Inaugural F1 race in Baku peaks with 3.8 million

The inaugural European Grand Prix from Baku peaked with 3.8 million viewers yesterday, overnight viewing figures show.

Race
Channel 4’s live coverage of the race, broadcast from 13:00 to 16:25, averaged 2.03m (19.3%), peaking with 2.91m (24.4%) at 15:25. The programme won its three and a half hour slot, also comfortably beating its own slot average. Live coverage over on Sky Sports F1 averaged 465k (4.4%) from 13:00 to 16:30, with Sky Sports 1 adding 167k (1.6%) over a slightly shorter slot from 13:00 to 16:05. Sky’s combined peak came at 14:20, when 997k (9.3%) were watching the race with them.

The overall combined average of 2.64 million is the lowest for the European Grand Prix since 2006. It is, however, the third highest audience of the season only behind Bahrain and Monaco. The combined peak audience of 3.85m (32.2%) was recorded at 15:25 as Nico Rosberg won the first ever race at Baku. At the time of the peak, the audience was split 75%, 19% and 6% across the three channels that were covering the race.

Qualifying
Live coverage of the qualifying session, broadcast on Channel 4 from 13:00 to 15:20, averaged 1.08m (11.5%), peaking with 1.55m (14.6%) at 14:55. Channel 4’s programme lost out to ITV’s Euro 2016 coverage of Belgium vs Republic of Ireland, which averaged 2.31m (24.6%) whilst the F1 was on-air.

Perhaps surprisingly, the Channel 4’s F1 coverage also lost out marginally to BBC One’s coverage of Tennis from Queen’s, that programme averaged 1.11m (11.8%) across the same slot as the F1. As usual, the F1 smashed Channel 4’s own slot average. It was also ahead of the Royal Ascot coverage which followed on the main channel from 15:20 to 18:00. The horse racing coverage averaged 674k (6.2%).

Sky Sports F1’s live coverage of qualifying from 13:00 to 15:45 averaged 306k (3.2%), peaking with 613k (5.8%) at 14:50. The combined audience of 1.39 million viewers is the lowest for the European Grand Prix since 2008, with the combined peak of 2.15 million viewers following the same trend.

News round-up: BT continue IndyCar experiments; Perry confirms commitments for rest of ’16

In the last round-up covering the smaller pieces of news from the past few months, BT Sport is the main player experimenting with their portfolio as we head into the Summer.

BT Sport take IndyCar commentary in-house
I have watched a fair bit of IndyCar this season thanks to its exciting, close racing. Whilst the racing has been good the ABC commentary, led by Allen Bestwick, Eddie Cheever and Scott Goodyear, has not. Watching the Duel in Detroit last weekend, at times the trio ‘zapped’ the excitement out of races, almost as if they were dialling in from elsewhere. The broadcasting rights in America are shared between ABC and NBC and, because of the agreement in place, the remainder of the season is covered by NBC.

NBC’s commentary is superior to ABC’s offering, primarily thanks to Leigh Diffey commentary. Over in the UK, BT Sport take the American commentary feed, that is… until now. For IndyCar’s return to Road America on June 26th, commentary will be provided in-house by BT Sport, with Keith Collantine and Ben Evans leading the way. At the moment, this is just for Road America as a trial run, with the potential for the idea to turn full-time. I can see the logic behind it. At times the US commentary feels like an ‘info commercial’ in and out of the advert breaks, whereas the UK commentary will be without any interruptions.

To the outside world, the tweaks BT are making to their IndyCar coverage are very small but go a long, long way to the dedicated viewer, although the direction has been haphazard with yo-yoing in the past few years. Viewing figures for the Indianapolis 500 were slightly lower than previous years with an average of 12k (0.09%) from 15:30 to 21:00, peaking with 31k (0.16%) on BT Sport 1.

On the subject of BT Sport, for those wondering, Suzi Perry confirmed her exact commitments for the remainder of this season on her Instagram page. Perry said that she will (or has already) work on seven MotoGP races, two speedway events and Rally GB. Perry’s original commitment for the Indianapolis 500 fell through after a change of direction.

Sky’s F1 partnership with Brunswick Films continues
Sky Sports are continuing their partnership with Brunswick Films with a series of four films airing during the race day programming focussing on James Hunt. The first piece aired during the Canadian Grand Prix weekend. The remaining pieces will air during the Silverstone, Monza and Texas weekends. Rohan Tully, Brunswick Films director, said “They used to film anti-clockwise moving slowly around the track so they would get every corner. They would also have to walk with the cameras most of the time because some of the tracks didn’t even have running tracks around back in the day. So to get the footage at the time, comprehensively, was a struggle in itself.”

It is brilliant to see footage like this. However, as is always the case, it would have been good to have this as well in a standalone programme. The amount of new documentary programming that has aired on Sky Sports F1 this year stands at zero, which is incredibly disappointing for a network that will be broadcasting Formula 1 into the next decade. It would be good to have some new programming turn up, but I do not see it happening.

Is Formula E endangered in the UK?
The absence of a London ePrix in the provisional Formula E calendar for the 2016-17 season will have raised alarm bells about the future of the series in the United Kingdom. With viewing figures dropping compared to the inaugural season, the question is whether ITV will renew for season three. The incentive of screening season three decreases if London remains absent. The highest peak audience for a live race in season two remains Buenos Aires, which peaked with 248k (1.2%) back in January.

In their current state, the numbers are simply not good enough for either ITV(1) or ITV4, whichever slot you place Formula E in, the programme loses viewers hand over fist compared to the slot average. Failure to find a free-to-air home means that Formula E is essentially dead in the UK. I’m certain BT Sport or Eurosport will pick it up, but any potential for growth will have evaporated. Their best hope for keeping ITV will be letting them have it for free.

Record low audience watch Hamilton win in Canada

A peak audience of just over three million viewers watched Lewis Hamilton win the Canadian Grand Prix as the start of Euro 2016 kicked all competition into touch over the weekend, unofficial UK overnight viewing figures show

Race
Live coverage of the race, broadcast live on Sky Sports 1 and F1 from 18:00 to 21:3o, averaged 853k (4.0%). The split across Sky’s channels was 620k (2.9%) on F1 compared with 234k (1.1%) on Sky Sports 1, 73:27 in the dedicated channel’s favour. The peak audience of 1.41m (6.3%) came at 20:30 as Hamilton claimed victory. It was a similar ratio at the time of peak, albeit skewed slightly towards the casual channel: 68:34 but still in Sky Sports F1’s favour. At the same time over on BBC One, an average audience of 6.31m (29.0%) watched Germany beat Ukraine from 19:35.

In isolation, I think Sky’s figures are pretty good. In 2012, the last time Sky showed Canada exclusively live, the average audience was 945k (4.3%), peaking with 1.77m. That is a drop of between 10 and 20 percent, but when you consider the trend towards other methods of viewing and the comparatively long time period (four years), I don’t think that the figures for Sky are bad. It is not great to lose viewers, but the figures are not shocking. As always, a reminder that viewing figures exclude Sky Go, Now TV and All4.

Highlights of the Montreal round, broadcast on Channel 4 from 22:40 to 00:40, averaged just 1.30m (15.3%), peaking with 1.72m. Both numbers are comfortably the channel’s lowest of the season so far. I appreciate that audiences are lower late at evening, but I was not expecting a drop of that magnitude for the late night highlights programmes. It is extremely rare to see the terrestrial TV and pay TV numbers so close, but yesterday the ratio between Channel 4 and Sky was 60:40 (average) and 55:45 (peak).

The combined audience of 2.15 million viewers is the second lowest of the season so far. The audience that watched yesterday’s race was the lowest as far as records go back for a North American round. Make no mistake about it: yes, the trip to Canada is to serve fans in Canada, but it is also a shop window in European primetime for Formula 1 regardless of whether there is a football competition or not. Miss out on that shop window, and you miss out on a raft of new viewers.

Qualifying
Live coverage of Wales vs Slovakia on BBC One heavily dented Sky Sports F1’s broadcast of qualifying, overnight viewing figures show. Whilst a peak audience of 8.00m (46.1%) were watching BBC One at 18:50, 370k (2.1%) were watching Sky Sports F1. As soon as the Wales game finished, the audience jumped from 370k at 18:50 to 602k (3.5%) at 19:00, peaking with 639k (3.7%) at 19:05 as Lewis Hamilton claimed pole position.

The average audience for Sky’s F1 broadcast from 17:00 to 19:45 averaged a low 285k (1.8%), suffering as a result of the tough competition. Channel 4’s highlights programme at 22:00 averaged 1.22m (8.0%). I’m pleasantly surprised by this number, I was expecting it to be the opposite side of one million. It may well have benefited from channel hoppers following the conclusion of the England game.

The combined audience of 1.51 million viewers is the lowest for Montreal since 2006. Every year from 2008 to 2015 averaged over two million viewers. Year-on-year, the audience has halved, with 3.06 million watching last year.

The 2015 Canadian Grand Prix ratings report can be found here.

Scheduling: The 2016 European Grand Prix

After a quick dash over to North America, Formula 1 heads back over to the East for the first ever race in Azerbaijan! Badged as the European Grand Prix, the race takes place on a street circuit in Baku.

The sporting opposition this weekend consists of four events: the Royal Ascot, Tennis from Queen’s, Euro 2016 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans (schedule here). The qualifying session clashes with Belgium vs Republic of Ireland; however, Sunday thankfully has no football clash. Of course, as widely publicised, the qualifying session will also clash with the first hour of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The race itself will clash with the chequered flag of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It is the first time Le Mans has clashed with the F1 since 2011, which is a nonsense scenario that hopefully will not be repeated in the foreseeable future. Elsewhere, Channel 4’s coverage of practice two moves to More4 due to coverage of the Royal Ascot.

On the personnel front, the big news is that Martin Brundle will not be present again with Sky’s Formula 1 team in Baku due to his participation in the famous endurance race. Originally, Brundle was only set to miss Baku, but this was extended to cover Canada as a result of a “medical procedure” that Brundle had following the Monaco Grand Prix. Paul di Resta is again alongside David Croft in the commentary box in Baku.

Over on Channel 4, Eddie Jordan returns to F1 broadcasting, his first live appearance with the channel since they took over from BBC at the end of 2015.

Channel 4 F1
Sessions
17/06 – 09:55 to 11:35 – Practice 1 (Channel 4)
17/06 – 13:55 to 15:35 – Practice 2 (More4)
18/06 – 10:55 to 12:05 – Practice 3 (Channel 4)
18/06 – 13:00 to 15:20 – Qualifying (Channel 4)
19/06– 13:00 to 16:30 – Race (Channel 4)
19/06 – 23:25 to 00:30 – Highlights (Channel 4)

Sky Sports F1
Sessions
17/06 – 09:45 to 11:50 – Practice 1
17/06 – 13:45 to 16:00 – Practice 2
18/06 – 10:45 to 12:15 – Practice 3
18/06 – 13:00 to 15:45 – Qualifying
19/06 – 12:30 to 17:15 – Race
=> 12:30 – Track Parade (also Sky Sports 1)
=> 13:00 – Pit Lane Live (also Sky Sports 1)
=> 13:30 – Race (also Sky Sports 1 – until 16:00 only)
=> 16:30 – Paddock Live

Supplementary Programming
16/06 – 12:00 to 12:30 – Driver Press Conference
16/06 – 20:45 to 21:00 – Paddock Uncut
17/06 – 16:00 to 16:30 – Team Press Conference
17/06 – 16:30 to 17:00 – The F1 Show
22/06 – 20:30 to 21:00 – F1 Report: Review

BBC Radio F1
17/06 – 09:55 to 11:35 – Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
18/06 – 10:55 to 12:05 – Practice 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
18/06 – 13:55 to 15:05 – Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
19/06 – 14:00 to 16:00 – Race (BBC Radio 5 Live)

British Touring Car Championship – Croft (ITV4)
19/06 – 11:00 to 18:15 – Races

GP2 Series – Europe (Sky Sports F1)
17/06 – 08:00 to 08:50 – Practice
17/06 – 11:50 to 12:30 – Qualifying
18/06 – 09:00 to 10:30 – Race 1
19/06 – 10:55 to 12:10 – Race 2

Virgin Australia Supercars – Darwin Triple Crown (BT Sport 1)
18/06 – 07:15 to 09:00 – Race 12
19/06 – 04:30 to 06:45 – Race 13

World Superbikes –Misano
18/06 – 09:15 to 13:15 – Qualifying and Race 1 (Eurosport)
19/06 – 10:00 to 13:15 – Race 2 (Eurosport 2)

Last updated on June 18th, to reflect Sky Sports 1 also covering the Track Parade and Pit Lane Live.

di Resta to replace Brundle as Sky’s co-commentator in Canada

Paul di Resta will replace Martin Brundle as Sky’s co-commentator for the Canadian Grand Prix, it has been confirmed.

Brundle was already set to miss the European Grand Prix in Baku as previously reported due to the clash with the 24 Hours of Le Mans. However, his absense will now be extended to cover Montreal as well. Writing on Twitter, Brundle said that he had a “medical procedure last week, [which] went extremely well.” As a result, Brundle will not be in Montreal. Sky’s lead commentator David Croft has confirmed that di Resta will be replacing Brundle in Canada. I assume di Resta will also cover for Brundle in Baku as well.

Although the circumstances are unforseen, this is the first time that Brundle has missed two consecutive races since he started his commentary duties in 1997 with ITV. Brundle last missed Canada between 1997 and 1999 with Mark Blundell and Derek Warwick replacing him in those years.