The F1 thread

musicegbdf

Fretwired;858169" said:

What fight up front? There's no way Hamilton can overtake Rosberg in the dirty air .. the regulations need changing so this borefest can improve.

I don't know they kept moving off to nothing ... I would look like to have seen the cutting through the back markers

Though agree a real bore...

Ianpdq

Another wast of two hours no fight up front

stickyfiddle

Even TAG Heuer ditching McLaren next year. Ron out now, surely? How can he stay?!

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/tag-heuer-to-leave-mclaren-for-red-bull/

Heartfeltdawn

Say goodbye to F1 on the BBC. In fact say goodbye to sport on the BBC really. 

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/nov/17/bbc-sport-online-news-cuts-athletics

Fretwired

Heartfeltdawn said:

Say goodbye to F1 on the BBC. In fact say goodbye to sport on the BBC really. 

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/nov/17/bbc-sport-online-news-cuts-athletics

The BBC's fault. They won't change their business model.

F1's become a total bore. Viewing figures are well down so I think even if the BBC had shed loads of cash they'd still bin it.

Heartfeltdawn

Fretwired said:

The BBC's fault. They won't change their business model.

F1's become a total bore. Viewing figures are well down so I think even if the BBC had shed loads of cash they'd still bin it.

F1's fault too. All about the money, forget the tiny audience. 

sweepy

The crazy thing is that it isn't a tiny audience, still one of the most widely watched sports per hour of actual run time .You are looking at 40 hours per year maximum and comparing viewing figures to Football, Olympics etc etc , I'd still bet more people watch F1 than Cricket and the Premier League

stickyfiddle

sweepy;861827" said:

The crazy thing is that it isn't a tiny audience, still one of the most widely watched sports per hour of actual run time .You are looking at 40 hours per year maximum and comparing viewing figures to Football, Olympics etc etc , I'd still bet more people watch F1 than Cricket and the Premier League

I'd bet you my life savings that more people in India alone watch cricket than the global audience for F1...

hotpot

I cant be bothered to wrestle the TV remote from the missus hands to watch it any more.
Those in charge couldn't fook that sport up any more if they tried.

Heartfeltdawn

sweepy said:

The crazy thing is that it isn't a tiny audience, still one of the most widely watched sports per hour of actual run time .You are looking at 40 hours per year maximum and comparing viewing figures to Football, Olympics etc etc , I'd still bet more people watch F1 than Cricket and the Premier League

The short duration of F1 should help it. But those Sky figures are not huge. For Mexico, the Sky average was 885k. The BBC coverage of the Brazilian Grand Prix hit 4.02 million. If you move entirely to Sky, then you are not going to be pulling those figures in, thus limiting your audience. 

In four years of F1 broadcasting, Sky has never had a peak audience above two million. The US Grand Prix where Hamilton claimed the title had a peak audience of 1.7 million. Compare that to 2009 and the Brazilian Grand Prix when Button won the title. The BBC peak audience for that race was 9.09 million. 

https://f1broadcasting.wordpress.com/2015/10/26/hamiltons-title-victory-peaks-with-1-7m-on-sky-sports/

The Premier League big games still get more viewers than F1. 

http://www.sportingintelligence.com/2014/07/21/man-united-and-liverpool-remain-top-tv-draws-despite-2013-14-without-trophies-210703/

Yes cricket audiences are small. It's one of the arguments the average cricket fan has made several times to the ECB who sold out for money and wonder why participation is going down at club level. 

sweepy

Don't forget NBC and the other worldwide Networks in the calculation,In South Americe, especially Brazil. I imagine the% viewing figures for F1 are massive compared to the Olympics and Cricket, however, Football is a different thing completely there, it's more of a religion you only have to speak to my Brazilian sis in law and her mates, the shouting is louder than a Judas Priest gig

Fretwired

In 2014 global viewing figures for F1 dropped to 425 million from 450 million and have probably dropped below 400 million this year. F1 viewing in Europe has dropped like a stone .. Bernie blames pay TV. I wonder who did the TV deals?

Heartfeltdawn

sweepy said:

Don't forget NBC and the other worldwide Networks in the calculation,In South Americe, especially Brazil. I imagine the% viewing figures for F1 are massive compared to the Olympics and Cricket, however, Football is a different thing completely there, it's more of a religion you only have to speak to my Brazilian sis in law and her mates, the shouting is louder than a Judas Priest gig

I specifically ignored the global reach and went purely for the UK. If the viewing figures drop in countries where there is money and interest, and the spectator figures for the British GP are some of the biggest anywhere, then sponsors and advertisers notice. 

In 2008 it was reckoned 600 million watched over the season. By 2012 this was hitting about 500 million. Now it's down to around 425 million. 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/csylt/2015/02/01/f1-loses-25-million-viewers-driven-by-switch-to-pay-tv/

As daft as Christian is, this stands out:

"The consequence of this is that although the number of TV viewers has slightly reduced, they are more likely to have a higher disposable income and fervently follow the sport which in turn makes them more valuable to F1’s sponsors. Testimony to this, although the viewer numbers in Britain fell by 1.5 million to 27.6 million last year, the report reveals that “average race audiences actually improved year-on-year. This is where the term ‘committed viewer’ is relevant; the proportion of viewers classified as ‘medium’ and ‘heavy’ both increased by 15% for the dedicated Sky F1 channel, the overall loss has come from fewer casual viewers on the BBC.”

A smaller more hardcore audience more willing to flash the cash is what F1 wants above a wider ranging audience where the hardcore would be watching along with the casual. Hmmmm. Chasing after the cash of the wealthy who can afford that whilst ditching the low end... tell me how that's working out for a certain iconic American guitar brand! I think there's a lot of parallels between F1 and Gibson in terms of cock-eyed management. 

Fretwired

Heartfeltdawn said:

A smaller more hardcore audience more willing to flash the cash is what F1 wants above a wider ranging audience where the hardcore would be watching along with the casual. Hmmmm. Chasing after the cash of the wealthy who can afford that whilst ditching the low end... tell me how that's working out for a certain iconic American guitar brand! I think there's a lot of parallels between F1 and Gibson in terms of cock-eyed management. 

But falling numbers will affect non-motoring related sponsors which have been pulling out in droves. Sponsor revenue is down and some teams are finding it difficult to attract sponsors - the last Cricket World Cup attracted just under 300 million viewers around the world, the Rugby World Cup is on the up and football still sits at the top of the pile even though it's as bent as a £2.50 bank note. The finances at some F1 teams are too close to the bone - McLaren could be trouble if Honda cut their funding.

stickyfiddle

Heartfeltdawn said:

A smaller more hardcore audience more willing to flash the cash is what F1 wants above a wider ranging audience where the hardcore would be watching along with the casual. Hmmmm. Chasing after the cash of the wealthy who can afford that whilst ditching the low end... tell me how that's working out for a certain iconic American guitar brand! I think there's a lot of parallels between F1 and Gibson in terms of cock-eyed management. 

Ezackerly

It's lovely for your short term returns, which is 100% how F1 is being run, but fucking awful for the future of the "sport". If you continue the downward trend you'll end up with 500 blokes watching on their flying yachts in space and noone else giving a shit.

ESBlonde

So all those 'casual' viewers that drink Red Bull as opposed to the wealthy special interest viewers who probably don't are a price Bernie is willing to pay.

Fretwired

ESBlonde said:

So all those 'casual' viewers that drink Red Bull as opposed to the wealthy special interest viewers who probably don't are a price Bernie is willing to pay.

Exactly .. have a wis ...

Heartfeltdawn

stickyfiddle said:

Ezackerly

It's lovely for your short term returns, which is 100% how F1 is being run, but fucking awful for the future of the "sport". If you continue the downward trend you'll end up with 500 blokes watching on their flying yachts in space and noone else giving a shit.

Do you think those 500 on their flying vessels in 2052 will still be saying things 'Man, why can't we just return to V12 engines? These fusion-powered turboreactors just don't sound the same!'

The sad thing is that Bernie will still be running things in 2052 alongside a part-time role in Doctor Who as Davros. 

Heartfeltdawn

ESBlonde said:

So all those 'casual' viewers that drink Red Bull as opposed to the wealthy special interest viewers who probably don't are a price Bernie is willing to pay.

Yerp. Which is why F1 needs to go to new countries because new countries haven't twigged to the reality that F1 is dogshit.

GP2 racing is far better. 

musicegbdf

So Barbara Slater puts the final nails in F1 coffin...