From the day Liberty Media took control of F1 in early 2017, one of its key objectives was to attract a younger audience to the sport, and that meant streaming.

"We have by our estimates around 500 million fans in the world, which is quite a number," said F1's global head of digital, media and licensing, Frank Arthofer ahead of the launch of F1 TV. "If even, conservatively, one per cent of that customer base is a super avid hardcore fan, that's a five million addressable audience to sell this product to."

While F1 TV isn't available in the UK due to the contract the sport has with broadcasters Sky and Channel 4, both have their own streaming services.

While Channel 4's service is free, Sky subscribers have the streaming service as part of their (F1) package.

However, despite the sport's insistence that sitting in front of the TV on a Sunday afternoon is a thing of the past, and that fans now want to access their F1 while on the go and on their devices, the uptake has been far from dramatic.

The Independent reveals that data from the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB) reveals that 1.5 million people streamed the 21 races last season across Sky Sports and Channel 4, an average of 70,680.

BARB is partly owned by six TV broadcasters, including Sky and Channel 4, and its data is considered to be the industry's gold standard and as a result it is the official estimate that channels use to sell advertising.

2019 was the first full year in which BARB covered streaming data and covers the top 15 most-watched programmes each week. Obviously, a number of races failed to get into the ranking so the data was not disclosed by BARB, by Bristol-based Digital-i, which is one of BARB's official data partners.

The most streamed race was the British Grand Prix, but this was surpassed by the England vs USA match in the women's football World Cup, the Cricket World Cup final, the men's final at Wimbledon and the Rugby World Cup final, which was streamed by 282,400 viewers.

75,971 viewers streamed the Silverstone race using Channel 4's All 4 service, while a further 44,665 streamed Sky's coverage. The Japanese Grand Prix meanwhile, saw 42,688 fans stream the Suzuka event across both broadcasters.

Despite F1's efforts to get fans streaming the races on their devices, just 22.1% accessed their coverage via smartphones, while 32.3% streamed via tablets. 45.6% however, opted to watch on their (bigger) PCs and laptops.

Fact is, F1 - no matter how dull the racing - looks better on a big screen, and - despite the sport's best efforts - it is an older demographic that prefers traditional broadcasting that continues to comprise the bulk of the sport's audience.

LATEST NEWS

more news >

LATEST IMAGES

galleries >

Click to go to the main galleries section

READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Steve W, 08/03/2020 18:11

"Hmmmm... Do I watch on my phone with a 5.8 inch screen, or do I watch on my TV with a 65 inch screen? Decisions, decisions."

Rating: Positive (1) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

2. Posted by Spindoctor, 07/03/2020 12:31

"As long as Sky has an expensive stranglehold on the live action in UK I shall continue to boycott it!
More generally, & like many others, assuming a sensible price, I should be happy to stream the races ideally to my HDTV. I feel the spectacle is diminished on a small screen, but I'm a bit of a fogey in this respect.
"

Rating: Positive (1) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

3. Posted by Editor, 06/03/2020 16:34

"@ LifelessDead

All figures relate to Channel 4 and Sky, because, as we make clear in the article, F1 TV is NOT available in the UK"

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

4. Posted by LifelessDead, 06/03/2020 16:03

""45.6% however, opted to watch on their (bigger) PCs and laptops"
Are these C4/Sky numbers? Or F1TV Pro numbers?

I watch F1TV Pro via laptop because it is the ONLY high profile streaming app I know of that does not support Chromecast (unlike Eurosport Player or MotoGP or just about any random Tv channel app I know of). Fortunately, via laptop & Chrome browser I can still Chromecast it to my TV, but that probably still registers as me using a laptop or PC."

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

2019 F1 races streamed on average by just 70,000 in UK

LATEST NEWS

RELATED ARTICLES

LATEST IMAGES

POST A COMMENT

Post your comment

READERS COMMENTS

Share this page