How the title decider fared around Europe

Whilst the Brazilian Grand Prix decider fared better than expected in the United Kingdom, the title decider also delivered large ratings around Europe.

Starting in Sebastian Vettel’s and Fernando Alonso’s home countries, in Germany, the race aired on RTL and Sky Deutschland. RTL recorded a race average of 10.62 million viewers (40.9% share), whilst a further 610,000 viewers watched on Sky Deutschland. Interestingly, this is a split of 95% vs 5% for Sky, which is a larger gap than in the UK where it tends to be about 82% vs 18%. It may be that the title decider brought more casual viewers to RTL, meaning that the split was larger than usual. Over in Spain, the race on Antenna 3 averaged 7.15 million viewers, with a very similar share to that in Germany – a 41.7% share. Year-on-year, the increase is massive, the race last year having averaged 2.76 million viewers which shows how much it means to broadcasters for a title to be decided at the final race and in primetime.

Outside of the those two countries, the race also performed admirably in Italy. The F1 was comfortably the winner of the day there, the race peaking with 9.65 million viewers, a 45% share. In contrasting style, Netherlands’ viewership was 674,000 viewers on RTL7, a 15.1% share, although one has to take into account the lack of Formula 1 presence with no drivers or race held in Netherlands. So, from those four countries, and the UK, you are looking at a combined viewership already of 34 million viewers. I don’t know how that compares with last year or historically, but it shows how many viewers Formula 1 reaches from a small set of countries.

Across Europe, however, a few new deals come into effect from next year. In Italy, Sky Italia will screen eleven races exclusively live next season while in Netherlands the majority of races will be aired on pay-TV station Sport1. Whilst it will have a detrimental effect for some races, the nature of the deals means that the last race of the season will always be on terrestrial television meaning that the potential for big ratings is still there. Obviously, though, there is not always the guarantee that the title decider will go on to the final round…

Brazilian Grand Prix peaks with over 7 million viewers

The concluding race of the 2012 Formula One season peaked with over 7 million viewers yesterday, overnight viewing figures show. The Brazilian Grand Prix, which saw Sebastian Vettel crowned triple world champion averaged 5.17 million viewers, a 28.3% share of the audience, from 15:00 to 18:15 on BBC One. The race peak came at 17:45 as 6.64 million viewers, a 30% share, saw Jenson Button win the race following Paul di Resta’s crash. The 15-minute breakdown for BBC One went as follows:

– 15:00 – 2.49m (18.0%)
– 15:15 – 3.11m (21.8%)
– 15:30 – 3.69m (24.9%)
– 15:45 – 4.24m (26.8%)
– 16:00 – 5.51m (31.9%)
– 16:15 – 5.74m (32.3%)
– 16:30 – 5.81m (31.6%)
– 16:45 – 6.08m (31.9%)
– 17:00 – 6.10m (30.4%)
– 17:15 – 6.44m (30.5%)
– 17:30 – 6.57m (30.6%)
– 17:45 – 6.21m (28.5%)
– 18:00 – 5.26m (23.9%)

Looking at the more detailed five-minute breakdown, the race started with 5.39 million viewers (31.6% share) at 16:00, growing to 5.87 million viewers by 16:30. Ratings dipped slightly then to 5.70 million at 16:40 before climbing back to 6.19 million ten minutes later – partly thanks to the football going to half time, that dropped from 1.94 million to 1.25 million viewers. Figures largely stayed stable around 6.1 million before climbing to 6.5 million at 17:20, remaining at that level before the 6.64 million peak at 17:45.

When combined with Sky Sports F1, who’s figures and peak I have not seen yet, the peak will rise above 7 million viewers – it is a fair assumption to say Sky Sports F1 had a peak of more than 360,000 viewers. The peak will be down on 2008 and 2009, but in line with the conclusion of the 2010 season which had 7.2 million viewers at its peak for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. It is above the average prediction from readers’ of 6.3 million viewers, however.

The F1 yesterday was probably dented by the football, shaving a potential 500,000 viewers from the audience, although I note that the denting was the other way around as well. The Chelsea vs Manchester City ‘Ford Super Sunday’ match averaged 1.30 million viewers, a 6.5% share, from 15:30 to 18:30 which is down on the comparative audience for Liverpool vs Manchester City last year and also was marginally lower than Swansea vs Liverpool just before it as well. The football peaked with 2.23 million at 17:45.

My own opinion is that the figures are good when you also consider that there were no British drivers fighting for the title, and above what I was anticipating. If Sky Sports F1 does add another 1 million to the peak, then the figures will definitely be worth smiling about for both broadcasters’. Overall though, across the season, and I hope to confirm this in the ‘2012 End of Season Verdict’ pieces in December, the ratings have been at their lowest since 2008, something that should not be overlooked.

I shall update this blog if I find the Sky figures – the ‘over 7 million’ peak may be revised to ‘just under 8 million’ if necessary.

Source: Attentional, ITV Media

Predict the peak: Brazilian Grand Prix 2012

This Sunday marks the final round of the 2012 Formula One season, and as happened many times before, once again the championship race is heading down to the wire. Live from Interlagos, Brazil, on BBC One and Sky Sports F1, Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso will battle it out to be crowned the 2012 World Drivers’ Champion.

Races in primetime, or on the fringes of primetime, and with the title on the line in the final race means that a large peak is guaranteed. Or is it? Normally yes, except the competition this Sunday looks tough and goes against the Formula One for multiple reasons.

But first, a bit of history. In the past seven years, including this year, Brazil has been the final round five times. And in those five years, the championship was decided in Brazil four times. In 2006, 2007 and 2008, Brazil was the final round and all three were title deciders:

Peak figures
– 2006 – 6.4 million (28% share) at 19:30
– 2007 – 10.4 million (50% share) at 18:30
– 2008 – 12.5 million (49% share) at 18:45 [13.1 million was the 5-minute peak]

Spot the major difference between 2006 and the latter two years? That is the difference between no British drivers in 2006 and one British driver in 2007 and 2008, fuelling huge peaks for the title deciders involving Lewis Hamilton. Whilst a 6.2 million peak back in 2006 was big for Formula 1 which was going through a rotten period ratings wise in the United Kingdom back then, nowadays a 6.4 million peak is not too much bigger than your typical peak for a European race.

Peak figures
– 2009 – 8.9 million (39% share) at 18:30
– 2010 – 5.9 million

2009 and 2010 were not at the end of the calendar, instead was both times the penultimate race of the season. 2009 was Jenson Button’s title winning race, which is why it peaked significantly higher than 2010, but even so was nearly 4 million viewers lower than 2008’s nail-biting decider. Although the 2010 season was decided in Abu Dhabi, it did not stop that particular broadcast hitting 7.2 million viewers at its peak.

Peak figures
– 2011 – 6.1 million [5-minute peak]

Last year had a 5-minute peak of 6.1 million viewers, which was not a title decider. So how will 2012 do? I think we are looking at a combined peak of about 6.1 million to 6.5 million viewers. Why?

Like last year, which went up against Liverpool vs Manchester City, this year is going up against Chelsea vs Manchester City which will again draw over 3 million peak viewers for Sky Sports. That match will knock a good 1.5 million viewers off the Formula 1 viewership. From Sky’s perspective, that is ridiculous scheduling on their behalf, but no doubt they may boast on Monday morning about having a combined 4 million viewers on Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports F1.

Also, viewing figures have been lower this year than in previous seasons, which makes me think that the audience this Sunday could be lower. If it rains though that could change things and bring in more of a casual audience, as 2008’s dramatic finale did, although the lack of British title contenders means that a peak over 10 million is very, very unlikely.

In any case, the viewing figures on Monday morning will be interesting. I have added a poll for those wishing to predict the combined peak, so comment away!

Sky Sports F1 – Top 10 ratings (week ending 11th November, 2012) – ratings delayed

Unfortunately there is nothing from BARB this week as another ratings delay has been inflicted upon us.

So the ratings for this particular week will be out probably just after Christmas.

US Grand Prix sinks in primetime

The viewing figures for yesterday’s United States Grand Prix come in a smidgen under the Canadian Grand Prix ratings from June.

Live coverage of the race programme, screened on Sky Sports F1 from 17:30 to 22:30, averaged 856,000 viewers, a 3.3 percent share, which is slightly under the figure recorded in Canada which was just below 1 million viewers. BBC’s highlights coverage averaged 2.22 million viewers, again slightly under the 2.39 million viewers recorded for Canada in the 22:25 to 00:25 slot. The combined average is therefore around 3.0 million to 3.1 million viewers, a very disappointing figure for a primetime Formula 1 race. Looking at all of the averages from 2000 onwards for USA, all of them have been above 4 million viewers, except for 2000 which was screened live on ITV2 and 2006 which had 3.46 million viewers.

You could argue that a lot of people would be watching on Sky Go with it being a primetime race, but would that make up an extra million viewers? I am not so sure. There is definitely a ‘lost’ viewership somewhere. With both averages slightly below that of Canada, it would be a fair assumption to say that the peak was below the 4.87 million peak recorded for Canada. For what it is worth though, I believe the Canada figures are more acceptable than the USA figures because Canada was not a potential title decider and Canada was in the middle of the Summer of Sport so was lost in the shuffle. If the title had been won, it would have probably been the lowest title decider ratings since the days when the championship was decided in Japan.

The Qualifying ratings, and Sky’s practice ratings, can be found here.

Note: The ratings information comes from ITV Media and Digital Spy.

Update – The peak for Sky Sports F1 was 1.63 million (6.4% share) at 19:15. The BBC F1 peak was 2.82 million (15.9% share) at 22:35, meaning the combined peak is 4.45 million viewers. Have to say I am disappointed with the Sky peak, specifically the fact that it was at 19:15 and not towards the end of the race. The peak is not the largest of the season, either, that honour going to Canada’s 1.77 million, so as predicted the peak is slightly below that of Canada. It again shows the power that a terestrial channel has that a multichannel does not, Sky Sports F1 does not get casual viewers tuning in throughout the race, meaning it fails to gain a large peak at the end. Arguably 1.63 million is large for a multichannel, but not for Formula 1 and not for a potential title decider in primetime. That peak will probably also end up lower than the Ford Super Sunday game, which was between Fulham vs Sunderland.