Live streaming fails to impress for inaugural Mexico City ePrix

The inaugural Mexico City ePrix peaked with 331k across live and highlights this past weekend, overnight viewing figures show. However, numbers were dented by the lack of live coverage on ITV’s portfolio of channels and failed to pick up through live streaming.

Live coverage of the Formula E race, broadcast live on BT Sport Europe on Saturday (12th March), averaged 20k (0.12%) from 21:45 to 23:30, peaking with 38k (0.21%) at 22:00. It was the first time that BT Sport had covered the series live, as ITV4 were covering the snooker World Grand Prix tournament on Saturday evening. ITV4 aired delayed coverage from 23:15, which was watched by a further 38k (0.6%), peaking with 75k (0.8%) at 23:30.

The combined ‘live’ audience of 58k and combined peak audience of 113k is significantly down on the live ITV numbers for Punta del Este and Buenos Aires. Highlights of the race, broadcast on ITV’s main channel from 09:30 to 10:25 on Sunday morning, averaged 163k (2.5%), peaking with 218k (3.3%). It is clear now that the highlights programme has settled into this region, although the Mexico programme did not see any uplift with viewers tuning in who would normally watch the live broadcast. The total combined audience is therefore 220k with a combined peak audience of 331k across the three programmes.

Elsewhere, the 2016 IndyCar Series began on BT Sport//ESPN on Sunday evening. The race, airing live from 16:30 to 19:10, averaged 15k (0.09%), peaking with 29k. If anything, that is where IndyCar tends to be in the viewing figures, so no change on that front.

Live streaming
Despite Formula E not airing live on ITV4, a jump in numbers for their live streaming did not materialise. Around 2,000 devices were watching Formula E’s live stream of the Mexico City ePrix on YouTube, with around 260 devices active on the Daily Motion stream (note: I made reference to ‘people’ as opposed to ‘devices’ on Twitter, the latter is the more correct terminology – four people could be watching one device).

Earlier on Saturday, around 3,200 devices were watching the Indy Lights race on YouTube, with 2,200 devices watching Formula E’s qualifying session. The reason Formula E’s number is higher for qualifying than the race is because the race stream would have been geo-blocked in a lot more countries than a few hours earlier. Either way, these numbers are very low and show why, for the likes of Formula E, television is still king and should not be forgotten.

It is worth emphasising that, whilst YouTube is huge, live streaming on YouTube is not, the most popular stream as I write this has 4,700 devices watching it. In comparison, over on Twitch, the top 20 streams all have over 4,700 devices watching. The most popular stream has 32,800 viewers/devices watching it as of writing. This explains, to some degree, why Formula E is trying to tap into the Twitch market as that is where the viewers are, at the moment Twitch is one of Formula E’s competitors despite the two not being in direct competition.

Scheduling: The 2016 Mexico City ePrix / IndyCar opener

Formula E heads into new territory in more ways than one for round five of the 2015-16 season. Next weekend is the first race for the series in Mexico, but also is the first race not to be shown live on ITV in the UK. Due to a snooker event, ITV4 will be airing delayed coverage later in the evening.

ITV’s delayed coverage will have the usual studio build-up and race reaction with Jennie Gow presenting alongside Jaime Alguersuari and Marc Priestley. On the Formula E World Feed, Scott Speed is deputising for Dario Franchitti, the latter is in St. Petersburg for IndyCar next weekend. It means that Jack Nicholls and Franchitti will now not be together until the Paris ePrix on April 23rd, as Nicholls will be missing the Long Beach round due to his Formula 1 commitments with BBC Radio 5 Live.

> FREE Full Race Replay – 2015 Beijing ePrix
> FREE Full Race Replay – 2015 Putrajaya ePrix
> FREE Full Race Replay – 2015 Punta del Este ePrix
> FREE Full Race Replay – 2015 Buenos Aires ePrix

As a result of ITV4 not showing the race live, it means that the race will be available for UK viewers to watch online as well as BT Sport Europe. It is the first time that BT have shown a Formula E race live. Obviously the viewing figures for both that and the YouTube stream will be interesting to monitor as a comparison to ITV4’s usual numbers.

Next weekend marks the beginning of the aforementioned IndyCar Series from St. Petersburg. The series will again be broadcast on BT Sport in 2016 as part of a deal that runs through to the end of 2022.

The schedule as usual can be found below:

Formula E – Mexico City (online via FIAFormulaE.com and YouTube)
12/03 – 14:10 to 15:10 – Practice 1
12/03 – 16:25 to 17:10 – Practice 2
12/03 – 17:45 to 19:10 – Qualifying
12/03 – 21:30 to 23:30 – Race

Formula E – Mexico City
12/03 – 21:30 to 23:30 – Race Live (Virgin Media – channel 997)
12/03 – 21:45 to 23:30 – Race Live (BT Sport Europe)
12/03 – 23:15 to 01:15 – Race (ITV4)
13/03 – 09:30 to 10:25 – Highlights (ITV)

IndyCar Series – St. Petersburg (BT Sport//ESPN)
13/03 – 16:30 to 19:30 – Race

As always I will update the schedule if anything changes.

Update on March 11th at 19:40 – Virgin Media will be showing the race live in the channel slot 997 tomorrow evening. The reason for the strange channel number is for Virgin Media customers that do not have access to BT Sport Europe. It will be interesting to see if the programme has the BT Sport Europe DOG. If it does not have BT Sport graphics, then this is a clean feed straight from Formula E, which will be the first time we’ve had that happen for Formula E in the UK. There’s clearly some flexibility in the contract that allows this to happen.

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.

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.

Scheduling: The 2015 Canadian Grand Prix / Moscow ePrix

Formula 1 heads to North America for its annual June stop in Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix! Both BBC and Sky Sports will be covering the action live over the weekend.

Elsewhere, on ITV, it is a congested line-up with the UEFA Champions League Final (for the last time live on ITV before it heads to BT Sport), England vs Ireland in a football friendly and the French Open Finals. What that means is that the BTCC action on ITV4 on Sunday 7th June is split into two shows, with the French Open airing on ITV4 whilst ITV covers the friendly. I assume BTCC will be on ITV.com from 13:30 to 15:15 on the Sunday, but I haven’t seen that confirmed.

Formula E is also racing next weekend from Moscow, however qualifying will not be broadcast on ITV4 as was the case for Monaco and Berlin. It will be interesting to see if it returns for London’s races. Below are all the scheduling details you need…

BBC F1
BBC TV – Sessions
05/06 – 14:45 to 16:45 – Practice 1 (BBC Two)
05/06 – 19:00 to 20:35 – Practice 2 (BBC Three)
06/06 – 14:55 to 16:00 – Practice 3 (BBC Two)
06/06 – 17:00 to 19:15 – Qualifying (BBC One)
07/06 – 18:25 to 21:00 – Race (BBC One)
07/06 – 21:00 to 22:00 – Forum (BBC Red Button)

BBC Radio – Sessions
05/06 – 14:55 to 16:35 – Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
06/06 – 14:55 to 16:05 – Practice 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
06/06 – 17:55 to 19:05 – Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live)
07/06 – 18:30 to 21:00 – Race (BBC Radio 5 Live)

Supplementary Programming
05/06 – 21:30 to 22:00 – Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)
06/06 – 16:00 to 17:00 – F1 Rewind (BBC Two)

Sky Sports F1
Sessions
05/06 – 14:45 to 16:50 – Practice 1
05/06 – 18:45 to 21:00 – Practice 2
06/06 – 14:45 to 16:15 – Practice 3
06/06 – 17:00 to 19:45 – Qualifying
07/06 – 17:30 to 22:15 – Race
=> 17:30 – Track Parade
=> 18:00 – Pit Lane Live (also Sky Sports 1)
=> 18:30 – Race (also Sky Sports 1)
=> 21:30 – Paddock Live

Supplementary Programming
04/06 – 16:00 to 16:30 – Driver Press Conference
04/06 – 20:45 to 21:00 – Paddock Uncut: Canada
05/06 – 21:00 to 21:45 – Team Press Conference
05/06 – 23:00 to 00:00 – The F1 Show
10/06 – 20:30 to 21:00 – Midweek Report

Formula E – Moscow (online via FIAFormulaE.com)
06/06 – 06:10 to 07:10 – Practice 1
06/06 – 08:25 to 09:10 – Practice 2
06/06 – 09:45 to 11:10 – Qualifying

Formula E – Moscow (ITV4)
06/06 – 13:00 to 15:30 – Race
07/06 – 10:10 to 11:15 – Highlights

BTCC – Oulton Park (ITV4)
07/06 – 11:15 to 13:30 – Part 1
07/06 – 15:15 to 18:30 – Part 2

IndyCar Series – Texas (BT Sport 2)
07/06 – 01:00 to 04:00 – Race

As always, if anything changes, I’ll update the schedule.