1.2 million watch Channel 4’s Canadian Grand Prix highlights

An average audience of 1.2 million viewers watched Channel 4’s highlights of a dramatic Canadian Grand Prix, official consolidated figures from BARB show.

Consolidated audience figures include viewers who watched via the TV set within seven days of broadcast, and exclude commercial breaks. Figures in this article should not be compared to previous overnight ratings posted on this site.

Race
Highlights of the race aired on Channel 4 from 23:00 to 01:00 on Sunday 9th June, with an average of 1.20 million viewers watching. It is the lowest audience that have watched coverage of the Canadian round on Channel 4.

In 2016, 1.77 million viewers watched their highlights show from 22:42. That number dropped to 1.39 million viewers one year later, dipping again to 1.26 million viewers last year.

The structure of Channel 4’s highlights stayed the same from 2016 to 2018. Including commercials, Channel 4’s coverage consisted of around 25 minutes of build-up, 70 minutes for the race, and then 25 minutes of post-race analysis.

However, the structure of this year’s Canadian programme was significantly different, as Channel 4’s show aired later due to restrictions in their contract with Sky. This year, including commercials, Channel 4 had around 10 minutes of build-up, 60 minutes for the race, and then 50 minutes of post-race analysis.

A shorter race edit, combined with the edit finishing earlier, created a lop-sided programme. The change will have resulted in the final 45 minutes rating significantly lower year-on-year, deflating the average significantly.

Whilst it is never good to be down year-on-year, a decrease of 190,000 viewers and 60,000 viewers compared with the past two years is not that bad if you choose to dissect the figures in detail instead of looking purely at the headline.

Of course, a figure of 1.2 million viewers is still very low in the grand scheme of things, and a far cry compared to what Formula 1 has achieved in the past for Canada when the race aired live on free-to-air television.

Channel 4’s highlights were the 13th most watched show on the network for the week commencing 3rd June.

In stark contrast, seven years ago, Jenson Button’s dramatic victory placed sixth for the week on BBC One with 6.27 million viewers; with the last 90-minutes averaging 6.04 million viewers on BBC Two.

Audience figures for Sky Sports F1 are unavailable, however the race simulcast on Sky Sports Main Event averaged 320,000 viewers from 19:04 on Sunday evening. This figure increases to 423,000 viewers when viewers watching via PC, tablet and smartphone are included.

Superbikes and International GT Open
Elsewhere, Eurosport 2’s live coverage of World Superbikes from Jerez peaked on Sunday afternoon with 67,300 viewers. The segment covers the third Superbikes race of the weekend from 12:58 to 13:38.

Over on BT Sport 3, the first International GT Open race from Spa averaged 16,800 viewers from 15:35 on Saturday afternoon.

Scheduling: The 2019 French Grand Prix / Bern E-Prix

Paul Ricard in France plays host to round eight of the 2019 Formula One season, as the championship begins to hurdle towards the Summer break.

The main change to Sky’s schedule is the extension of Welcome to the Weekend to an hour, giving the team further opportunity to discuss events last time out in Canada.

Paddock Walkout is also absent, as Karun Chandhok is not with Sky in France. The plan was always for Chandhok to do many, but not all races with Sky this season, so his absense is not a surprise.

Despite no Porsche Supercup action in France, the gap between the Formula Two support race and the Grand Prix on Sunday remains long. Instead, VIP and Renault parade laps fill the gap for fans in Paul Ricard.

Elsewhere, qualifying for Formula Three airs on a slight tape-delay on Sky F1 on Friday. The channel is also joining coverage of IndyCar on Sunday later than their American colleagues. NBC’s broadcast starts at 12:00 EST / 17:00 UK, with Sky’s simulcast starting at 17:30. The first half hour for UK viewers will air on the Red Button. The race itself begins at 17:40 UK time.

Channel 4’s F1 offering sees the return of Mark Webber and Billy Monger to their line-up, the pair joining Ben Edwards, David Coulthard and Steve Jones out in France.

Further afield, Formula E heads to Bern in Switzerland for the first time, as Dario Franchitti returns to the team after his Indianapolis 500 commitments last month. The BBC’s live airing is only available via their website and Connected TV, with the first Red Button airing not until 04:00 on Sunday morning.

Channel 4 F1
22/06 – 18:30 to 20:00 – Qualifying Highlights
23/06 – 19:00 to 21:00 – Race Highlights

Sky Sports F1
Sessions
21/06 – 09:45 to 11:50 – Practice 1
21/06 – 13:45 to 15:45 – Practice 2
22/06 – 10:45 to 12:10 – Practice 3
22/06 – 13:00 to 15:35 – Qualifying
=> 13:00 – Pre-Show
=> 13:55 – Qualifying
23/06 – 12:30 to 17:30 – Race
=> 12:30 – Pit Lane Live
=> 13:30 – On the Grid (also Sky Sports Main Event)
=> 14:05 – Race (also Sky Sports Main Event)
=> 16:00 – Paddock Live
=> 17:00 – Notebook

Supplementary Programming
20/06 – 14:00 to 14:30 – Drivers’ Press Conference
20/06 – 17:00 to 18:00 – Welcome to the Weekend
21/06 – 16:30 to 17:00 – The Story so Far
22/06 – 16:45 to 17:15 – The F1 Show
26/06 – 20:30 to 21:00 – F1 Midweek Debrief

BBC Radio F1
All sessions are available live on BBC’s F1 website
21/06 – 21:30 to 22:00 – Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)
22/06 – 14:00 to 15:05 – Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live)
23/06 – 14:00 to 16:00 – Race (BBC Radio 5 Live)

Formula E – Bern
Also airs live on YouTube
21/06 – 14:15 to 15:00 – Shakedown (BT Sport/ESPN)
22/06 – 07:45 to 09:00 – Practice 1 (BT Sport/ESPN)
22/06 – 10:15 to 12:00 – Practice 2 (BT Sport/ESPN)
22/06 – 12:15 to 13:45 – Qualifying (BT Sport/ESPN)
22/06 – 16:30 to 18:30 – Race: World Feed
=> live on BBC’s website and Connected TV
=> live on Quest
=> live on BT Sport/ESPN
=> live on Eurosport 2

Formula Two – France (Sky Sports F1)
21/06 – 11:50 to 12:40 – Practice
21/06 – 15:50 to 16:25 – Qualifying
22/06 – 15:35 to 16:45 – Race 1
23/06 – 10:15 to 11:15 – Race 2

Formula Three – France (Sky Sports F1)
21/06 – 17:00 to 17:30 – Qualifying Tape-Delay
22/06 – 09:30 to 10:15 – Race 1
23/06 – 08:55 to 09:40 – Race 2

IndyCar Series – Road America
22/06 – 21:00 to 22:30 – Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
23/06 – 17:00 to 17:30 – Build-Up (Sky Sports F1 Red Button)
23/06 – 17:30 to 20:00 – Race (Sky Sports F1)

World Superbikes – Misano
Also airs live on World Superbikes’ Video Pass (£)
21/06 – 09:25 to 10:25 – Practice (Eurosport 2)
22/06 – 09:30 to 14:15 – Qualifying and Race 1 (Eurosport 2)
23/06 – 09:30 to 15:20 – Support and Race 2 (Eurosport 2)
26/06 – 20:00 to 21:00 – Highlights (ITV4)

World Touring Car Cup – Nurburgring
21/06 – 16:15 to 17:15 – Race 1 (Eurosport 2)
22/06 – 10:00 to 11:00 – Race 2 (Eurosport)

This article will be amended if schedules change.

Updared on June 21st.

Scheduling: The 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans

The third of motor racing’s triple crown events takes place this upcoming weekend, with the 24 Hours of Le Mans!

As usual for UK fans, the race airs live on Eurosport for its entirety. Whilst the linear television channel will take commercials, the full race will air uninterrupted via Eurosport Player, with fans able to access up to three on-board angles.

Nine-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen will feature throughout Eurosport’s coverage, providing analysis during the race from their augmented reality (AR) studio alongside Neil Cole.

Although the broadcaster has not officially confirmed the other personalities involved in their line-up, Motorsport Broadcasting understands that Terry Rymer, Mark Cole, and Carlton Kirby will lead the commentary team.

Thirteen hours of Eurosport’s offering will also air on Quest, the free-to-air broadcaster covering the start and finish, as well as proceedings throughout the night.

For those of you wanting a different flavour to Le Mans, organisers of the World Endurance Championship are providing their own service via the WEC app. Martin Haven and Allan McNish lead the in-house team for Le Mans.

Elsewhere, MotoGP heads to Spain, while Italy plays host to round eight of the World Rally Championship.

World Endurance Championship – 24 Hours of Le Mans
Also airs live on WEC’s App (£)
12/06 – 15:45 to 19:20 – Practice (Eurosport 2)
12/06 – 20:50 to 23:15 – Qualifying 1 (Eurosport 2)
13/06 – 17:50 to 23:10 – Qualifying 2 and 3 (Eurosport)
=> 17:50 – Qualifying 2
=> 20:50 – Qualifying 3
15/06 – 07:55 to 09:00 – Warm-Up (Eurosport)
15/06 – 13:00 to 13:45 – On the Grid with Tom Kristensen (Eurosport)
15/06 – 13:45 – Race (Eurosport)
=> live coverage continues until 14:45 on 16/06
15/06 – Race (Quest)
=> 13:45 to 16:00 – Start
=> 00:00 to 06:00 – Through the Night
=> 10:00 to 14:45 – Finish

MotoGP – Catalunya (BT Sport 2)
Also airs live on MotoGP’s Video Pass (£)
14/06 – 07:45 to 15:15 – Practice 1 and 2
15/06 – 08:00 to 15:15
=> 08:00 – Practice 3
=> 11:00 – Qualifying
16/06 – 07:30 to 15:00
=> 07:30 – Warm Ups
=> 09:15 – Moto3
=> 11:00 – Moto2
=> 12:30 – MotoGP
=> 14:00 – Chequered Flag

MotoGP – Catalunya (Quest)
17/06 – 22:00 to 23:00 – Highlights

British Superbikes – Brands Hatch
15/06 – 15:30 to 18:00 – Qualifying (Eurosport 2)
16/06 – 13:00 to 18:00 – Races (Eurosport 2)
19/06 – 20:00 to 21:00 – Highlights (ITV4)

British Touring Car Championship – Croft (ITV4)
16/06 – 11:15 to 18:15 – Races

Speedway Grand Prix – Czech Republic (BT Sport 2)
15/06 – 17:45 to 21:15 – Races

Virgin Australia Supercars – Darwin (BT Sport 1)
Also airs live on SuperView (£)
15/06 – 07:15 to 09:15 – Race 1
16/06 – 04:30 to 07:00 – Race 2

World Rally Championship – Italy (All Live)
Also airs live on WRCPlus.com (£)
13/06 – 17:00 to 19:00 – Day 1 (BT Sport Extra 2)
14/06 – 07:00 to 18:00 – Day 2 (BT Sport Extra 2)
15/06 – 07:00 to 19:30 – Day 3 (BT Sport Extra 2)
16/06 – 06:45 to 12:45 – Day 4 (BT Sport Extra 1)

World Rally Championship – Italy
13/06 – 18:00 to 19:00 – Stage 1 (BT Sport 3)
14/06 – 22:30 to 23:00 – Day 1 Highlights (BT Sport 1)
15/06 – 07:00 to 08:00 – Stage 10 (BT Sport 3)
15/06 – 15:00 to 16:00 – Stage 13 (BT Sport 1)
16/06 – 08:00 to 09:00 – Stage 17 (BT Sport 1)
16/06 – 11:00 to 12:30 – Stage 19 [Power Stage] (BT Sport 1)
17/06 – 19:00 to 20:00 – Highlights (5Spike)

As always, the schedule will be updated if details change.

Scheduling: The 2019 Canadian Grand Prix

Formula 1 heads for its annual June trip to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix!

The Grand Prix airs exclusively live on Sky Sports F1, and with it, both Ted Kravitz and Jenson Button are returning to Sky’s line-up for the weekend.

Stefano Domenicali joins Steve Jones and David Coulthard over on Channel 4. Their highlights air later than in previous years due to the contractual restrictions imposed on them by Sky. Qualifying starts at 19:00 on Saturday, with the race starting at 19:10 on Sunday.

Adding three hours onto the expected end time (20:00 for qualifying and 20:40 for the race) takes you to 23:00 and 23:40 respectively, hence why Channel 4’s programming starts when it does over the weekend.

The race faces the UEFA Nations League final, which kicks off at 19:45. The final will see either Portugal or Switzerland face Netherlands or England. Although the tournament is nowhere near the scale of the football World Cup or Euro’s, the clash does demonstrate an unwillingness from Liberty to work their way around major football clashes.

Elsewhere, the W Series line-up is radically different in Misano, as both Kravitz and Coulthard are on duty in Canada. Allan McNish replaces Coulthard as W Series analyst and co-commentator for Misano. MotoGP reporter Amy Dargan replaces Kravitz, whilst Becky Evans (aka Queen B) serves as an additional correspondent.

Channel 4 F1
08/06 – 22:50 to 00:20 – Qualifying Highlights
09/06 – 23:00 to 01:00 – Race Highlights

Sky Sports F1
Sessions
07/06 – 14:45 to 16:45 – Practice 1
07/06 – 18:45 to 20:45 – Practice 2
08/06 – 15:45 to 17:30
=> 15:45 – Practice 3
=> 17:10 – Paddock Walkabout
08/06 – 18:00 to 20:30 – Qualifying
=> 18:00 – Pre-Show
=> 18:55 – Qualifying
09/06 – 17:30 to 22:30 – Race
=> 17:30 – Pit Lane Live
=> 18:30 – On the Grid (also Sky Sports Main Event)
=> 19:05 – Race (also Sky Sports Main Event)
=> 21:00 – Paddock Live
=> 22:00 – Notebook

Supplementary Programming
06/06 – 16:00 to 16:30 – Drivers’ Press Conference
06/06 – 22:00 to 22:30 – Welcome to the Weekend
07/06 – 21:00 to 21:30 – The Story so Far
08/06 – 20:30 to 21:00 – The F1 Show
12/06 – 20:00 to 20:30 – F1 Midweek Debrief

BBC Radio F1
All sessions are available live on BBC’s F1 website
09/06 – 19:00 to 21:00 – Race (BBC Radio 5 Live)

W Series – Misano (Channel 4)
Qualifying airs live across Facebook and Twitter
08/06 – 14:45 to 16:00 – Race

Euroformula – Spa (BT Sport 3)
Also airs live on YouTube
08/06 – 14:30 to 15:30 – Race 1
09/06 – 12:45 to 13:45 – Race 2

IndyCar Series – Texas 600 (Sky Sports F1)
07/06 – 23:30 to 01:00 – Qualifying (also Sky Sports Main Event)
08/06 (Saturday night) – 01:00 to 04:00 – Race (also Sky Sports Main Event)

International GT Open – Spa (BT Sport 3)
Also airs live on YouTube
08/06 – 15:30 to 17:00 – Race 1
09/06 – 13:45 to 15:15 – Race 2

World Superbikes – Jerez
Also airs live on World Superbikes’ Video Pass (£)
07/06 – 09:25 onwards (Eurosport 2)
=> 09:25 to 10:25 – SBK: Practice 1
=> 13:55 to 14:55 – SBK: Practice 2
=> 14:55 to 15:55 – SSP: Practice 2
08/06 – 09:30 to 14:15 – Qualifying and Race 1 (Eurosport 2)
09/06 – 09:30 to 15:15 – Support and Race 2 (Eurosport 2)
12/06 – 22:00 to 23:00 – Highlights (ITV4)

The listings will be updated if plans change.

News round-up: F1’s US audience figures increase; Formula E hits the big screen

In the latest Motorsport Broadcasting round-up, it is good news for Formula 1 in the US, whilst Formula E hits the big screen at the Cannes Film Festival.

ICYMI: Round-Up #1 (May 13th): Turner returns to F1 fold; F1 adjusts OTT pricing; Barrat joins Formula E’s TV team

Formula 1

Good news for F1 on the US audience front, with ESPN reporting double-digit growth year-on-year. The first five races (excluding Monaco) have averaged 564,000 viewers on ESPN compared with 442,000 viewers last year. ESPN also tout the strong growth in the coveted Adult 18-34 demographic, increasing 107 percent year-on-year.

Formula E

A new feature-length documentary covering the 2017-18 season premiered at Cannes Film Festival last week. Fisher Stevens, Malcolm Venville and Leonardo di Caprio produced ‘And We Go Green‘, which goes behind the scenes during Jean-Eric Vergne’s championship winning season. LBI Entertainment are handing distribution rights for the documentary.
With Dario Franchitti over at Indianapolis, Tom Blomqvist and Nick Heidfeld joined Jack Nicholls and Bob Varsha on commentary duty during the Berlin E-Prix weekend. Blomqvist was alongside Nicholls for practice and qualifying, with Heidfeld joining Nicholls for the race.

MotoGP

Quest have changed the time slot of their MotoGP highlights programming. The first three races aired in an 18:00 and 23:00 time slot on Monday evenings, effectively splitting the audience.
- Viewing figures have not been good. Their 18:00 showing for Austin made BARB’s consolidated top 15 with 196,000 viewers, all other airings have failed to make Quest’s top 15, averaging around 150,000 viewers or below.
- From Jerez onwards, Quest reduced the two airings to one, airing at 22:00 only on Monday evenings. Current schedules for Mugello suggest that the one airing strategy will continue moving forward.
Suzi Perry is back in the BT Sport hotseat for Mugello, after a recent bout of illness.

W Series

Speaking to this site following Zolder, Whisper Films stated that their production team during the Hockenheim and Zolder weekends consisted of 34 people. The split was exactly 50/50, with 17 women and 17 men. The production house says that this covers both permanent staff and freelancers.
- The figures cover the live World Feed production, as well as highlights
- The figures also include those working on a documentary that Whisper are producing covering W Series’ inaugural season
Speaking to RaceFans, series organisers noted that over 400,000 viewers watched the first race in the UK on Channel 4 from Hockenheim. CEO Catherine Bond-Muir told the site “Even [on] Channel 4 we absolutely knocked out of the park the internal audience estimates.”
NBC in America has picked up highlights of the series. The broadcaster will air a one-hour highlights show of each race on their NBCSN channel (including commercials).

IndyCar Series

The first Indianapolis 500 to air on NBC drew the 500’s highest audience since 2016. According to Adam Stern of the Sports Business Journal, the race drew 5.4 million viewers across TV and digital. The race recorded a 86 overnight rating (excluding digital), also the highest since 2016.
Ahead of his Indianapolis 500 commentary debut, NBC lead commentator Leigh Diffey spoke to Phillip Bupp at Awful Announcing about his journey to date (link).

Elsewhere…

Eurosport have picked up the rights to MotoAmerica highlights in the UK. The one-hour highlights programme began airing last Saturday.
Motorsport Network have announced that their new feature length film Heroes will premiere in the run-up to the British Grand Prix. The trailer, which features swathes of archive F1 footage, was unveiled last week. Manish Pandey, one of the men behind the Senna movie, is director and writer for Heroes.
It is worth mentioning changes within the Sky Sports hierarchy in the UK. Sky have promoted Barney Francis into the role of Chief Executive of Future Sport, with Rob Webster succeeding Francis as Managing Director of Sky Sports UK.
Down under in Australia, the Sydney Morning Herald report that Foxtel, which is owned by News Corporation and Telstra, is struggling against the rise of streaming platforms. The paper reports that “non marquee” sport, including motor racing, are under threat.
ESPN in the US featured Billy Monger’s remarkable story in their weekly E:60 magazine programme. The show featured his story last Sunday (ESPN’s Vimeo account have uploaded a preview clip).
The BBC have written a fantastic piece looking at Katherine Legge’s battles in motor sport, which is worth a read.

Spot any stories making the rounds worth mentioning? Drop a line in the comments section.