More Britons watched BBC's delayed coverage
Mar.20 (GMM) The BBC's delayed and edited highlights of Sunday's Australian Grand Prix attracted more viewers than the British broadcaster's live coverage of the same Melbourne race a year ago.
From 2012, F1's television coverage for Britain is being shared between pay-channel Sky - who have the full-time live rights - and the public broadcaster BBC.
Last year, the BBC's live coverage of the 2011 season opener averaged 2.13 million viewers.
But the delayed highlights package for 2012, aired hours after the race finished between 2 and 4pm, attracted 2.7 million viewers.
The figures may, however, be a one-off, with Australia usually among the lowest-rating races in Europe due to the very early morning live timeslot.
Sky's live coverage of the pay-channel's 2012 coverage, meanwhile, averaged just 526,000 viewers.
We are pleased with the launch of the channel overall
A spokesman for the channel refused to comment on whether Sky was disappointed with the figures.
"It is the performance of the whole (F1) channel we are interested in. We are pleased with the launch of the channel overall," he told the Guardian.
Eight of F1's 12 teams are based in Britain.
Share Or Save This Story
Jules Bianchi's father speaks of family's continued hopes
Sauber under no illusions about constructors' position
Pirelli chief calls for radical F1 overhaul
“This is not our history” - Inside the Race debates purpose of Brickyard 400
Why Sami Pajari believes Estonia win won’t make Rally Finland “any easier”
The IndyCar paddock reacts to unveiling of next-gen IR-28 chassis
Corey Heim is accomplishing feats NASCAR hasn't seen in decades
Lando Norris and Max Verstappen overdelivered in Hungary - and that's symbolic of their F1 2026 seasons
Where to next after the Bahraysian Grand Prix?
How Lando Norris shrugged off his first-lap error to deliver on McLaren's Hungarian GP pace
When plucky private entrants could afford to go GP racing, and how F1 changed with the rise of commercialisation
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments