My little experiment

[Sonic]

Hello guys and gals...it's been a while for me on the F1 side of the forum, and here's why.

I've been doing a little experiment to see what watching half a GP season would be like (seemed like a good season to miss a few rounds with Seb dominating). Since Bernie announced the SKY/BBC deal I haven't watched a single live Grand Prix - the first time in more than 20 years that I have missed more than one race.

And the results of my experiment?

Well if my experiences are anything to go by, I think Bernie has a problem.

The highlights didn't hold my attention at all...I only watched two races like that, and even then I tended to just watch the start and that was about it as I already knew the result.

Now I know some will be saying I'm a fair weather fan, and if that's your opinion fair enough, but if a long term fan and competitor like me can loose interest because of an inability to watch the races as they happen then I wonder what the long term future of the sport in it's homeland countries will be.

Personally I liken it to cricket. Fifteen odd years ago I could have easily named the England eleven, but now...

Is this really what F1 should be aiming for? A niche market with an entire channel watched by thousands instead of transmitting with a mass broadcaster and showing to millions?

I'll be interested to hear your thoughts.

Sonic

[Mark]

Football can't be directly compared. Firstly you need to subscribe to Sky Sports, whereas for F1 you just need the HD pack which a lot more people have.

Secondly, you generally only watch a football match if you support the teams playing, its the nature of football that there is only two teams playing so only two sets of fans. Whereas this isn't an issue for F1.

[Sonic]

Football can be compared IMO. I don't agree that people generally only watch football matches of their chosen team and that certainly isn't true in my case or most people I know. You may feel differently about that, but I feel we can only really relate to our own experiences. The news for existing Sky viewers that a HD pack is needed is slightly better news than the Sports pack as originally thought, but its still a small audience in the grand scheme of things.

I'd wager 99% of the UK have access to BBC1 and F1 draws in 5 million. I don't know the figures (perhaps someone does) as to how many homes have Sky HD packages, but my expectation is F1 will be lucky to have an audience of 500,000 next year for sky only races. That's a pretty huge drop in exposure for the sponsors etc..

[driveace]

I will not be watching the Sky races as I dont intend paying Sky.I have all the cannels i need,and as a pensoiner,with not as much dosh as Bernie(£104 per week pension)),i will only be watching the races on BBC

[tfp]

Whats also worrying is if we get another season of a single driver dominance in 2012, what will happen if the much smaller audience on sky HD tire of the repetitiveness, and stop watching?
It would be different if it was like the 2010 season, and the average joe sees on the news the reporters banging on about how close the races were/how close the drivers championship was, thats what gets more people watching.

[Sonic]

It's a good point tfp. A lot of people knock the 'casual fan' but I know I didn't become a die hard motorsport fan overnight. I watched a few GP's in 89 & 90, more in '91 and all of them from '92 onwards.

My question is will any new fans really ever get to become passionate about the sport when there will be no real motivation to watch the next race if the championship is going to be decided in a race which just happens to be shown only on SKY for example.

[yodasarmpit]

I'd wager 99% of the UK have access to BBC1 and F1 draws in 5 million. I don't know the figures (perhaps someone does) as to how many homes have Sky HD packages, but my expectation is F1 will be lucky to have an audience of 500,000 next year for sky only races. That's a pretty huge drop in exposure for the sponsors etc..

Sky have just over 10M subscribers ( 1 in 2 homes), with 4M of those with HD subs (just under 1 in 4 homes) so this would suggest at worst an audience level on non BBC weekends of 1.25M.

[Sonic]

Sky have just over 10M subscribers ( 1 in 2 homes), with 4M of those with HD subs (just under 1 in 4 homes) so this would suggest at worst an audience level on non BBC weekends of 1.25M.

Top gear maths!

Seriously, thanks for the figures, but as I believe Henners pointed out the big football matches only just beat that 1.25 million figure, so I would be very surprised if that proved to be the case.

[yodasarmpit]

I agree that we are going to see a drop in viewing figures, simply based on current availability. However Sky HD subs are increasing every quarter so one can only hope F1 viewing increases in parallel, although I do believe we won't see the same levels that the beeb has maintained - cost will always make it prohibitive for a great many.

[Rollo]

Is this really what F1 should be aiming for? A niche market with an entire channel watched by thousands instead of transmitting with a mass broadcaster and showing to millions?

If Australia is anything to go by, then the experiment will be repeated across the globe. Personally I expect that you'll probably see falling attendances in countries where the coverage has gone to Pay-TV only, so they'll be dropped off the calendar, which suits Bernie fine as he's been wanting to kill the British, French, German, Australian, Belgian... GPs for some time.

If F1 is to be driven by profit even harder than it already is, then it will probably become more efficient at deriving those profits; in which case, don't expect it to grow in popularity in existing markets. Why keep existing customers when there's more profit to be gained from new ones?