Scheduling: The 2015 Austrian Grand Prix

The Formula 1 paddock heads back to Europe from Montreal to the Red Bull Ring for the Austrian Grand Prix! Unless, of course, your name is Nico Hulkenberg, in which case you head from a race-winning victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans back to the Grand Prix paddock.

Sky Sports F1 will be screening the weekend’s action live, although both qualifying and the race will be simulcast live on Sky Sports 1. The move is presumably an attempt to reach a wider audience in the off-season for football, although whether it actually works or not is another matter altogether. BBC have their usual highlights programming, the race highlights are on BBC One this year with no Summer sporting clashes to contend with.

I know it isn’t related to F1, but I hope both broadcasters give Porsche’s Le Mans victory, of which Hulkenberg was a part of, adequate coverage next weekend. In my opinion, winning the biggest endurance race in the world is a more significant achievement than the latest Mercedes victory in F1, and should be recognised as such. I’m not just saying that because F1 is being criticised at the moment, historically I’m sure many F1 drivers would happily trade an F1 victory for winning Le Mans. Plus, there are several related stories hanging off that about other drivers who wish to do Le Mans in the future. As noted a few days ago, next weekend also marks the terrestrial television première of Rush, which will be shown on Channel 4.

Below are all the scheduling details you need…

BBC F1
BBC One
20/06 – 17:30 to 18:45 – Qualifying Highlights
21/06 – 17:05 to 18:35 – Race Highlights

BBC News Channel
19/06 – 18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1
20/06 – 18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1

BBC Radio
19/06 – 08:55 to 10:35 – Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
19/06 – 12:55 to 14:35 – Practice 2 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
19/06 – 21:00 to 22:00 – Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
20/06 – 12:55 to 14:05 – Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live)
21/06 – 12:55 to 15:00 – Race (BBC Radio 5 Live)

Sky Sports F1
Sessions
19/06 – 08:45 to 11:00 – Practice 1
19/06 – 12:45 to 15:00 – Practice 2
20/06 – 09:45 to 11:15 – Practice 3
20/06 – 12:00 to 14:35 – Qualifying (also Sky Sports 1)
21/06 – 11:30 to 16:15 – Race (also Sky Sports 1)
=> 11:30 – Track Parade
=> 12:00 – Pit Lane Live
=> 12:30 – Race
=> 15:30 – Paddock Live

Supplementary Programming
18/06 – 14:00 to 14:30 – Driver Press Conference
18/06 – 20:45 to 21:00 – Paddock Uncut: Austria
19/06 – 16:00 to 16:45 – Team Press Conference
19/06 – 17:00 to 18:00 – The F1 Show
21/06 – 16:15 to 17:15 – Tales from the Vault: Family Dynasties
24/06 – 20:30 to 21:00 – Midweek Report

GP2 Series – Austria (Sky Sports F1)
19/06 – 11:00 to 11:50 – Practice
19/06 – 14:50 to 15:40 – Qualifying
20/06 – 14:35 to 16:05 – Race 1
21/06 – 09:30 to 10:45 – Race 2

GP3 Series – Austria (Sky Sports F1)
20/06 – 08:45 to 09:25 – Qualifying
20/06 – 16:15 to 17:15 – Race 1
21/06 – 08:20 to 09:20 – Race 2

FILM: Rush
20/06 – 21:00 to 23:25 (Channel 4)
22/06 – 21:00 to 23:25 (4seven)

As always, if anything changes, I will update the schedule.

Hamilton’s Canadian win peaks with 6.4 million

Lewis Hamilton’s victory in the Canadian Grand Prix peaked with 6.4 million viewers in the UK, according to overnight viewing figures.

Race
The race, broadcast live on BBC One from 18:25 to 21:00, averaged 4.62m (25.0%). The number is near identical to the past two years. 2013’s race averaged 4.61m (23.6%) from 18:15 to 21:10, whilst coverage in 2014 averaged 4.59m (23.3%) from 18:20 to 21:00. To have three different years separated by just 30k shows how consistent the numbers have been for BBC’s coverage in Canada. BBC’s peak audience of 5.48m (26.0%) came as Lewis Hamilton crossed the line, marginally down on 2013’s peak of 5.55m. In the grand scheme of things, the numbers are good, perhaps they would have liked it to be slightly higher but it’s not a disappointing result by any stretch of the imagination.

Over on Sky Sports F1, their coverage averaged 619k (3.4%) from 18:00 to 21:30. Last year’s coverage across the equivalent slot averaged 818k (4.2%), which is a fairly hefty drop of 24 percent year-on-year. However, including the Sky Sports 1 simulcast, which averaged around 117k (0.6%), brings the percentage drop down to 10 percent. Which is still bad, but not as bad, although I question whether you should bundle Sky Sports 1 and F1 together and then make a comparison with the Sky Sports F1 only figure from last year. Either way, it is again not a pretty picture for Sky. Why have Sky’s ratings dropped compared to 2014, and more interestingly, will the trend continue? It was a similar story for Sky’s peaks: 1.13m last year compared with 952k this year (including Sky Sports 1), a 16 percent drop.

The combined audience of 5.35m is down on both 2013 and 2014 marginally. 2014 averaged 5.40m, whilst 2013 averaged 5.36m. It is the third race in a row which has seen viewership drop year-on-year. The Austrian Grand Prix is guaranteed to reverse that trend, with highlights being screened on BBC One this year as opposed to BBC Two last year.

Formula E drops further
The inaugural Formula E season continued to stumble towards the finishing line, hitting a near low for the Moscow ePrix. Live coverage of the race, airing on ITV4 from 13:00 to 15:30 on Saturday, averaged just 77k (1.0%). If it wasn’t for the Putrajaya ePrix, which averaged 66k (5.1%) in the early hours of the morning last November, that number would have been a series low.

The race, won by Nelson Piquet Jr, peaked with 128k (1.7%), compared with 137k (7.2%) for Putrajaya, so from a peak perspective, Moscow was a series low. The series low’s should stop now, with the London ePrix up next, but it is impossible to tell how much the numbers will increase with the series being on home turf.

The 2014 Canadian Grand Prix ratings report can be found here.

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.

Monaco Grand Prix remains above 4 million

The Monaco Grand Prix performed solidly during the Bank Holiday weekend, unofficial overnight viewing figures show.

Race
With warm weather damaging ratings across the board on Saturday and Sunday, Formula 1 escaped relatively unscathed thanks to a good figure for BBC’s highlights show, although Sky Sports F1’s live coverage was hit badly. Live coverage of the race on Sky Sports F1 averaged 797k (8.5%) from 12:00 to 15:30, which compares with 1.10m (12.1%) for the equivalent slot last year. That’s a drop of around 30 percent across both viewer and share measures. The total TV audience for the slot was marginally up yesterday for the slot, so for whatever reason, the race just didn’t perform well, unsurprisingly perhaps given that very little happened in the first 60 laps. There’s a pattern emerging that Sky’s coverage is struggling ratings wise year-on-year, which needs to be tracked as the season progresses.

BBC’s highlights programme was up year-on-year. The show averaged 3.44m (23.3%) from 17:05 to 18:05, up on last year’s highlights number of 3.33m (23.3%). That’s a good number, when you consider that last year’s highlights programme was boosted by Nico Rosberg’s qualifying incident. Overall, the combined audience of 4.23m is down 4.7 percent on last year’s audience of 4.44m. It is, however, up on 2013’s number of 4.00m. Overall, it is a good number, although I suspect one side will be a lot more pleased than the other.

Formula E and Indianapolis 500
Over the weekend, viewers failed to turn up for ITV4’s Formula E coverage from Berlin, which dropped to its lowest number since the Putrajaya ePrix last November. Live coverage on ITV4 from 14:00 to 16:30 averaged 112k (1.6%), peaking with 154k (2.2%) at 15:05. What’s unusual here is that the pre-race portion was above 100k for the majority, which is unusual, except that the programme failed to gain viewers after 15:00, and remained stagnant around 140k. It’s not a good number, being on the same weekend as the Monaco Grand Prix won’t help matters. Hopefully under the “lessons learnt” category for season one, the organisers add “don’t clash with F1.” As a general rule of thumb, having a race at the end of May won’t help anyone as all the attention from motor sport media is elsewhere.

Speaking of elsewhere, the Indianapolis 500 averaged 19k (0.1%) from 16:00 to 21:00 on ESPN. The race itself, from around 17:30 to 20:50 averaged 22k (0.1%), peaking with 46k (0.3%) at 18:15. One point I’d like to add, especially in the case of the 500, is that the numbers don’t include online viewing. Anyone (including myself) who watched via the BT Sport app will not be included in the above number, and the same applies for anyone who watched via any other sources.

The 2014 Monaco Grand Prix ratings report can be found here.

News round-up: Sky explore YouTube; online battle for readership continues

In the second round-up catching up on the stories of the past month, this blog looks at the ongoing battle for readers across various websites and the advances over on YouTube.

Sky explore YouTube, but did anyone notice?
Sky Sports conducted an interesting experiment with the Friday 24th April episode of The F1 Show. Under the #AskCrofty banner, the episode was streamed live on YouTube. I believe this was the first time that Sky have ever streamed F1 content on the video sharing website, traditionally it had only been available to pay-TV subscribers via the usual ways. Personally, I think that such an occasion would have been good to ‘big up’ with some extra advertising or hype via social media, maybe try and reach out to a few new subscribers. For whatever reason, that didn’t happen.

The episode was streamed live on YouTube to around a few hundred people, a number which can only be described as shockingly low. Yes, it is only an F1 talk show on a Friday night, but you can’t defend numbers as low as that. I’d have expected at least a few thousand people to watch it live via YouTube, given the amount of people that the Sky Sports brand reaches on Facebook, Twitter and their own website on a daily basis. This experiment failed before it even started, to be honest. The low number also in its own way confirms the low TV viewing figures that The F1 Show receives, never hitting 100k and very rarely hitting 50k.

Sticking with YouTube, and the news that the official F1 channel appears to be forming some sort of partnership with NBC. Eagle eyed viewers will have noticed that the F1 website tends to take NBC’s interviews conducted from the broadcast pen, as of course Formula One Management (FOM) own all the content that is filmed inside a race track. That relationship appears to be evolving, with NBC features possibly appearing on F1’s YouTube channel, according to NBC’s pit lane reporter Will Buxton who commented on it during a recent AMA on reddit. Obviously such a development, should it come to fruition, is positive news as it means more people will be able to experience the content that NBC’s F1 team produce.

F1 2016 schedule and the implications
The provisional 2016 Formula One schedule presents some interesting decisions for both BBC and Sky should the schedule not change. The good news is that the season would start after the conclusion of the Six Nations and after the Boat Race. The Australian Grand Prix, scheduled currently for April 3rd, would not clash with any of the big standalone events. The Chinese Grand Prix would be held on the same weekend as the Grand National, but not a direct clash. It is the Bahrain Grand Prix that would suffer, clashing with the London Marathon and the FA Cup semi finals, but on the other hand it could provide BBC with a bumper Sunday if they showed the Grand Prix live after the marathon.

However, with both the football European Championship and the Olympic Games taking place next year, it means a congested Summer of sport. Provisionally, the Canadian, Austrian and British rounds of the championship will take place during Euro 2016, whilst the Hungarian Grand Prix clashes with the opening weekend of the Olympic Games. And that hasn’t even taken into account Wimbledon…. of course, it is impossible to avoid everything. But, the promoters and governing body of the sport must ensure that F1 is given the best scheduling opportunities where possible, minimising the chance of direct clashes.

AUTOSPORT widen their horizons
The online battle for readers has increased over the past year, with multiple talent changes across AUTOSPORT and Motorsport.com. The talent changes are now in place, which should result in stronger competition across the board, as Motorsport.com tries to take a slice of the action from AUTOSPORT and other related websites. In theory, the changes can only mean good things for the consumer. The quality should increase as both sites strive to make their portfolio of content as strong as possible, irrespective of whether it is two wheels, four wheels, tarmac or gravel.

AUTOSPORT are further bolstering their line-up with a new website currently in beta, so that will only help things for them in the online department. Their commitment to all things two and four wheels was demonstrated a few weeks ago, with Kris Meeke’s victory at the Rally Argentina their lead story on the cover of AUTOSPORT Magazine, despite rallying traditionally not a strong selling point in comparison to Formula 1. Edd Straw, AUTOSPORT’s editor, justified the decision noting that he hoped that AUTOSPORT’s readership would respond to a different cover “better than expected”, whilst it was simply “the right thing to do” due to the story behind Meeke’s victory. It should be noted that some mainstream media covered Meeke’s victory, both the BBC and Sky covered the victory on their respective websites.

Elsewhere, the recent general election alongside Floyd Mayweather’s victory against Manny Pacquiao in the boxing meant that the BBC smashed their own online records, with 12.3 million browsers accessing the BBC Sport website in total on Sunday 3rd May. 8.7 million browsers were from within then UK, with the remaining 3.6 million browsers from outside the UK. In comparison, as the aftermath of the general election was felt, a whopping 28.3 million browsers accessed the BBC News website, of which 20.6 million were from within the UK. The numbers are simply staggering.