969 replies to this topic

[Ensign]

Anyone want to join me in predicting the rating for Brazil? Primetime always means big ratings - and with it on BBC One, its anyone's guess how well it'll do.

...Can it beat that figure this year? An advantage is that ratings have been generally up this - but a disadvantage is that it isn't the final race of the season, but considering that the title could still be won, it should still bring in big rating. Considering how exciting last year's finale was, I'm not sure if I'd be surprised if it beat the rating it had last year.

I'm not living in the UK this year but just reading the online media it doesn't look like there is a as much hype this year. Button limping across the line isn't as gripping as last year's "will Lewis blow it again". With that in mind it shouldn't do as well. However, the rating may be helped by an outside F1 reality: there's no top league European football next Sunday!

[DOF_power]

The volatility is simply mind bogling.

Only 20 to 25% of the viewers are really in it for the sport. The F1 foundation is nothing more then a castle of cards. Thank goodness Ferrari is still around.

[Ensign]

I'm not living in the UK this year but just reading the online media it doesn't look like there is a as much hype this year. Button limping across the line isn't as gripping as last year's "will Lewis blow it again". With that in mind it shouldn't do as well. However, the rating may be helped by an outside F1 reality: there's no top league European football next Sunday!

Oops. Bit of a brain cramp! Brazil isn't next week but the week after

The football that will be on during the Brazilian GP doesn't look too threatening. The 2nd half of Wigan v Man City will in be on when the race starts. Looking at the other channels I see ITV has yet to schedule anything between 4 and 6pm. (Last minute movie repeat perhaps?) BBC2 has something called Meerkat Manor on for the first hour of the race then news. Channel 4 has Deal Or No Deal, then Scrapheap Challenge, then news. Five has a couple of 1990s old matinee style kids movies, The Rocketeer and The Phantom. European rugby, golf, and NFL from the US on Sky Sports. Snooker on Eurosport. ALMS is on Motors TV at the same time as the Brazilian race.

So unless I'm seriously underestimating the appeal of shows like Scrapheap Challenge and run of the mill movies, other than the football on Sky Sports 1 (for the first hour only) the Brazilian GP will have no serious competition for viewers. Perhaps it will top last year's rating after all.

[D.M.N.]

For reference:

1996 - 5.7m - BBC2
1997 - 6.8m
1998 - 6.1m
1999 - 7.5m
2000 - 7.4m
2001 - 6.2m (32%)
2002 - 5.9m (??%)
2003 - 7.2m (??%) - 17:20 to 20:10
--- Brazilian round moves to end of season October date
2004 - 4.1m (20%) - 17:20 to 19:50
2005 - 4.3m (??%) - 17:20 to 19:50
2006 - 4.9m (24%) - 17:00 to 20:00
2007 - 7.3m (41%) - 16:00 to 19:00
2008 - 8.8m (42%) - 16:00 to 19:15 *highest in F1 history

[D.M.N.]

Viewing figures for Brazil Qualifying should be out in the next hour or two. As it went over to BBC Two, there should be two seperate figures - one for BBC One and for BBC Two. I'll even post the Strictly figure if necessary.

I doubt F1 will get 8.8m now tomorrow after Button qualifying 14th though.

[D.M.N.]

Formula 1 - The Brazilian Grand Prix Qualifying - Ratings
The OK....

BBC One - 17:20 to 19:30
- average: 4.4m (24%)
- 18:00 to 18:15 - 4.0m (23.2%) vs. 3.3m (19.2%) on ITV1
- 18:15 to 18:30 - 4.1m (22.0%) vs. 3.9m (21.2%)
- 18:30 to 18:45 - 4.3m (22.4%) vs. 5.0m (26.0%) * note mammoth jump for ITV1, red flag for F1
- 18:45 to 19:00 - 4.4m (22.0%) vs. 5.5m (27.8%)
- 19:00 to 19:15 - 5.4m (25.9%) vs. 6.1m (29.5%)
- 19:15 to 19:30 - 6.6m (30.5%) vs. 6.2m (28.7%) * big jump for BBC One, but for Strictly

And the very, very bad....

BBC Two - 19:30 to 20:45
- average: 1.7m (6.8%)
- peak: 1.9m (7%) from 20:30 to 20:45
- Between 19:30 and 20:45, BBC One had 7.9m (31%) and ITV1 had 9m (35%)
- lowest rating all season

BBC's worst possible enemy yesterday was the weather. The weather struck, channel changed, ratings bombed.

Edited by D.M.N., 18 October 2009 - 09:28.

[Crazy Ninja]

What about online viewing figures, can they be measured?

I know i had to go watch it on the PC once strictly came on

Also, im surprised there was even 1.7 million viewers left after 7.30. Us F1 fans have incredible patience

Edited by Crazy Ninja, 18 October 2009 - 09:56.

[Massa_f1]

Formula 1 - The Brazilian Grand Prix Qualifying - Ratings
The OK....

BBC One - 17:20 to 19:30
- average: 4.4m (24%)
- 18:00 to 18:15 - 4.0m (23.2%) vs. 3.3m (19.2%) on ITV1
- 18:15 to 18:30 - 4.1m (22.0%) vs. 3.9m (21.2%)
- 18:30 to 18:45 - 4.3m (22.4%) vs. 5.0m (26.0%) * note mammoth jump for ITV1, red flag for F1
- 18:45 to 19:00 - 4.4m (22.0%) vs. 5.5m (27.8%)
- 19:00 to 19:15 - 5.4m (25.9%) vs. 6.1m (29.5%)
- 19:15 to 19:30 - 6.6m (30.5%) vs. 6.2m (28.7%) * big jump for BBC One, but for Strictly

And the very, very bad....

BBC Two - 19:30 to 20:45
- average: 1.7m (6.8%)
- peak: 1.9m (7%) from 20:30 to 20:45
- Between 19:30 and 20:45, BBC One had 7.9m (31%) and ITV1 had 9m (35%)
- lowest rating all season

BBC's worst possible enemy yesterday was the weather. The weather struck, channel changed, ratings bombed.

Where do you get all this info. I find it intreasting reading.

[D.M.N.]

What about online viewing figures, can they be measured?

I know i had to go watch it on the PC once strictly came on

Also, im surprised there was even 1.7 million viewers left after 7.30. Us F1 fans have incredible patience

Online figures not register, unless BBC release figures.

Where do you get all this info. I find it intreasting reading.

Some of it is posted on various forums - to get full access, it costs over £1,000+.

[MrAerodynamicist]

I wonder if they shot themselves in the foot by all the talk of it being called off rather than restarted, thus ensuring that lots of people gave up having assumed it would not restart.

[Greem]

My other half was away, so I didn't realise it had all been disrupted as I was watching Kung Fu Panda with the kids while gorging on Domino's pizza (yum yum). Unfortunately my dumbass PVR stopped recording at the allocated time... just as Q2 was under way.

I avoided all news, sport and websites, sat down to watch the recording and realised fairly quickly that it wasn't all going to fit in the programme. Balls!

At least I'll get to watch the race while she makes the tea

[Mandzipop]

To be fair it didn't do too bad as it was up against strictly and x-factor towards the end.

[Brawn BGP 001]

To be fair it didn't do too bad as it was up against strictly and x-factor towards the end.

I can testify by being kicked out of the living room at 7:15.

Edited by Brawn BGP 001, 18 October 2009 - 11:24.

[D.M.N.]

I think it proves though that some people don't know where the button '2' is on their remote, hence BBC1 >> BBC2.

[magicon]

Has bernie's insistence that the asian races be run in evening/night translated into higher ratings?

[D.M.N.]

Top 10 "American" Race Broadcasts
01 - 08.80m - 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix (ITV1)
02 - 07.52m - 1999 Brazilian Grand Prix (ITV1)
03 - 07.37m - 2000 Brazilian Grand Prix (ITV1)
04 - 07.24m - 1998 Canadian Grand Prix (ITV1)
05 - 07.15m - 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix (ITV1)
06 - 07.08m - 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix (ITV1)
07 - 06.84m - 1997 Brazilian Grand Prix (ITV1)
--> 08 - 06.60m - 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix (BBC1)
09 - 06.38m - 1999 Canadian Grand Prix (ITV1)
10 - 06.23m - 1998 Argentine Grand Prix (ITV1)

Will do full analysis later....

Edited by D.M.N., 19 October 2009 - 10:17.

[dank]

I don't know if I'm really that surprised by the 2.2m difference in viewing figures this year compared to 2008. I guess viewers didn't really know if Button would clinch the title yesterday, unlike last year when it was do-or-die for Hamilton going into the very last race?

(Edited as the forum had a bit of a spaz and quoted a previous post when I never!)

Edited by dank, 19 October 2009 - 10:33.

[D.M.N.]

2007
- Average: 7.3m (41%)
- Race Start: 8.1m (48%)
- Peak: 10.4m (50%)

2008
- Average: 8.8m (41%)
- Race Start: 8.8m (43%)
- Peak: 12.5m (49%) @ 18:45

2009
- Average: 6.6m (35%)
- Race Start: 7.1m (40%)
- Peak: 8.9m (39%) @ 18:30

[kar]

Probably also a bit to do with the lack of the big teams McLaren/Ferrari figuring in things. It's a bit like the FA cup with nowhere united versus blackstump city.

[dank]

Probably also a bit to do with the lack of the big teams McLaren/Ferrari figuring in things. It's a bit like the FA cup with nowhere united versus blackstump city.

I doubt that it's team related as Brawn's rags-to-riches story seems to have found a place in the affections of the British public.

[kar]

I doubt that it's team related as Brawn's rags-to-riches story seems to have found a place in the affections of the British public.

Has it? How do you quantify that? Paper coverage?

I don't know, I think the TV numbers speak for themselves.

[dank]

Has it? How do you quantify that? Paper coverage?

I don't know, I think the TV numbers speak for themselves.

If Silverstone weekend is a snapshot of the bigger picture, then I'd say that Brawn are the team of the moment in the UK. Either that or I never noticed there were quite so many Honda/BAR fans to begin with.

[P123]

Probably also a bit to do with the lack of the big teams McLaren/Ferrari figuring in things. It's a bit like the FA cup with nowhere united versus blackstump city.

That and the fact that Button has been picking up scraps and not racing for wins recently.

[Snap Matt]

I don't know if I'm really that surprised by the 2.2m difference in viewing figures this year compared to 2008. I guess viewers didn't really know if Button would clinch the title yesterday, unlike last year when it was do-or-die for Hamilton going into the very last race?

There wasn't really anything like the same degree of anticipation. "Could" win the title isn't as much of a draw as "must" win the title.

2008 also had the extra element of can he do it this time, not to mention the large gap between titles for British drivers. The delays in qualifying could also have left a lot of casual viewers with the impression that Button would be starting in a much safer position, or conversely that he didn't have a hope of getting the job done, depending on what they had seen too.

[craftverk]

Wow, large difference. Maybe modern Britain prefers LH over JB? Maybe Legard has killed some of the casual viewer's interest?

[Greem]

It's also worth pointing out something that we Brits don't often bother with due to the way most (yes, most) of us think: Last year, Hamilton was lauded for being the first *what* World Champion?

Clue: It wasn't British, Young or Gifted.

Button just doesn't have the "pop star" factor that Hamilton has (or perhaps... had?). In F1 circles, sure he does, but outside that? He's just a name, he's been around forever and he's never won anything (ignore the pre-F1 career, we're talking about since he reached f1 here). Even though the BBC have had him wall-to-wall for the last 24 hours the press coverage hasn't hit anywhere near the same levels it did with Hamilton last year.

All that said, I do wonder what the figures for Abu Dhabi will be like... there'll be more than a handful of new followers watching that one. There'd have been more if Hamilton was fighting for the championship though!

[DOF_power]

Those figures are really bad. A 25% drop, and worst is yet to come.
I'd hate to see the spanish, polish and italian ratings.

Edited by DOF_power, 19 October 2009 - 13:16.

[D.M.N.]

I'll be surprised if Abu Dhabi isn't under 4m.

[Ensign]

Probably also a bit to do with the lack of the big teams McLaren/Ferrari figuring in things. It's a bit like the FA cup with nowhere united versus blackstump city.

Although there are lots of Ferrari fans and haters I don't think the teams are that important to most people. Just based on what I've observed of casual fans in the UK - ie the vast majority watching the races - is that few of them give a toss one way another about the teams. Most care only about the drivers: the ones they like and the ones they hate. Having a British driver fighting for the championship is a bigger deal to the British public than, say, a Finn or Brazilian driving a McLaren or Ferrari for the championship.

[Yellowmc]

Button just doesn't attract the same numbers as Lewis. He isn nowhere near as exciting.

[DOF_power]

Although there are lots of Ferrari fans and haters I don't think the teams are that important to most people. Just based on what I've observed of casual fans in the UK - ie the vast majority watching the races - is that few of them give a toss one way another about the teams. Most care only about the drivers: the ones they like and the ones they hate. Having a British driver fighting for the championship is a bigger deal to the British public than, say, a Finn or Brazilian driving a McLaren or Ferrari for the championship.

The casual driver fanboys are not motorsport fans.

The reason why football has a much lower volatility rate vs. F1 (discounting Italy here) is because in football the teams mean lot, they're more important then the players, more important then any individual in fact.

F1's future will forever be murky/uncertain unless it will adopt the football club/Scuderia Ferrari system.

[Ensign]

The casual driver fanboys are not motorsport fans.

Not many people are motorsports fans. If F1 depended on motorsports fans it would only be on Eurosport.

DMN - any idea what kind of numbers the European MotoGP races are getting on the BBC this year?

[D.M.N.]

Not many people are motorsports fans. If F1 depended on motorsports fans it would only be on Eurosport.

DMN - any idea what kind of numbers the European MotoGP races are getting on the BBC this year?

Normally, they are about 1.2m - well, they were last year anyway. Presumably this year's are about the same.

[Kooper]

Wow, large difference. Maybe modern Britain prefers LH over JB? Maybe Legard has killed some of the casual viewer's interest?

I see D.M.N. didn't account for the 'Legard' factor... no doubt 2 or 3 million tuned out because they were

on a charge

up a hill

down the hill

off the track

and into the wall

[D.M.N.]

2 million would not have listened to alternative commentary though. For past races, about 200/300,000 have pressed red, so it doesn't make a huge difference.

[DOF_power]

Not many people are motorsports fans. If F1 depended on motorsports fans it would only be on Eurosport.

DMN - any idea what kind of numbers the European MotoGP races are getting on the BBC this year?

I would have no problem with that.
Little to no casual driver fanboys and 100% or close true auto racing.
For people who like automobiles and like to see them racing.
No more events, no more superstars/personalities, no more over-hyped driver championships just pure auto racing.

If once in a while I'd see a good/great race a la Moto GP/WSK and there would still be freedom to innovate/push the envelope and some of that technology would make its way into production cars, I'd be just happy.

[D.M.N.]

Now here's something interesting. Remember when Brazil Qualifying switched from BBC One to BBC Two the audience shrank? Look what happened this past Sunday with MotoGP:

BBC One
06:45 to 08:00 - MotoGP 2009: Round 16 - Sepang: 910,000 (25.3%)

BBC Two
08:00 to 08:30 - MotoGP 2009: Round 16 - Sepang: 720,000 (12.5%)
12:45 to 14:00 - MotoGP: Malaysian Grand Prix: 930,000 (9.7%)

That's a very good figure for those that switched to BBC Two in my view - it would have out rated it's slot average by probably 500,000.

The re-run also did very well considering live European MotoGP races only get. Last year, the Malaysian race had only 397,000 live, with 136,000 watching the re-run so numbers are substantially up.

The peaks added together would be over 2m, so brilliant numbers for MotoGP.

[dank]

I find human behaviour strange. 190,000 people who got up early to watch the race, decided they couldn't be bothered to press a button on their remotes and watch its conclusion?

It wasn't the most exciting of races, but still!

[craftverk]

Just goes to show how poor the BBC are with their MotoGP coverage.

[dank]

Just goes to show how poor the BBC are with their MotoGP coverage.

Quite. They cut-off any of the celebrations or podium ceremony for CBBC and a rip-roaring episode of M.I. High.

[30ft penguin]

I found this page here with average viewer numbers for the German RTL F1 race coverage, over the last few years: http://satundkabel.m...le-bei-rtl.html

If you put those numbers into a quick-n-dirty diagram, it looks like this:



Other sources said that viewer numbers recovered quite a bit this year, probably because of Vettel (e.g. Nürburgring 7.08m, Brazil 7.23m, so close to 2006 numbers).

Would be interesting to make a diagram of both the German and the UK average viewer numbers per season, to see the rise/decline when Schumacher faded out and Hamilton started. Also interesting to see that the viewer numbers in Germany declined so rapidly over the last 2-3 years, even though Hamilton was hyped MASSIVELY in Germany, too (as the new "young and cool" Mercedes driver). Does not seem to have helped, German viewers still were not interested.

Edit: I just did that diagram, using the UK data from the first post in this thread:

Edited by 30ft penguin, 27 October 2009 - 12:18.

[D.M.N.]

82 million live in Germany, 61 million live in the UK, so viewing figures are bound to be lower here. Amazing how much though in Germany the figures increased in the early Schumacher reign. I guess even his dominance in 2002 and 2004 turned some people off. Surprised that there wasn't even a slight decrease in 1996 though.

I suspect some German competition in the past few years has just about kept Germany's ratings above UK's. Interesting graph.

What I've chosen to do, based on 82m living in Germany and 61m living in UK, I've transformed that into a percentage so we can like get an 'equal comparison'. Let's see how it looks (note - this is with the most recent figures in my spreadsheet, so will differ slightly to the above) :



So, for instance about 12% of Germany's population on average watched races in 2000.

The reason for a lot of rise during Schumi's reign maybe was that it was a long reign and it was coming over 3/4 years, whereas that hasn't happened at all in the UK. That dominance is very rare in F1, so it had a bad effect everywhere else but had overall a good effect in Germany.

Edited by D.M.N., 27 October 2009 - 12:50.

[30ft penguin]

Yes, and I would dare say that before Schumacher's successes in 94/95, F1 was quite popular in Germany, but not REALLY popular - it was not a main stream sport, and there were no huge headlines when a new champion was crowned. Many people who never were interested in F1 started watching when the "Schumi" headlines appeared in the newspapers, and his move to Ferrari made him even more popular. That's why the viewer numbers kept going up even though 96 was a far less successful year for him than 95. There were many who just wanted to see him win the title for Ferrari, and when that was accomplished, they were not that interested in seeing him dominating for years.

Interesting btw to see the "dent" MS' injury in 99 made on the average viewer number. That really shows how many were only interested in seeing MS race.

Also note that the numbers only show the RTL viewers, in Germany you can also watch F1 races via digital pay TV and in some areas via Austrian TV (which some prefer over the RTL coverage). But I think the vast majority of F1 viewers follows it via RTL.

Edited by 30ft penguin, 27 October 2009 - 13:33.

[D.M.N.]

Yes, and I would dare say that before Schumacher's successes in 94/95, F1 was quite popular in Germany, but not REALLY popular - it was not a main stream sport, and there were no huge headlines when a new champion was crowned. Many people who never were interested in F1 started watching when the "Schumi" headlines appeared in the newspapers, and his move to Ferrari made him even more popular. That's why the viewer numbers kept going up even though 96 was a far less successful year for him than 95. There were many who just wanted to see him win the title for Ferrari, and when that was accomplished, they were not that interested in seeing him dominating for years.

Interesting btw to see the "dent" MS' injury in 99 made on the average viewer number. That really shows how many were only interested in seeing MS race.

Also note that the numbers only show the RTL viewers, in Germany you can also watch F1 races via digital pay TV and in some areas via Austrian TV (which some prefer over the RTL coverage). But I think the vast majority of F1 viewers follows it via RTL.

The dent for 99 though isn't *that* much - 8.9m is still a damn big number. Although we may think based on those 'raw' numbers that F1 in Germany is more popular than in England, is that really the case?

Don't forget the UK numbers are for the whole programme (i.e. 12:10 to 15:10; 50 minutes build-up, 40 minutes post-show for most races this year). I don't know a lot about how the coverage works in Germany do they have a lot of build-up? Do you know if the numbers quoted are for the race only, or does it include the pre and post race broadcast?

F1 this year for the whole programme averaged ~4.3m (should have a definite number after Abu Dhabi). If you remove the pre and post-race stuff you'd be looking at ~5.5m average at a guess.

Edited by D.M.N., 27 October 2009 - 13:58.

[D.M.N.]

The F1 had a rather good Qualifying figure yesterday - 2.54m (27.3%) watched. Although below this year's Qualifying average of 2.68m, it is good when taking into account the fact that both championships are done and dusted.

[D.M.N.]

Absolutely brilliant rating for the F1 yesterday. From MG:

Yesterday's final formula one grand prix of the 2009 season in Abu Dhabi attracted 4.8 million viewers and a 37% share, between 12.05pm and 3.15pm on BBC1.

Coverage of the race, in which British 2009 formula one champion Jenson Button finished third, peaked at 5.9 million viewers and a 44% share during the closing stages of the race in the quarter hour from 1.30pm.

Fourth highest rating of the year only behind:

- Australia (season opener)
- Hungary (Hamilton win)
- Brazil (primetime)

Probably helped though that 13 million were watching TV in daytime, nearly 3 million more than usual!

(the F1 ratings will peel insignificant when I say The X Factor last night peaked with nearly 16 million viewers!)

Edited by D.M.N., 02 November 2009 - 15:51.

[Pharazon]

Absolutely brilliant rating for the F1 yesterday. From MG:



Fourth highest rating of the year only behind:

- Australia (season opener)
- Hungary (Hamilton win)
- Brazil (primetime)

Probably helped though that 13 million were watching TV in daytime, nearly 3 million more than usual!

(the F1 ratings will peel insignificant when I say The X Factor last night peaked with nearly 16 million viewers!)

the shitty weather didn't hurt

[Greem]

the shitty weather didn't hurt

I hope it was a good show. I was marshalling at Silverstone in that weather, and it was as you describe (in the morning anyway). I'm yet to watch the recording!

Still, I'd rather have been there in the rain than at home watching telly... and I'd rather have been marshalling in AD, as many UK marshals did - nice to see MB catch one of them on the grid, too

[D.M.N.]

I've managed to get a bit more data, which means that the averages for each years in the graphs on the front page have slightly changed. The averages for qualifying also have changed a bit as well as I've got more ratings.

I'll put up new graphs around Christmas, before then though, I thought I'd present you with the Bottom 10 - "European" Race Broadcasts (ITV era), which makes for interesting reading. I should note I have every European race rating from the ITV era, apart from the 1998 French Grand Prix. Thanks to the usual guys (who are noted in the first post) for helping gather these ratings.

This is probably the chart where no race would want to be. On that note, here goes:

Bottom 10 - "European" Race Broadcasts (ITV era)
01 - 1.80m - 2006 French Grand Prix
02 - 1.90m - 2006 Italian Grand Prix
03 - 2.00m - 2006 Turkish Grand Prix
04 - 2.10m - 2005 Belgium Grand Prix
05 - 2.11m - 2004 Hungarian Grand Prix
06 - 2.20m - 2006 Spanish Grand Prix
07 - 2.21m - 2005 Italian Grand Prix
08 - 2.23m - 2006 German Grand Prix
09 - 2.37m - 2005 French Grand Prix
10 - 2.39m - 2002 Belgium Grand Prix

Obviously no secret that those ratings are utter stinkers. I remember seeing the percentage share for the 2006 Italy race a while ago, and it was I think 17% which is an utterly horrible share for a daytime European race.

Anyway just thought the above list would be of interest. I don't really remember those particular races a lot - does anyone here remember those races, were any really good - or really bad which would be reflected in the poor rating?

The only race in the above I have a recollection of is the 2006 Italian race, which IIRC was where Alonso was demoted to 10th on the grid and his engine later blew up?