When the sky/BBC deal was announced I posted that as people can no longer watch all races they will soon loose the flow of F1 and thus the interest in every race weekend, so it's no surprise to me to see figures start to tale off, not helped by entering a mini Schumacher mk2 era, poor rules changes making the spectical less appealing, for me this season rang alarm bells viewing figures wise when I learned the BBC wouldn't be showing Monaco, not having the 1st few races live at all, and when $ky rampt up the cost of F1 by making it a sky sports only channel for new customers,
I love f1 and have continued to watch it through all the highs and lows of the past 20 - 30 years but even I would not pay for the full sky sports package for f1, it's simply not value for money enough..
DITTO that in big huge block capitals.
I posted very similar comments when I couldn't be bothered to watch the Bahrain highlights. I took a few hits for those comments but now it seems I'm far from alone.....
Nice to see sky including some of the build-up in the Classic race programs now. Started doing it with the 1983 highlights & seem to have carried it over to the rest as well.
Top 9 grid slots for the Indy 500 which you can see live on ESPN via the Sky Go monthly ticket for PC, tablets and mobiles next Sunday - NO SKY TV SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED; THE MONTHLY TICKET IS A COMPLETELY SEPARATE ENTITY AT A MUCH BETTER VALUE THAN NOW TV!!
It really irrites me how people say they can't watch F1 or Indycar because they don't have Sky TV and that they are thinking about rip off Now TV. :mad:
I posted very similar comments when I couldn't be bothered to watch the Bahrain highlights. I took a few hits for those comments but now it seems I'm far from alone.....
But it's interesting to note that today's 'product' where many can only see half the races live still draws in a bigger audience for those races than the 'product' of ten years ago where everyone could see every race live and follow the whole season.
To what extent are declining viewing figures (in the UK) simply a matter of less success for British drivers?
In just about all sports British success leads to far more casual viewers.
Apart from TV viewing figures my general impression is that F1 is a bit less prominent across the whole media compared to say 2 or 3 years ago - eg in sports pages of newspapers etc.
But it's interesting to note that today's 'product' where many can only see half the races live still draws in a bigger audience for those races than the 'product' of ten years ago where everyone could see every race live and follow the whole season.
If it was back on ITV - ie without the benefits of BBC promotion and the larger casual BBC audience - I suspect figures would be back to the old ITV levels pretty quickly.
To what extent are declining viewing figures (in the UK) simply a matter of less success for British drivers?
In just about all sports British success leads to far more casual viewers.
Apart from TV viewing figures my general impression is that F1 is a bit less prominent across the whole media compared to say 2 or 3 years ago - eg in sports pages of newspapers etc.
It plays a part, for sure. F1 viewing dropped pretty much year-on-year from 1996 onwards after Hill's WDC and didn't start increasing again until Hamilton came on the scene in 2007 and came close to winning the WDC at his first attempt.
Anyone else notice the loss of any timing display during MotoGP Q1 yesterday? Fortunately they got it back for Q2.
Not sure about the new quali format as the top riders are only out on track in earnest for 15 minutes on the Saturday. The BBC really need to show the FP3 session too (as they did for the first round) which is now effectlively a pre-quali session to decide the top ten riders going through to Q2 while the rest go into Q1 and that also gives a chance to get up to speed with how everyone is doing and news ahead of race day.
Yes I did notice the loss of timing- seems to be happening a lot this year -whether its the bikes or the cars.
Also noticed Charlie Cox croaking, coughing and slurping his way through the commentary yet again - he seems to have had that cold now for about a month - time to give him a rest maybe ?
Anyone else notice the loss of any timing display during MotoGP Q1 yesterday? Fortunately they got it back for Q2.
Not sure about the new quali format as the top riders are only out on track in earnest for 15 minutes on the Saturday. The BBC really need to show the FP3 session too (as they did for the first round) which is now effectlively a pre-quali session to decide the top ten riders going through to Q2 while the rest go into Q1 and that also gives a chance to get up to speed with how everyone is doing and news ahead of race day.
Yeah the new MotoGP quali is a bit meh. If they wanted to make quali more interesting they should've done an F1 style three session knockout. I presume the logic behind this two-part system is to effectively have a CRT qualifying and a prototype qualifying.
Talking of qualifying sounds like the WTCC session yesterday was fun and games...
These people who "lose the flow when they can't see all the races" - what did they do up until 1996?
I think this is related to the point mlt11 has made up page, your casual viewer will be much less willing to dip in and out of an f1 season if some races are live on BBC (with all the promotion that comes with that) and some are "hidden" away on Sky.
It plays a part, for sure. F1 viewing dropped pretty much year-on-year from 1996 onwards after Hill's WDC and didn't start increasing again until Hamilton came on the scene in 2007 and came close to winning the WDC at his first attempt.
If it was back on ITV - ie without the benefits of BBC promotion and the larger casual BBC audience - I suspect figures would be back to the old ITV levels pretty quickly.
It's interesting though, that for the first 4 years of ITV coverage, the viewing figures held up really well, it was only really after Schumacher turned 2002 into a snooze fest that everything really tailed off very quickly (2006 being a low point with f1 facing a future of motoGP levels of niche viewership).
Top 9 grid slots for the Indy 500 which you can see live on ESPN via the Sky Go monthly ticket for PC, tablets and mobiles next Sunday - NO SKY TV SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED; THE MONTHLY TICKET IS A COMPLETELY SEPARATE ENTITY AT A MUCH BETTER VALUE THAN NOW TV!!
It really irrites me how people say they can't watch F1 or Indycar because they don't have Sky TV and that they are thinking about rip off Now TV. :mad:
Well, if they were buying a Now TV day pass to watch Indycar, they'd be disappointed as Now TV doesn't carry ESPN just the Sky Sports channels
Also noticed Charlie Cox croaking, coughing and slurping his way through the commentary yet again - he seems to have had that cold now for about a month - time to give him a rest maybe ?
It's been a real consumption commentary from him today...
I know its not his fault but it was so annoying to listen to today, he should step down until he's back at full vocal strength
His voice even when it's on form is shot nowadays anyway. I like his cometary I really enjoy his humour. But I feel sorry for him because his voice is not what it was say 10 years ago. Dig out old YouTube videos of him 10 years ago he sound's like a different bloke.
It's not is fault and it's harsh to moan about it. This will probably be his last season though. Shame. him and Steve are a great combo.
It's interesting though, that for the first 4 years of ITV coverage, the viewing figures held up really well, it was only really after Schumacher turned 2002 into a snooze fest that everything really tailed off very quickly (2006 being a low point with f1 facing a future of motoGP levels of niche viewership).
We watched on Eurosport which was Free To Air. (It wasn't part of the early Sky subscription package which is a common misconception).
Eurosport may have been free (as would have been RTL at the time with its 6 minute ad breaks... and I fondly remember DTM on Sat.1 with drivers like "John Winter" (inverted commas there for a reason)) - but buying the equipment back then certainly wasn't! It wasn't exactly widespread either, having satellite was something special.
Face it, apart from the Golden Years of 1996 - 2011 F1 has always required some investment on behalf of the viewer. Even when ITV finally brought us proper coverage of the weekend, we still had to pay for it via the advertising (bigger argument there).
I've still got some years with full races to tape - there's not a lot of BBC stuff...
yeah, doesn't the story go that she found out about Louis Krages's secret life when he won the le mans 24 hours and she saw his picture on the front of all the newspapers?
It's interesting though, that for the first 4 years of ITV coverage, the viewing figures held up really well, it was only really after Schumacher turned 2002 into a snooze fest that everything really tailed off very quickly (2006 being a low point with f1 facing a future of motoGP levels of niche viewership).
Yeah, BBC's last year of F1 in 1996 apparently had an average viewership of 5 million viewers (not sure how true that is) but I saw it on an Autosport post some years ago. Then from about 1997-2001, I think ratings stuck around the high 3m/low 4m mark, then they tailed off.
Comments
Although interesting from DMN's figures that it still rated higher than any year between 2002-2008 when it was on ITV.
DITTO that in big huge block capitals.
I posted very similar comments when I couldn't be bothered to watch the Bahrain highlights. I took a few hits for those comments but now it seems I'm far from alone.....
Top 9 grid slots for the Indy 500 which you can see live on ESPN via the Sky Go monthly ticket for PC, tablets and mobiles next Sunday - NO SKY TV SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED; THE MONTHLY TICKET IS A COMPLETELY SEPARATE ENTITY AT A MUCH BETTER VALUE THAN NOW TV!!
It really irrites me how people say they can't watch F1 or Indycar because they don't have Sky TV and that they are thinking about rip off Now TV. :mad:
But it's interesting to note that today's 'product' where many can only see half the races live still draws in a bigger audience for those races than the 'product' of ten years ago where everyone could see every race live and follow the whole season.
In just about all sports British success leads to far more casual viewers.
Apart from TV viewing figures my general impression is that F1 is a bit less prominent across the whole media compared to say 2 or 3 years ago - eg in sports pages of newspapers etc.
If it was back on ITV - ie without the benefits of BBC promotion and the larger casual BBC audience - I suspect figures would be back to the old ITV levels pretty quickly.
It plays a part, for sure. F1 viewing dropped pretty much year-on-year from 1996 onwards after Hill's WDC and didn't start increasing again until Hamilton came on the scene in 2007 and came close to winning the WDC at his first attempt.
Not sure about the new quali format as the top riders are only out on track in earnest for 15 minutes on the Saturday. The BBC really need to show the FP3 session too (as they did for the first round) which is now effectlively a pre-quali session to decide the top ten riders going through to Q2 while the rest go into Q1 and that also gives a chance to get up to speed with how everyone is doing and news ahead of race day.
Also noticed Charlie Cox croaking, coughing and slurping his way through the commentary yet again - he seems to have had that cold now for about a month - time to give him a rest maybe ?
Yeah the new MotoGP quali is a bit meh. If they wanted to make quali more interesting they should've done an F1 style three session knockout. I presume the logic behind this two-part system is to effectively have a CRT qualifying and a prototype qualifying.
Talking of qualifying sounds like the WTCC session yesterday was fun and games...
I think this is related to the point mlt11 has made up page, your casual viewer will be much less willing to dip in and out of an f1 season if some races are live on BBC (with all the promotion that comes with that) and some are "hidden" away on Sky.
It's interesting though, that for the first 4 years of ITV coverage, the viewing figures held up really well, it was only really after Schumacher turned 2002 into a snooze fest that everything really tailed off very quickly (2006 being a low point with f1 facing a future of motoGP levels of niche viewership).
Well, if they were buying a Now TV day pass to watch Indycar, they'd be disappointed as Now TV doesn't carry ESPN just the Sky Sports channels
It's been a real consumption commentary from him today...
His voice even when it's on form is shot nowadays anyway. I like his cometary I really enjoy his humour. But I feel sorry for him because his voice is not what it was say 10 years ago. Dig out old YouTube videos of him 10 years ago he sound's like a different bloke.
It's not is fault and it's harsh to moan about it. This will probably be his last season though. Shame. him and Steve are a great combo.
Ken
We watched on Eurosport which was Free To Air. (It wasn't part of the early Sky subscription package which is a common misconception).
OK, thanks for that info.
As opposed to the the F.I.A. Formula One World Championship.
Currently led by Fernando Alonso after wins in the opening two rounds in China and Spain.
Round 3 is in Canada.
Apparently there are some non F.T.A. Championship races too where V.R.S is permitted (Viewer Reduction System).
Eurosport may have been free (as would have been RTL at the time with its 6 minute ad breaks... and I fondly remember DTM on Sat.1 with drivers like "John Winter" (inverted commas there for a reason)) - but buying the equipment back then certainly wasn't! It wasn't exactly widespread either, having satellite was something special.
Face it, apart from the Golden Years of 1996 - 2011 F1 has always required some investment on behalf of the viewer. Even when ITV finally brought us proper coverage of the weekend, we still had to pay for it via the advertising (bigger argument there).
I've still got some years with full races to tape - there's not a lot of BBC stuff...
...I think his Mum knows now. (In fact she'd known for nearly a decade when he did DTM).
Yeah, BBC's last year of F1 in 1996 apparently had an average viewership of 5 million viewers (not sure how true that is) but I saw it on an Autosport post some years ago. Then from about 1997-2001, I think ratings stuck around the high 3m/low 4m mark, then they tailed off.