Scheduling: The 2015 Japanese Grand Prix

From Singapore, the ten teams and twenty drivers head to Suzuka as the F1 paddock wonders whether Mercedes lack of pace from Singapore is a one off, or a new trend. Due to the events that occurred last year, the Japanese Grand Prix start time was moved forward one hour, with the race now starting at 14:00 local time, eight hours ahead of the UK, meaning the race begins at 06:00 UK time.

There is a bit of unusual scheduling from the BBC this year, who are covering the weekend live. The race show on BBC One is a mammoth four hours long, which I believe is the longest that they have ever billed it as. As a result of the extended BBC One show, there is no formal F1 Forum. I believe it is only the second time since Formula 1 returned to the BBC that a post-race forum has not happened after a live race (the first being Canada 2011 due to the red flag period). In a way you could say it is disappointing, but I imagine the last hour to 45 minutes on BBC One will be like a forum, without it being called a forum. Edit – Suzi Perry on Twitter calls it a Forum.

Saying the above, early indications are that the race weekend could be affected by a Tropical Storm similar to 2014. Obviously if the schedule changes, I will update this piece and/or republish this post elsewhere. The return of the Formula 1 fly-away races means that we get Formula 1 and MotoGP on the same day, and without a clash. It looks like BT’s coverage may be studio based again due to the majority of their team working on the Rugby World Cup – it certainly is that way for MotoGP’s fly-away rounds, but I’m unclear as to whether that applies for Aragon as well.

BBC F1
BBC TV – Sessions
25/09 – 01:55 to 03:35 – Practice 1 (BBC Two)
25/09 – 05:55 to 07:45 – Practice 2 (BBC Two)
26/09 – 03:55 to 05:05 – Practice 3 (BBC Two)
26/09 – 06:00 to 08:30 – Qualifying (BBC One)
26/09 – 13:00 to 14:30 – Qualifying Replay (BBC One)
27/09 – 05:00 to 09:00 – Race (BBC One)
=> 05:00 – Race
=> 08:00 – Forum
27/09 – 13:15 to 15:15 – Race Replay (BBC One)

BBC Radio – Sessions
25/09 – 01:55 to 03:35 – Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
25/09 – 05:55 to 07:35 – Practice 2 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
26/09 – 03:55 to 05:05 – Practice 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
26/09 – 06:55 to 08:05 – Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
27/09 – 05:30 to 08:00 – Race (BBC Radio 5 Live)

Supplementary Programming
25/09 – 18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)
26/09 – 08:30 to 09:30 – F1 Rewind: Rivalries (BBC Two)
26/09 – 19:45 to 20:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Sky Sports F1
Sessions
25/09 – 01:45 to 03:50 – Practice 1
25/09 – 05:45 to 08:00 – Practice 2
25/09 – 03:45 to 05:15 – Practice 3
26/09 – 06:00 to 08:45 – Qualifying (also Sky Sports 1)
27/09 – 04:30 to 09:15 – Race (also Sky Sports 1)
=> 04:30 – Track Parade
=> 05:00 – Pit Lane Live
=> 05:30 – Race
=> 08:30 – Paddock Live

Supplementary Programming
24/09 – 07:00 to 07:30 – Driver Press Conference
24/09 – 20:45 to 21:00 – Paddock Uncut: Japan
25/09 – 08:00 to 08:45 – Team Press Conference
25/09 – 10:00 to 11:00 – The F1 Show
30/09 – 20:30 to 21:00 – Midweek Report

British Touring Car Championship – Silverstone (ITV4)
27/09 – 10:00 to 18:30 – Races

MotoGP – Aragon (BT Sport 2)
25/09 – 08:00 to 15:00
=> 08:00 – Practice 1
=> 10:45 – Reaction and Build-Up
=> 12:00 – Practice 2
26/09 – 08:00 to 15:15
=> 08:00 – Practice 3
=> 11:00 – Qualifying
27/09 – 07:30 to 09:15 – Warm Up
27/09 – 09:30 to 15:00
=> 09:30 – Races
=> 14:00 – Chequered Flag

MotoGP – Aragon (ITV4)
28/09 – 20:00 to 21:00 – Highlights

If anything changes, I will update the schedule above.

Update on September 22nd – I’ve received confirmation that there is no F1 Forum on the Red Button across the weekend, so I have updated the description and schedule to reflect that.

News round-up: Formula E expands European reach; Questing not coasting

There have not been too many major news stories in the broadcasting landscape to report on recently, but there have been a few intriguing issues bubbling under the surface worth mentioning on the blog.

Formula E expands European reach, but UK deal remains a mystery
It was confirmed today that Eurosport would be broadcasting seasons two and three exclusively of Formula E in Germany, Poland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland, with the channel also broadcasting non-exclusive content in Iceland. The announcement is significant, as it allows Formula E to reach far more people than what it currently does in those territories, thanks to the Germany deal being a free-to-air one. Ali Russell, Formula E’s Director of Media and Strategic Partnership said that the deal “reinforces our outreach across key target markets in Europe alongside other existing deals.”

Whilst significant, the news is not necessarily surprising. As noted previously, Eurosport are owned by Discovery Communications who have a minority investment in Formula E. It is important to state that Eurosport’s Formula E deal does not cover the UK as, to quote Ben Constanduros, there are other deals in place which prevent it. As of writing, nothing has been publicly announced regarding where Formula E’s second season will be broadcast in the UK. 60 percent of you think ITV will broadcast season two live. We continue to wait for an official announcement on the situation.

WEC and WTCC gain UK free-to-air coverage
Good news for UK fans of the World Endurance Championship and the World Touring Car Championship, free to air highlights of both series are coming. Continuing the same theme as above, Quest TV, who are under the same umbrella as Eurosport and therefore Discovery, will begin airing a one-hour show with immediate effect.

The WEC programme will be presented by Toby Moody, airing on the Tuesday after each race weekend. The first WTCC highlights show aired last night and is currently available to watch on Quest On Demand, presented by Neil Cole. The development follows Quest TV’s successful coverage of the 24 Hours of Le Mans earlier this year. This is only good news for both championships, as it allows them to increase their foothold and bring in a bigger audience. I won’t be surprised if Formula E highlights turn up on Quest for season two, even if the live action is covered elsewhere. Anything that increases a motor sport series audience is good news in my view.

BT’s MotoGP ratings bounce back
A thrilling two rounds of MotoGP from Silverstone and Misano resulted in mixed viewing figures on BT Sport, overnight viewing figures showed. Silverstone peaked with 209k (2.3%), only marginally up on last year’s number of 205k (2.4%). Bank Holiday was the main reason for that number, however it was still a slight surprise when you consider that the trend so far this year has been of increases on a significant scale.

Misano fared much better than Silverstone, averaging 242k (2.8%) from 12:30 to 14:00, peaking with 317k (3.6%) at 13:40. A sign of how well Misano did is that this year’s MotoGP average is higher than last year’s peak number of 211k (2.6%). I would have expected Scott Redding and Bradley Smith’s podium finishes, along with the inclement weather, to boost ITV4’s highlights number. What we actually saw was a year-on-year drop. An average audience of 335k (1.5%) watched ITV4’s programme this past Monday, compared with 357k (1.6%) for last year’s Misano highlights programme.

Elsewhere…
Formula 1 celebrates one year of having a proper Twitter account this weekend with the Singapore Grand Prix. Technically, the F1 account on Twitter has been live since August 2009, but the proper interaction that you would actually expect from an account began last September. In the past year, their reach on Twitter has increased 62 percent from 937k to 1.52m, a fairly hefty jump, overtaking MotoGP in the process.

Over in America, great news for the IndyCar Series which witnessed a 70 percent jump in NBC Sports Network’s numbers between 2014 and 2015. Some of that has to be natural growth, but there is another part which is no doubt a result of piggybacking off Formula 1’s recent success over there. It’ll be interesting to see how much influence Alexander Rossi has on viewing figures. Okay, he is unlikely to trouble the points scores given the car he is in, but it may move NBC’s F1 numbers up further a notch or two.

A big day for MotoGP

Today is a significant day for those involved in the running of the MotoGP World Championship. It, with the British Grand Prix, marks the first time that a MotoGP race has been broadcast live in Ultra HD. The race action today, along with yesterday’s qualifying sessions are being broadcast live on BT Sport’s new Ultra HD channel.

Ultra HD is four times the resolution of normal HD, hence the name ‘4K resolution’. It means that there are two separate teams controlling and directing the action this weekend, in turn meaning that BT Sport have two commentary teams. Keith Huewen and Julian Ryder have been commentating as usual on the normal World Feed, with Toby Moody and James Haydon commentating on the 4K Ultra HD feed. It is the first time that Moody has been brought into the BT fold since they started their coverage last season.

Dorna say that the operation consists of 19 Ultra HD cameras, “including a High Speed, Super Slow Motion Camera and the world´s first live wireless 4K cameras”, which compares to 141 HD cameras that Dorna normally take to each round. The addition of Ultra HD means that MotoGP will have 160 cameras focussed on the action this weekend, a record number for the series. It is the world’s largest 4K outside broadcast to date.

It is too early to say whether 4K will be the next big thing, or whether it will turn into 3D and become a gimmick. I suspect it has a better chance of taking off than 3D. Readers may remember that Sky Sports showed F1 testing live in 3D in 2013, an experiment never to be repeated. Where 4K is concerned, BT Sport seem to be pushing it a lot at the moment, whereas Sky are not, hence why the MotoGP from Silverstone is being covered in 4K. Saying that, SkyQ is believed to be coming which will offer Ultra HD capability, but Sky have not officially confirmed this yet.

My lasting thought, however is that HD is not the norm yet, because providers are insistent on charging extra for customers to access content in HD. In my opinion, until HD becomes the norm, I’m afraid Ultra HD will not get off the starting grid, in this country at least. But, you have to start somewhere…

MotoGP’s UK ratings rise year on year

2014 saw MotoGP move to pay television in the UK, with live coverage of the sport now on BT Sport, BBC having lost the rights the previous spring. ITV did get in on the act though, with free to air highlights airing on ITV4. So, how have things progressed since this time last year?

> Audiences record slight increase versus 2014
> BT Sport sees 40% increase
> ITV highlights drop, but still above BT

The picture at the end of 2013 was that around one million viewers on average were watching MotoGP on BBC Two. During the first half of 2013, an average of 1.15 million watched the series across the BBC and British Eurosport. That number excludes BBC iPlayer. All the numbers that follow are BARB overnight viewing figures as usual, and exclude the likes of ITV Player and BT Sport’s app. Does this mean we are missing a significant chunk of the audience? It is difficult to tell, but when you are playing with a low audience anyway, a audience of 50k for example watching the BT Sport app makes a fair difference to the numbers. Not a huge difference, but perhaps noticeable. Anyway, ITV and BT, being commercial broadcasters, do not realise the on demand numbers into the public domain.

Last year, BT Sport’s live coverage from 12:30 to 14:00 (or equivalent) for the first half of the season averaged 155k. At the time, I commented that the number was poor and I stand by that submission when you consider what the BBC was getting the year before. Okay, the reach of BBC Two is many magnitudes bigger than BT Sport 2, but either way I did not expect MotoGP to lose 80 to 90 percent of its audience. In comparison, BT Sport’s live coverage so far this season has averaged 218k, an increase of 41 percent year on year. Every live race that BT Sport has covered has rated higher than 2014. The biggest jump year on year was for Le Mans, which went from 112k in 2014 to 262k in 2015, and peaked with 330k (4.4%), which is BT Sport’s highest MotoGP peak to date.

There are many reasons why BT Sport’s coverage has increased considerably year on year. The first is related to the fact that their coverage has been presented on location for this season. It is no secret that viewers are more likely to be engaged in coverage when they can get closer to the action. The other is that BT Sport may have more subscribers than this time last year, but I’m not convinced that argument holds up as their Premier League coverage has not increased by anywhere near the same amount. Two words can sum up the main reason for the increase in my opinion: Valentino Rossi. I will admit to being openly biased here. I am a Rossi fan, and it is fantastic to see him winning again. No doubt that has converted some of the ITV highlights watching audience into watching BT Sport’s coverage live. It is just unfortunate then that the 41 percent increase represents an increase of only 63k and not something of a much bigger volume…

With the UEFA Champions League coming on board for BT, alongside the changes to their subscription packages, it will be interesting to see how MotoGP’s numbers are affected, if at all. Surprisingly, ITV4’s highlights numbers have dropped 11 percent. An average of 327k have watched Monday’s highlights programme so far this year, in comparison with 366k for the first half of 2014. I should note that ITV4 are repeating the MotoGP Highlights show a lot more this year, which may explain why the Monday airing has suffered as a result. As is usual practice for the blog, repeats are not included in the figures outlined (aside from +1 channels). The high number of Le Mans on BT Sport was not replicated on ITV4 – in fact, on the weekend, BT Sport 2’s live coverage beat ITV4’s highlights number: 262k for BT’s live MotoGP portion of the show versus 253k for ITV’s highlights. It is an interesting anecdote, and does indicate that the pendulum is swinging towards BT Sport. The audience for the first half of 2014 was split 70/30 in ITV4’s favour. That split has tightened up to 60/40, still in ITV4’s favour but significantly closer than before.

Overall though, the numbers remain low compared with 2013. Even taking into account BT’s ratings increase, a combined average of 545k for the first half of 2015 is still massively down on BBC Sport’s figures for 2013, albeit 5 percent up on the average of 521k for the first half of 2014. BT Sport should be very happy with their figures – momentum is on their side. The momentum needs to be replicated in ITV’s highlights show. And, for whatever reason, that just is not happening at the moment. Neither BT Sport or ITV responded to a request for comment from this blog concerning MotoGP’s viewing figures.

The 2014 mid-season MotoGP ratings report can be found here.

Scheduling: The 2015 London ePrix

It has been eight months since the Beijing ePrix. Now, only a few days remain until the final leg of the inaugural Formula E season! The final weekend is actually a double header, comprising of rounds ten and eleven of the championship from Battersea Park in London. For the first time, ITV will be on location on both Saturday and Sunday, with Jennie Gow presenting from trackside alongside Marc Priestley, Alex Brundle and Jolyon Palmer.

Round ten of the championship takes place on the Saturday, with qualifying and the race being broadcast live on ITV4. Highlights will air late at night on ITV. The following day, in a Formula E first, round eleven will air exclusively live on ITV’s main channel, with four and a half hours of coverage. It is the first time since the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix that motor sport has aired live on ITV(1).

The schedule that ITV are putting out that weekend is somewhat reminiscent of their Formula 1 coverage. ITV will go on air half an hour before the qualifying session, with 15 minutes of reaction and analysis, following the same structure that ITV F1’s qualifying shows had for many years in the early 2000s. The race itself has an hour build-up, again like ITV F1 with analysis following the show. When asked by this blog, ITV did not state whether Sunday’s race would feature commercials, noting that “commercial airtime will be taken in accordance with OFCOM regulations.” Given that Formula E races last around 45 minutes, I hope the Sunday race on ITV(1) does run commercial free, but time will tell.

What we also don’t know is whether the ITV network will broadcast season two of Formula E. ITV simply stated that “cannot yet comment on plans,” which suggests that discussions are ongoing, or that an announcement is currently under embargo. If they are screening season two, I’d expect an announcement by the end of the London ePrix weekend to capitalise on publicity. Unfortunately, viewing figures have not been great so far, in my opinion.

Aside from Formula E, there is the British Touring Car Championship on ITV4 along with the Goodwood Festival of Speed, airing live on Motors TV and Sky Sports. The IndyCar action is live on ESPN, whilst MotoGP is in Assen meaning that as usual the races are held on the Saturday.

Formula E – London – Races 1 and 2 (online via FIAFormulaE.com)
27/06 and 28/06 – 08:10 to 09:10 – Practice 1
27/06 and 28/06 – 10:25 to 11:10 – Practice 2

Formula E – London – Race 1
27/06 – 11:30 to 13:15 – Qualifying (ITV4)
27/06 – 15:00 to 17:30 – Race (ITV4)
27/06 – 22:55 to 23:55 – Highlights (ITV)

Formula E – London – Race 2 (ITV)
28/06 – 11:30 to 13:15 – Qualifying
28/06 – 15:00 to 17:45 – Race
28/06 – 22:15 to 23:15 – Highlights

British Touring Car Championship – Croft (ITV4)
28/06 – 11:00 to 18:15 – Races

Goodwood Festival of Speed (Motors TV)
27/06 – 13:00 to 19:00 – Day 1
28/06 – 09:00 to 15:00 – Day 2

Goodwood Festival of Speed (Sky Sports)
28/06 – 15:00 to 17:00 – Live (1 and F1)

IndyCar Series – Fontana (ESPN)
27/06 – 21:00 to 01:00 – Live

MotoGP – Assen (BT Sport 2)
25/06 – 08:00 to 15:00
=> 08:00 – Practice 1
=> 10:45 – Reaction and Build-Up
=> 12:00 – Practice 2
26/06 – 08:00 to 15:15
=> 08:00 – Practice 3
=> 11:00 – Qualifying
27/06 – 07:30 to 09:15 – Warm Up
27/06 – 09:30 to 21:00
=> 09:30 – Races
=> 14:00 – Chequered Flag

MotoGP – Assen (ITV4)
29/06 – 20:00 to 21:00 – Highlights

Lewis Hamilton on The Graham Norton Show (BBC One)
26/06 – 22:35 to 23:20

As always, if anything changes I will update the schedule.

Update on June 27th – For reasons unknown, Jolyon Palmer doesn’t appear to be with ITV’s Formula E team this weekend, instead of it Kyle Wilson-Clarke as the fourth man with them.

Update on June 28th – Turns out it was Wilson-Clarke on Saturday with Palmer today. Also, I didn’t note above that Andy Jaye is in pit lane for ITV.