F1 Viewership Hit 600 million Globally in 2008

[Jag_Warrior]

I would have guessed it would have been higher globally. But still, an impressive number for a sponsor to be looking at: roughly 33 million viewers per race... and an increase over the previous year. Very good.


Formula One racing has become a global sport. It is hugely popular in Europe and some parts of North America. According to Formula One’s annual broadcast report, the sport drew 600 million television viewers last season, an increase of 3 million viewers from the previous season. Viewership rose as McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Felipe Massa’s battle for the top position went down to the wire.

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2911370

[harsha]

viewership of f1 increasing despite arses like Bernie and Max at the helm...pretty good achievement i would say

[Brown, Jon Brow]

So F1 will have the highest viewing figures for any annual sport. Only the Olympic games and World Cup Football will be higher.

[ioan]

I was expecting over a billion to be honest.
Looks like Bernie's stupid idea of having all races at 14:00 CET isn't paying out, as most people will not stay in front of their TV sets Sunday at noon instead of having a day out somewhere where they can relax.

[ioan]

So F1 will have the highest viewing figures for any annual sport. Only the Olympic games and World Cup Football will be higher.

Are the UEFA championships having less than 600 million viewers per year? I seriously doubt it.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Are the UEFA championships having less than 600 million viewers per year? I seriously doubt it.

A case study in a strategic marketing book I have says 'Formula one is.....a TV sporting event which enjoyed the third highest TV audience in the world, surpassed only by the Olympics and World Cup Soccer.'

(Johnson.G, Scholes.K, Whittington.R(2004). Exploring Corporate Strategy, Prentice Hall. Harlow.)

[JSH]

viewership of f1 increasing despite arses like Bernie and Max at the helm...pretty good achievement i would say

Problem is... They will take the credit. :(

Hold on...weren't some folk on here claiming that Mosley's actions in 2008 was damaging the image of F1?

[Jag_Warrior]

Hold on...weren't some folk on here claiming that Mosley's actions in 2008 was damaging the image of F1?

I don't think even Clarence Darrow would want to argue that the Mosley scandal wasn't somewhat damaging to F1's image, at least among the non S&M crowd. I would say the same thing of the McLaren scandal and the recent Renault/Briatore scandal. Cheating and hookers usually aren't positive contributors to a sport's image.

But was it so damaging that it affected F1's viewership, positively or negatively? I don't know. The data was not analyzed (or collected?) in such a way that one can determine that.

[leopard]

I’d rather consider something extremely beyond expectation that may decrease level of interest in the sport, such as prolonged strong domination of a team will lead to great boredom or new born teams unexpectedly win the title can indicate that running a winning team in F1 is easy. The title should be battle among couple of strong teams.

Such scandals may damage image of the sport, but conflicts or problems indicate that the series is in motion. If everything right in order we may find the sport runs flat, lack of flavor. I doubt that these things can drop off F1 viewership. This may resemble we lost the flavor of strong characters on forum...