, there have been no themes so far this season. I’ve said before how Sky should utilise what they can show regarding classic races, however, a ‘Williams Week’ or ‘McLaren Week’ would be much better than what we currently have where the classic races flip flop between decades for no apparent reason. Okay, they can’t show an unlimited amount of races, but there’s nothing stopping them creating a McLaren edition of F1 Legends, to give an example looking back on their time in F1. I’m not sure it would work, but it is worth a try. Like I said at the start of the piece though, as a dedicated channel, I was very glad to see them dedicate the entire week to Senna and Ratzenberger. Alongside the BBC piece that I have linked above, I’d strongly recommend The Last Team Mate and Remembering Ratzenberger if you haven’t already watched them.