Boring was not the word on anyone’s lips yesterday afternoon, and the viewers seemed to agree as the European Grand Prix soared to a twelve year ratings high on BBC One and Sky Sports F1. The two broadcasters recorded a combined peak of approximately six million viewers. Five million were watching on BBC One with a further one million approximately on Sky Sports F1. The exact Sky Sports F1 peak figure is unknown, but I suspect it is around the one million viewers region.
In terms of averages, the BBC programme from 12:10 to 15:15 recorded an average of 3.83 million, a 32 percent viewing share, with Sky Sports F1 adding half a million viewers on top of it. The split is a mammoth 88% in BBC’s favour versus 12% for Sky Sports F1. This is by far the biggest split between the two broadcasters in the races that both broadcasters’ have broadcast live, with the split normally nearer the 80% to 20% region.
Irrespective of the splits and who had what, the viewing figures were the highest since the 2000 running of the European Grand Prix, which will please broadcasters after the Canadian Grand Prix was hit very hard from Euro 2012. One thing the new deal is doing is making the ratings analysis much more difficult, instead of it just being a constant low four million or high three million depending on whether, there are other factors to take into account depending on whether Sky has exclusive rights to that particular race and what time BBC’s highlights are on, as we seen with Canada. Here is how the European Grand Prix has rated since 2000:
2000 – 4.85 million
2001 – 3.14 million
2002 – 3.20 million
2003 – 2.80 million
2004 – 2.79 million
2005 – 2.42 million
2006 – 2.50 million
2007 – 3.24 million
2008 – 2.64 million
2009 – 4.09 million
2010 – 3.50 million
2011 – 3.89 million
2012 – 4.33 million
With practice over for this weekend’s European Grand Prix, there are a few movers and shakers to keep you informed of for the remainder of the weekend and at Silverstone.
On the Sky Sports side of things, Karun Chandhok is joining the team this weekend, starting with tonight’s The F1 Show with Georgie Thompson and Ted Kravitz. This is Chandhok’s second appearance I believe with the team having been on The F1 Show alongside Derek Warwick a few weekends back. Another person joining the team is former Sauber and BMW driver Nick Heidfeld, who will join Simon Lazenby, Johnny Herbert and Martin Brundle on Sunday. Allan McNish is the third driver with the team temporarily, McNish replacing the injured Anthony Davidson as viewers for practice today would have spotted.
BBC’s team meanwhile reverts back to the usual set-up after Jake Humphrey’s brief departure to cover Euro 2012. He was expected to stay out there, but the schedule means that he is able to cover Valencia in full. The move means that Tom Clarkson will probably not be covering this weekend for BBC and will only be with them for Germany and Hungary. For radio, Jonathan Legard replaces James Allen again for this weekend.
Looking ahead to Silverstone, and former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley will be pitlane reporter for 5 Live. Priestley, who was with McLaren from 1999 to 2009 will be alongside Jennie Gow for the entire weekend. Also, it has been announced that the F1 Forum from Silverstone will take place on the main stage on Sunday after the race. So if you’re heading to the main stage after the race at Silverstone, you may just be caught on camera!
Thanks to Karun Chandhok and 5LiveF1 on Twitter for some of the information above.
UPDATE on 23rd June: Clarkson is actually still out there for BBC, as you can hear him interviewing Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel here.
From the Asia’s to the European’s to the North America and now back to Europe for, rather aptly, the European Grand Prix. Both BBC and Sky are live this weekend. As with Canada, the BBC team has undergone a few changes. Lee McKenzie steps into Jake Humphrey’s shoes, while Tom Clarkson again steps into McKenzie’s shoes, McKenzie confirming on Twitter this past week that Clarkson would be stepping in for this round, Germany and Hungary. Here’s how the schedule shapes up:
Thursday 21st June
14:00 to 14:30 – F1: Driver Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
Friday 22nd June
08:45 to 10:50 – F1: Practice 1 (Sky Sports F1)
08:55 to 10:35 – F1: Practice 1 (BBC Red Button)
10:55 to 11:35 – GP2: Practice (Sky Sports F1)
12:45 to 14:50 – F1: Practice 2 (Sky Sports F1)
12:55 to 14:35 – F1: Practice 2 (BBC Red Button)
14:55 to 15:35 – GP2: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
16:00 to 16:30 – F1: Team Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
17:00 to 18:00 – The F1 Show (Sky Sports F1)
Saturday 23rd June
08:40 to 09:20 – GP3: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
09:45 to 11:10 – F1: Practice 3 (Sky Sports F1)
09:55 to 11:05 – F1: Practice 3 (BBC Red Button)
12:00 to 14:35 – F1: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
12:10 to 14:20 – F1: Qualifying (BBC One)
14:35 to 16:00 – GP2: Race 1 (Sky Sports F1)
16:15 to 17:00 – GP3: Race 1 (Sky Sports F1)
23:10 to 00:10 – Le Mans 24 Hours Highlights (Sky Sports F1)
Sunday 24th June
08:20 to 09:05 – GP3: Race 2 (Sky Sports F1)
09:30 to 10:35 – GP2: Race 2 (Sky Sports F1)
11:30 to 16:15 – F1: Race (Sky Sports F1)
12:10 to 15:15 – F1: Race (BBC One)
15:15 to 16:15 – F1: Forum (BBC One)
16:15 to 17:15 – F1: Legends: Mika Hakkinen (Sky Sports F1)
One thing to note is that there is no sign of the Friday Press Conference with the Team Principles. I assume that is because the Press Conference clashes with the GP2 Qualifying session, and therefore Sky are only showing the Friday Press Conference when the two do not clash. I shall update this blog though if that changes.
Update on 19th June: Sky are showing the Team Principles Press Conference after all, at 16:00 on Friday. I’ve added that above. There are also highlights of the 24 Hours of Le Mans which I have added too. It looks like that may be the only showing, so record it while you can!
Update on 21st June: It turns out that most of my opening paragraph above is now irrelevant. Humphrey is travelling out to Valencia due to the way the Euro 2012 schedule has fallen, meaning McKenzie is doing the usual interviews and Clarkson presumably will not be with the BBC F1 team. Also, on the radio side of things Jonathan Legard is in again for James Allen. On the Sky F1 side of things, Allan McNish is the super sub in place of Anthony Davidson for practice, while Karun Chandhok is also with them for the weekend.
Motorsport Broadcasting 