bbc/sky conversations

[adam2003]

I unfortunately have only bbc and cant afford sky. It annoys me that i pay a 155 pound a year for tv license.
Have sky's viewing figures dropped? since some people like myself cant afford or on principle dont have sky

[FoxHound]

I unfortunately have only bbc and cant afford sky. It annoys me that i pay a 155 pound a year for tv license.
Have sky's viewing figures dropped? since some people like myself cant afford or on principle dont have sky

Figures released have indeed confirmed that viewing figures for live venues on Sky are far lower than for the BBC in 2011.
This was to be expected.

But, overall figures have declined too!


BBC 2011 Sky + BBC = 2012 Difference
Italy 4.2m 0.6 + 3.6 = 4.2m 0.0m
Belgium 3.7m 0.3 + 2.8 = 3.1m -0.6m
Hungary 4.7m 0.7 + 3.6 = 4.3m -0.4m
Germany 4.3m 0.9 + 1.9 = 2.8m -1.5m
Britain 4.9m 0.5 + 3.2 = 3.7m -1.2m
Valencia 3.9m 0.5 + 3.8 = 4.3m +0.4m
Canada 6.3m 0.9 + 2.3 = 3.2m -3.1m
Monaco 5.2m 0.6 + 3.1 = 3.7m -1.5m
Spain 4.8m 0.5 + 3.5 = 4.0m -0.8m
Bahrain 4.8m 0.7 + 3.7 = 4.3m -0.5m
China 3.3m 0.5 + 2.9 = 3.4m +0.1m
Malaysia 4.5m 0.9 + 2.7 = 3.6m -0.9m
Australia 4.2m 0.5 + 2.7 = 3.2m -1.0m

An average of over 1.5M(ahem, 0.85M) down per venue when you add both the BBC+Sky figures for 2012 in comparison to Vettel's runaway borefest in 2011. The 2 seasons couldnt be more different, yet the figures are well below what anyone expected.
Yet more evidence if any where required that Sky is not the place for F1.

[beelsebob]

I unfortunately have only bbc and cant afford sky. It annoys me that i pay a 155 pound a year for tv license.
Have sky's viewing figures dropped? since some people like myself cant afford or on principle dont have sky

Figures released have indeed confirmed that viewing figures for live venues on Sky are far lower than for the BBC in 2011.
This was to be expected.

But, overall figures have declined too!


BBC 2011 Sky + BBC = 2012 Difference
Italy 4.2m 0.6 + 3.6 = 4.2m 0.0m
Belgium 3.7m 0.3 + 2.8 = 3.1m -0.6m
Hungary 4.7m 0.7 + 3.6 = 4.3m -0.4m
Germany 4.3m 0.9 + 1.9 = 2.8m -1.5m
Britain 4.9m 0.5 + 3.2 = 3.7m -1.2m
Valencia 3.9m 0.5 + 3.8 = 4.3m +0.4m
Canada 6.3m 0.9 + 2.3 = 3.2m -3.1m
Monaco 5.2m 0.6 + 3.1 = 3.7m -1.5m
Spain 4.8m 0.5 + 3.5 = 4.0m -0.8m
Bahrain 4.8m 0.7 + 3.7 = 4.3m -0.5m
China 3.3m 0.5 + 2.9 = 3.4m +0.1m
Malaysia 4.5m 0.9 + 2.7 = 3.6m -0.9m
Australia 4.2m 0.5 + 2.7 = 3.2m -1.0m

An average of over 1.5M down per venue when you add both the BBC+Sky figures for 2012 in comparison to Vettel's runaway borefest in 2011. The 2 seasons couldnt be more different, yet the figures are well below what anyone expected.
Yet more evidence if any where required that Sky is not the place for F1.

Lovely, nice to see compelling evidence that putting F1 on sky was a cock up.

[FoxHound]

I'm wondering whether Sky think it to be a big fat white elephant too many. Because if they aren't wondering that now, they should be.
The loser in all this as ever, is the fans.
But, in time Bernie will have to yield or his baby will become positively anaemic. And when Sky dont want it, and BBC/ITV/C4 cannot afford to bid the figures Bernie demands, he will have only himself to blame for getting into this plight.

[N12ck]

An average of over 1.5M down per venue when you add both the BBC+Sky figures for 2012 in comparison to Vettel's runaway borefest in 2011. The 2 seasons couldnt be more different, yet the figures are well below what anyone expected.
Yet more evidence if any where required that Sky is not the place for F1.

your figure there is wrong the average drop per race is actually 0.846154 or 0.85M per venue, so almost half the figure you quoted above,

[FoxHound]

An average of over 1.5M down per venue when you add both the BBC+Sky figures for 2012 in comparison to Vettel's runaway borefest in 2011. The 2 seasons couldnt be more different, yet the figures are well below what anyone expected.
Yet more evidence if any where required that Sky is not the place for F1.

your figure there is wrong the average drop per race is actually 0.846154 or 0.85M per venue, so almost half the figure you quoted above,

My bad, I did some very quick arithmetic off the top of my head. Thank you for the correction.

[astracrazy]

what would be interesting to see would be the number of people who had the sky sports package in 2011 to now. It won't be 100% accurate, but it will give a ruff idea to see if Sky gained many customers between having the F1 channel and not.

[astracrazy]

+ you have to remember, every year viewing figures are becoming less and less relevant what with people recording, watching on the net etc. etc.

[GrizzleBoy]

True.

I've watched every single race on their sky go platform on my PC.



I actually really like it tbh, since I actually get almost the same kind of view that the commentators get.

When you hear one of them almost "magically" predict something thats about to happen (as if they didn't know), I can already tell they're faking because I'm seeing what they are seeing too (without having to sacrifice the main feed ala the red button).

For instance, you can see that the main feed shows the cars just about moving off the grid, while the other camera shows LH already in the braking zone for turn one.

Where the google page is, I'd usually have the live timing screen up but I downloaded an app for my phone to do that.

[Shakeman]

The advertisers are going to love those sky viewing figures.

TBH, I have enjoyed the radio commentary of the live races that I have bothered to tune in for along combined with twittering especially the live pit radio tweets.

My enthusiasm for F1 has dropped off and I'm more than likely to watch the highlights package even when BBC do broadcast live. Looks like I haven't been the only one.

[Steven]

Every single Englishman that I have talked to this year absolutely loves the Sky coverage. Of course, those are F1 fans.
Of course I don't know the exact prices and coverage details, but for those fans it seemed to be worth it.

The drop-off difference is likely to be the people that watch to spend their Sunday afternoon. People who cannot live without F1 are still not living without F1, I think.

[FoxHound]

Every single Englishman that I have talked to this year absolutely loves the Sky coverage. Of course, those are F1 fans.
Of course I don't know the exact prices and coverage details, but for those fans it seemed to be worth it.

The drop-off difference is likely to be the people that watch to spend their Sunday afternoon. People who cannot live without F1 are still not living without F1, I think.

Actually Tomba, It's not the coverage per se. Sky can kick out F1 24/7, and this is what people love. Pound for pound, When it's GP Weekend the BBC are a better bet for watching GP. And if you look closely you will see Sky have mimicked the BBC's coverage to an extent, certainly in format.
It boils down to personal preference at the end of the day, and both are exceptional. In this case, I don't think Sky's fee justifies the extra coverage you get.

[andartop]

Well, I haven't missed a race since 1998 but when I first heard about the Sky deal I made my mind immediately that I wasn't going to pay a single penny to them. Why should I have to pay for something everybody involved in is making millions (billions?) out of and which is offered elsewhere for free? As much as I love F1, and irrespective of the quality of the Sky broadcast, I can't help but feel that accepting this situation would only help the cause of making F1 a paid TV service in other countries as well. Which would be a bad thing in my opinion.

I am not surprised by these figures, and really hope that Sky will eventually back out of it. What really surprised me was that the online petition for this issue failed to gather 100000 signatures. Based on these viewing figures, and considering the UK is (supposed to be) the cradle of motorsport I really don't know what to make of it. Were all true F1 fans in the UK already subscribing to Sky? Or were they just looking for an(other) excuse to go down the pub on a Sunday? As for the casual fans, I think the cost is definitely not justified, and they're probably better off getting a ps3 with F1 2012 on it (which is probably more fun than the actual thing) or just find a live stream online..

[beelsebob]

Every single Englishman that I have talked to this year absolutely loves the Sky coverage. Of course, those are F1 fans.
Of course I don't know the exact prices and coverage details, but for those fans it seemed to be worth it.

The drop-off difference is likely to be the people that watch to spend their Sunday afternoon. People who cannot live without F1 are still not living without F1, I think.

I guess I don't break your stat, not being an Englishman, but I for one, do not like the sky coverage compared to the old BBC coverage.

Plusses:

• Getting the support races.
• Some of the non-F1 stuff is great.

Minuses:

• Brundle, Coulthard and Kravitz was the perfect combination of race comentators, splitting coulthard out of the loop sucks, the new BBC commentary is better than the new Sky commentary. The old BBC comentary was better than both.
• The show presenters suck, they have not a patch on Jonathan + Eddie + David. Not only are they less entertaining, they're less informed too.
• The cost is high.

In short, I watch the BBC still when they have live coverage, but I'd much rather see the old coverage back.

[Harvey]

F1 was never free to watch in the UK. We still all had to pay a license fee to get the BBC feed.

I've watched both this year, and I pretty quickly realised that the BBC coverage is terrible compared to Sky's. You just needed to watch the Red Button "forum" at Silverstone to see this: a terrible live stage show where proper race reflection should've been.

The coverage is very similar in style to what BBC do, yes. But the way I see it is that they took everything that made the BBC coverage so much better than ITV's (the style, the ability to watch FP with commentary, and some of the personnel) and left out everything that made it rubbish (ie, Eddie Jordan, DC, and a sense of toning down to pander to casual fans).