No studio presentation team for Channel 5’s Formula E coverage

In a stark contrast to ITV’s bells and whistles effort in the first two seasons of the Formula E championship, Channel 5 are taking things in a different direction.

It appears the broadcaster will not be adding any of its own ‘wrap around’ studio discussion, instead choosing to just take the World Feed for the complete duration, a move that is understood to be down to budgetary constraints, multiple sources have told this site.

This is noticeable in the schedule for the Hong Kong ePrix: which runs at 120 minutes in length from 07:30 to 09:30 on Channel 5. The only voices Channel 5 viewers will hear on Sunday 9th October will be Nicki Shields in pit lane along with Martin Haven and Dario Franchitti in the commentary box.

ITV’s studio coverage regularly featured the likes of Marc Priestley, Jaime Alguersuari and Alex Brundle amongst others, all of which viewers are unlikely to hear much from in season three on Channel 5, unless plans change further down the line.

Furthermore, qualifying from Hong Kong is not scheduled for live broadcast on Spike TV, although this really should not be a surprise given the early time slot (even if it contradicts the press release). However, all sessions should be aired live on Channel 5’s social media outlets.

Given the large gaps for the first few races, it is always possible that a change of direction occurs with relation to the studio element if viewing figures are higher than anticipated. I can’t say I blame Channel 5 for not pursuing studio coverage given ITV’s viewing figures, but it suggests that the broadcaster does not have much faith in Formula E – even at this early stage in the contract.

Martin Haven becomes stand-in Formula E lead commentator for season three

Martin Haven is to lead commentate on the first Formula E race of the 2016-16 season, he has confirmed.

Writing on his Twitter, Haven made reference to his commentary duties alongside Dario Franchitti for the Hong Kong ePrix. Haven substitutes for Jack Nicholls, who has been Formula E’s lead commentator through the first two seasons of the championship.

Readers who watch Eurosport’s motor sport output will recognise Haven’s name: he is a familiar voice on their World Endurance Championship coverage and has previously commented on the likes of the GP2 Series for the channel.

With Nicholls now dedicating his time to BBC’s Formula 1 coverage for Radio 5 Live, it means his Formula E commentary duties have decreased as a result. If Nicholls is still involved in Formula E going forward, I would expect him and Haven to share lead commentator duties through the season.

I hope Haven is not a one-off deal, because there needs to be some kind of consistency across the season rather than appointing commentators on an ad-hoc basis. Saying that, I also hope Nicholls is involved, simply because his commentary with Franchitti was brilliant to listen to, race in, race out.

However, there is this…

I think Dario [Franchitti] needs to be listened to more and somebody who has some idea about what cars do when they go round circuits and the dynamics that apply to them, would be useful to be alongside him. From what I’ve heard, that may well be happening next year. – John Hindhaugh on Midweek Motorsport, September 21st (1:13:45 in).

So, there you are.

Update on September 28th – Haven will also be lead commentator for the Marrakesh ePrix on November 12th, as that race clashes with the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend. Beyond that is unknown at this stage.

Formula E heads to Channel 5, but will interest increase?

It has been confirmed today that Formula E will be broadcast on Channel 5 for the next two seasons, a move that safeguards the future of the series on free-to-air television in the UK.

Their press release confirmed the following:

– Channel 5 will broadcast every race live
– Spike TV will broadcast every qualifying session live
– Channel 5’s online social media accounts will broadcast every practice session live

From the outside, this is good news for the series moving forward. As revealed last month, ITV and Formula E parted company at the end of season two. Channel 5’s race coverage should rate better than ITV4’s coverage simply because Channel 5 reaches more viewers than ITV4. However, Channel 5 (unlike ITV) does not have a known track record of covering live motor sport.

I believe the last time Channel 5 covered live motor sport was MotoGP back in the early 2000s. I expected ITV4 and Formula E to be a good fit, but evidently that was not the case: Formula E rated below the ITV4 slot average in just about every slot the electric formula was placed into.

Channel 5’s sporting portfolio is not as big as ITV4’s which may pose another problem. I’m not as convinced that, because Formula E is on Channel 5, it will automatically find more viewers by default. A lot of promotion is needed across various outlets and channels to get the message out, before and during the season.

Given that Channel 5 does not screen first-run programming on Saturday afternoons, a re-run for Hong Kong is necessary, and I hope happens, this being a major mistake made by ITV. I wouldn’t broadcast an hour-long build-up, the interest simply isn’t there for it. ITV did it because they thought interest would be higher for the series than it turned out to be.

Broadcasting every qualifying session on Spike TV is a wise move, and should help tap into a different demographic. Likewise, broadcasting practice session across Channel 5’s social media accounts will help to a degree, although I don’t expect the sessions to draw hits beyond the hardcore aficionados. Are fans of sport likely to be following Channel 5’s social media accounts? I don’t know.

I don’t think there will be miracles straight away is the key message, time will tell. Personally I hope the deal is a success, because the more motor sport on free-to-air television, the better. No personal have been announced yet for Channel 5, nor the structure of their live race programming. Formula E suffered second season syndrome in my opinion, something that needs to be reversed for season three and beyond.

ITV and Formula E part company

ITV will not broadcast season three of the Formula E championship in the UK leaving the series without a terrestrial television free-to-air partner, this site can confirm.

The broadcaster has shown the series since its inception on ITV4, with the London ePrix aired live on ITV’s main channel. Overnight viewing figures, supplied by Overnights.tv, show that appetite for the series in the UK has declined across the two seasons so far. The inaugural 2014-15 season averaged 216k (2.6%) across the eleven rounds live on ITV and ITV4, but live coverage of the 2015-16 season averaged just 138k (1.3%) across ITV and ITV4, a drop of 42 percent. 2015-16’s number includes the Mexico ePrix which was aired live on BT Sport Europe.

Formula E’s highlights programming have not fared well on ITV’s main channel for the 2015-16 season, averaging around 170k and being beaten by all five of its terrestrial television competitors on numerous occasions. The fact of the matter is, Formula E rated below the relevant slot averages for ITV wherever and whenever it was aired. This news is not a major surprise, when you consider that horse racing will fill up most of ITV4’s Saturday content from 2017.

> February 2016: Addressing Formula E’s issues in the UK

Sources have indicated to this writer that Channel 4 or Channel 5 are candidates to pick the series up. For Channel 4, it would fit well into their growing motor sport portfolio following their recent acquisitions of Formula 1 and the World Endurance Championship. Formula E will be a nice addition to Channel 5 alongside the World Rally Championship. The BBC are not expected to get involved, but time will tell.

There is also the possibility that Formula E will be placed exclusively behind a pay wall, in which case BT Sport or Eurosport are the likely homes for the electric series. Both channels already air highlights as filler content throughout the week. It will be fascinating to monitor events as the next few weeks unfold. In my opinion, Formula E needs to stay live on free-to-air television. But, I am not convinced the ratings on ITV and ITV4 have been strong enough to persuade Channel 4 and 5 to get in on the act. Hopefully I am proven wrong on that front.

Buemi’s Formula E title victory peaks with 600k

A peak audience of 600k watched Sebastien Buemi win the 2015-16 Formula E championship on Sunday afternoon, overnight viewing figures show.

Saturday
Unlike last season, ITV did not broadcast qualifying live on either Saturday or Sunday, meaning that we only have data for the race programme itself.

The first London ePrix race of the weekend was watched by an average audience of 296k (2.9%) on ITV from 15:00 to 17:30. The show started off with 277k (3.2%) at 15:00. Worryingly, the audience dropped through the build-up, hitting a low of 157k (1.7%) at 15:25. Audiences picked back up, with 356k (3.6%) watching at 16:05. The audience peaked with 469k (4.1%) at 16:55 as Nico Prost claimed victory.

Last year, race one was broadcast on ITV4 to an audience of 274k (3.7%), peaking with 460k (5.7%). So, audiences are up very slightly year-on-year, but the raw shares are down. And that is on a higher profile channel as well. To compound this, Formula E’s audience on ITV on Saturday afternoon was significantly below their slot average. ITV’s Formula E coverage was last of the five terrestrial stations and was level with several multichannel stations, including Sky Sports 2 (cricket) and ITV3 (a Midsomer Murders repeat).

Highlights of the race on Sunday morning from 11:00 averaged 176k (2.6%), in-line with the rest of the ITV highlight shows this season.

Sunday
Numbers picked up on Sunday, but not sufficiently enough to challenge last year’s audience.

Live coverage of the second race on ITV’s main channel averaged 411k (3.8%) from 15:00 to 17:45, peaking with 600k (5.6%) at 16:45. The programme began with 206k (2.2%) at 15:00, rising to 483k (4.8%) at 16:00 for the start of the race. Numbers briefly surged to 571k (5.6%) as title rivals Buemi and Lucas di Grassi collided, before settling around 520k. The race peaked at its conclusion as Nico Prost again was victorious.

Unfortunately for Formula E, the key performance indicators year-on-year are bleak. The average audience for the season finale was down a whopping 41 percent on last year’s audience of 700k (6.8%). The peak audience halved compared with last year’s peak of 1.18m (10.7%). Yes, there was a clash with Wimbledon, but overall it is clear that season two of Formula E has failed to connect.

Again, Formula E managed to haemorrhage all of its lead-in. In this instance, that was Love Your Garden (admittedly the two audiences are not compatible but the point remains).

Analysis
If someone was writing a book called “The rise and fall of Formula E”, purely from a UK broadcasting perspective, I fear that we are already in the fall phase. Alarmist? Maybe. For whatever reason, the viewing public has not taken to Formula E in the way either they, or ITV, expected. The above numbers are proof of that pudding.

I’ll summarise the issues briefly as advertising (ITV’s was shocking, enough said whilst FE’s social media and online effort has deteriorated), scheduling (far too sporadic for a casual fan to become invested) and press interest (if the dedicated press is not making much effort, why should ITV).

If Formula E heads to pay-TV for the 2016/17 season for season three, game over for the electric series in the UK. Simple as that, and no amount of online streaming would save it. Formula E should have a plan with ITV, as they should with every broadcaster as to how their air-time and advertising efforts are maximised to the best possible way. I do not think you’ll get any UK broadcaster paying big money (if any, in the case of ITV) for Formula E.

In the space of two years, Formula E to television executives might have gone from “new series with potential to reach a new audience” to “schedule filler”. Let’s hope there are some out there who still think Formula E can turn things around and reach a bigger audience. Sadly, I think that ship is about to sail…

The 2015 London ePrix ratings report can be found here.