Formula One Lost a Large Number of Viewers from the UK After Sky Deal

A couple of years ago broadcaster, Sky Sports was granted exclusive rights to telecast all but one Formula One race, courtesy a new contract. However, this proved to be quite detrimental as the number of British TV viewers plummeted by 8.6 million. This new deal was struck by former Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone and it resulted in Sky’s annual fee doubling. On paper, it seemed like a good move, but the reality was that it alienated fans from the sport.

British fans were only able to watch their favourite drivers duke it out in 2019, via delayed highlights on Channel 4. Those highlights only began three hours after the chequered flag fell, by then the race results were already on social media.

The loss was actually recorded by the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (BARB) which is partially owned by six TV stations, including Sky and Channel 4. Interestingly, Sky’s audience was boosted by 2.2 million viewers up to 20.1 million overall. Sadly, it still fell by 13.6 compared to last year, and the reasons behind it are a cause for concern.

Unsurprisingly, the most viewed highlights on Channel 4 was the German Grand Prix, where the rain provided plenty of thrills and spills. Sadly, the 2019 edition would be the last German Grand Prix for a while, but it certainly went out with a bang.

On the other end of the scale, the US Grand Prix lost the most viewers on Channel 4, despite Lewis Hamilton winning the title there. Compared to 2018, the viewership was down by 2 million, as  the race was broadcast live that year. Unfortunately, since it was a title decider, people already knew about the outcome of the title fight and found little reason to watch the highlights.

More bad news for Formula One and its viewership?

Another worrying piece of news was that the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix was not even in the top 15 most-watched programmes on Channel 4. In addition to that, only the Japanese and French Grands Prix attracted more viewers on Channel 4 compared to 2018.

Given that the latter was a borefest, for the lack of a better term, the situation was far worse than imagined. That weekend, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner dubbed that race, “one of the most boring I can remember being involved in.”

Another slap in the face was when the prediction of F1’s global research director Matt Roberts, that British audience would surge this year because the highlights are being shown in a prime time slot. Given how the numbers look now, it certainly does not paint a positive image of F1’s analysts.

Sky attempted to salvage the situation by reducing the monthly access price by 44 per cent to £10, among other measures to boost viewership.