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How Many People Really Watch Formula One Online?

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Earlier this year Formula One pulled off one of the most daring maneuvers in the 68-year history of the auto racing series when it launched its F1 TV online streaming service.

The driving force behind it was Liberty Media, the investment firm which bought F1 for $4.6 billion in January last year and listed it on the Nasdaq with the ticker FWONK. In a bid to boost its revenue Liberty launched the streaming service which is known in the trade as Over The Top (OTT) because it cuts out the traditional networks.

For the first time, F1 competed with the traditional broadcasters which together drive more revenue to it than any other source except for race hosting fees. It wasn’t just a gamble because F1 was going up against its own customers but also because it is unproven. As with horse racing, F1’s audience is typically older than that which watches many other sports and although they are wealthier than the average, it means they might not be tech-savvy.

When F1 TV made its début, technical glitches fuelled stinging criticism from fans and drove F1’s chief executive Chase Carey to say that it will get a “proper commercial launch next season.” As we reported, initial estimates from the investment bank Morgan Stanley suggested that just 100,400 subscribers would sign up this year at an annual cost of around $100. That pales in comparison to the 352.3 million who watched F1 on all devices last year.

F1 itself has remained tight-lipped about how many people have actually subscribed and it has been hard to tell the size of the opportunity as ratings agencies don’t tend to disclose how many viewers watched shows on different types of devices. Until now.

Earlier this week, for the first time in its 37-year history, the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (BARB) in Britain released a break down of audiences for television shows by the type of device they were watched on. It is bang on the money.

BARB’s TV audience data is so highly-regarded that it is referred to as the ‘gold standard’ and is used by channels to sell advertising spots. Its data covers Britain’s 342 channels but only two are relevant to F1.

In Britain free-to-air network Channel 4 shows ten races live with delayed highlights of the remainder whilst they are all shown as they happen on pay TV operator Sky. When it began broadcasting F1 in 2012 it launched a dedicated channel which doesn’t just show every race live but all of the practice and qualifying sessions as well. Some Grands Prix are also shown on several of its other channels but they are all guaranteed to be on its flagship Sky Sports F1.

The new BARB data includes bar charts and accompanying tables which categorise the number of Channel 4 and Sky Sports F1 viewers of the previous race in Singapore by the type of device they were watching. According to BARB, some non-TV device viewing may not be visible within the bar charts where this viewing is low relative to TV set viewing.

The table below summarises the BARB data and shows that TV is still in pole position. It is a long way ahead of mobile devices despite the fact that the Channel 4 service is free and Sky customers can watch online at no extra cost.

www.formulamoney.com

The table shows that the Sky Sports F1 broadcast had no viewers on PC/laptop however this appears to be because BARB did not collect data for the Sky Go Web Live and Sky Go Web OD services which are used to watch it on these devices. The lack of records for viewing through these services is confirmed in a note from BARB and reflecting this, its data shows that no one watched any Sky Sports F1 broadcast on PC/laptop. However, it does collect data from the Sky Go app and testimony to this, BARB has audience numbers on tablets and smartphones for other Sky Sports F1 shows even though there were none for the Singapore Grand Prix.

BARB says that "PC, tablet and smartphone viewing figures may all appear as zero for a programme where the online viewing has not been linked to the linear broadcast." It adds that "smartphone viewing figures may appear as understated or zero for some programmes between August 27 – September 27 due to the submission of incorrect programme durations. We are working to resolve these issues and to make these data available in the dashboard as soon as possible."

It needs to be stressed that this data is only for one market, though it is one of the most significant for F1 as its headquarters is in Britain and seven of the ten teams are based there. Crucially, the data does not show F1 TV subscribers as Sky’s contract prevents it from streaming the races in Britain.

It is on track to stay that way for some time as all F1 races, with the exception of the British Grand Prix, will only be shown live on Sky from next year. It has signed a six-year deal estimated to be worth $150 million annually which is around double the total it currently pays. Time will tell whether the number of Sky’s online viewers accelerates in line with its bill.

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