Sky Sports F1 – Top 10 ratings (week ending 1st July, 2012)

From BARB:

1 – 33k – The F1 Show (Friday, 20:00)
2 – 25k – Canadian Grand Prix Highlights (Monday, 16:30)
3 – 20k – 2009 British Grand Prix (Sunday, 17:00)
4 – 15k – Fast Track (Wednesday, 19:00)
5 – 15k – 2008 British Grand Prix (Saturday, 21:40)
6 – 10k – 2007 British Grand Prix (Saturday, 18:01)
7 – 10k – Fast Track (Tuesday, 19:30)
8 – 10k – GP Classics: 11th GP D’Europe (Friday, 19:40)
9 – 10k – 2011 British Grand Prix (Sunday, 21:30)
10 – 8k – The F1 Show (Sunday, 15:00)

Not a great set of figures there. The Classic races did not do as well as in Monaco, although the scheduling left a lot to be desired. I would be more likely to watch them on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon when nothing is on compared to a Saturday night when there is programming to watch on. Hopefully they revert to the Monaco scheduling, and maybe actually put some Classic races on. 2007 definitely is not a classic by any stretch of the imagination.

The thing is that they need to promote it more, I think some people have the assumption that outside of The F1 Show, they screen absolutely nothing outside of race weekends, which is actually quite true when you think about it. They need to make more of an effort, as I have said numerous times on this blog.

The F1 Show also slumped to its lowest figure yet. Not quite sure why, but for whatever reason, it did. Over on Sky Sports 3, the Live Goodwood Festival of Speed did very well, with 67,000 viewers watching on Sunday afternoon. A further 30,000 watched the repeat later in the evening on Sky Sports 4. Both of those figures dwarf the set of Sky Sports F1 figures above. Last year, live coverage of the festival had 60,000 viewers, while in 2010 it had 89,000 viewers.

British Grand Prix holds up well against Murray onslaught

So a few weeks ago, I wrote a piece on here regarding the scheduling of yesterday’s British Grand Prix. As I noted in that particular piece:

“One has to wonder if the conclusion of the British Grand Prix is less important than the first few sets of the Wimbledon Men’s Singles final, and also whether the Qualifying session is less important than the Women’s Singles final.”

I have to admit, at that time, I thought no, thinking to myself that it will be an all foreign final and Andy Murray will once again get knocked out in the Quarter or Semi Final. Of course, I was left eating humble pie….

He didn’t win, though. He did however, draw an absolutely mammoth peak of 16.9 million viewers to BBC One yesterday at 18:00 and an 11.45 million viewership average throughout. In comparison, the highest Formula 1 race on record, the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix, had 8.8 million. So, in reality, the BBC made completely the right decision, as I admitted on Friday on Twitter!

With the mammoth peak, it is no surprise that the F1 was dented, and although the British Grand Prix had its worst viewing figures since 2007, the figures were not bad at all considering the opposition. The weighted programme average was 3.09 million (20.9%) from 12:05 to 15:30. The percentage share, for anyone wondering, is a lot lower than usual due to there being a lot more people watching TV than usual, again due to the Wimbledon final.

I do not have the exact Sky Sports F1 figures, but again you are looking at around about 0.4 million to 0.5 million, which means a combined average of about 3.5 million. Which is actually very respectable when you consider the viewing figures for BBC One. It is not far away from the Monaco Grand Prix figure either. If anything, the Grand Prix did a lot better than I was anticipating. James Allen has helpfully tweeted a peak of 4.2 million for BBC Two, so factoring in Sky Sports F1 will take you to a peak in the 5 million region. I am not sure a ratio is relevant really considering the mammoth opposition, but you are looking at 84% to 16%, approximately give-or-take depending on the exact peak figures.

The delayed Qualifying figure did not do well, a peak of 2.3 million (22.7%) at 13:15 on BBC Two, with an average of 1.9 million viewers. Add an extra 0.2 million or 0.3 million for Sky, which gives you about 2.2 million viewers. Not a very good figure, and the worst for the British Grand Prix Qualifying since 2008. If anything, the rain delay hindered things rather than helped things, as all the casual viewers would have flocked to BBC One when the rain delay started as the Women’s Wimbledon final was getting underway.

One thing that the ratings show is that the scheduling all around has been awful this year from the FIA. The Canadian Grand Prix went against Euro 2012 directly. The British Grand Prix went against the Wimbledon final, and the Hungarian Grand Prix is going to go against the London 2012 Olympics. Who planned this exactly? The schedule should have gone something like this:

– 27th May: Monaco
– 10th June: Europe (Valencia)
– 24th June: Germany
– 1st July: Britain
– 15th July: Canada
– 19th August: Hungary
– 2nd September: Belgium

That just about directly avoids the major sporting events, with nothing directly clashing. I can only assume that there are logistical issues that prevents an event the week before Valencia or a week after in terms of transportation. There would still be a five week break halfway through the season, just slightly different with Hungary after the break rather than before it.

As always, your comments and thoughts are welcome.

McLaren launch animation unit with new animation series ‘Tooned’ on Sky Sports F1

Yes, I did just write that title. According to Broadcast, McLaren have launched an animation unit with ‘Tooned’, a CGI series debuting on Sky Sports F1 this Sunday. The CGI series will feature the voices of Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and comedian Alexander Armstrong.

Furthermore, Marketing Magazine says each episode is three minutes long, with twelve episodes in total. Either way, I expect it to be either funny or cringeworthy (or I am just not in the age bracket that the animations will be aimed at).

'Tooned', a CGI series coming to Sky Sports F1.

With relation to the CGI’s, Ron Dennis said that “Tooned is the result of extensive market research carried out by McLaren, which John [Allert], our Group Brand Director, and I then analysed carefully together. It’s an exciting and creative concept that addresses the insights gleaned from our research in a very innovative way”, adding that the animations would create a more “demographically accessible ‘face’ for McLaren”.

The animations are a joint venture between McLaren Animations and Oscar award winning animation studio Framestore.

Sky Sports F1 schedule times for GP2, GP3 and Season Review repeats next weekend

Next weekend, Sky Sports F1 is showing every GP2 and GP3 Series race from the season so far. Which is a pretty good idea when you think about it, instead of showing the latest F1 race, as it is quite easy to miss a GP2 or GP3 race, so it is a good idea for them to repeat them back-to-back.

Sky are also going back to the start with their Season Reviews. They did broadcast 1988 onwards beginning in March when the channel launched, and are now going back in a full circle starting back in 1988. Here are all the times you need if you want to play catch up.

GP2 Series – Saturday 14th July
07:00 – Malaysia, Race 1
08:25 – Malaysia, Race 2
09:30 – Bahrain, Race 1 (Round 1)
10:55 – Bahrain, Race 2 (Round 1)
12:00 – Bahrain, Race 1 (Round 2)
13:25 – Bahrain, Race 2 (Round 2)
14:30 – Spain, Race 1
15:55 – Spain, Race 2
17:00 – Monaco, Race 1
18:30 – Monaco, Race 2
19:35 – Europe, Race 1
21:00 – Europe, Race 2
22:05 – Britain, Race 1
23:30 to 00:35 – Britain, Race 2

GP3 Series – Sunday 15th July
07:50 – Spain, Race 1
08:40 – Spain, Race 2
09:30 – Monaco, Race 1
10:20 – Monaco, Race 2
11:10 – Europe, Race 1
12:00 – Europe, Race 2
12:50 – Britain, Race 1
13:40 to 14:30 – Britain, Race 2

The EPG should have each race in a separate ‘programme’, so if you for example missed the second GP2 race at Monaco, you can just record that race if you wished to. Although they are not screening full Classic F1 races, the above is definitely a good way to utilise the weekend on Sky Sports F1.

Aside from that, there are the Season Review programmes, which are as follows:

– 1988: 21:00 to 22:15, Thursday 12th July
– 1989: 22:15 to 23:25, Thursday 12th July
– 1990: 21:00 to 22:00, Friday 13th July
– 1991: 23:00 to 00:10, Friday 13th July
– 1992: n/a
– 1993: 22:00 to 23:05, Sunday 15th July
– 1994: 23:05 to 00:05, Sunday 15th July
– 1995: 21:00 to 22:00, Monday 16th July
– 1996: 21:00 to 22:00, Tuesday 17th July
– 1997: 21:00 to 22:00, Wednesday 18th July
– 1998: 21:00 to 22:00, Thursday 19th July

As the channel had only just launched when the majority of the above were shown, chances are a lot of people did not spot them first time around, so definitely worth watching if you did not see them.

As always, timings are subject to change, and I shall update this blog if they do.

Sky Sports F1 confirm Allan McNish as pundit for next 3 races

Sky Sports F1 have today confirmed via their Twitter account that Allan McNish will be a pundit with them for the next three races. McNish will be with the team for the British, German and Hungarian Grand Prix’s.

This will be McNish’s third appearance with the Sky Sports F1 team, having previously appeared with them for Monaco on The F1 Show and throughout the European Grand Prix race weekend.

As I’ve noted on my Twitter account several times, I think McNish is one of the best pundits on the Sky Sports F1 team with his breadth of knowledge on all areas of Formula 1 and motor sport. McNish will likely be on the Sky Pad alongside Georgie Thompson and commentating alongside David Croft for practice while Anthony Davidson continues his recovery after his crash at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

On a side note, Johnny Herbert’s five race deal expires this weekend, so it shall be interesting if we see him later in the season, while Damon Hill will be with the Sky F1 team as well for this weekend’s British Grand Prix.