• Television

Late starts lead to audience slump

Is TV's love affair with F1 coming to an end? © Sutton Images

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Viewing figures for Formula One races slumped by more than 80 million to around 520 million globally in 2009 largely as a result of later race times, according to a report by the F1 Group, who control the broadcast aspects of the sport.

The drop of around 13%, the first fall in five years, will come as a blow to the F1 Group as it is likely to impact on the price commanded when various TV contracts are renegotiated.

In the last few years the FIA has juggled start times largely to cater for the lucrative European market. The knock-on effect of that was that in certain regions, especially Asia, races clashed with other sports, although there were also falls in more traditional countries such as Spain and Brazil.

The UK bucked the trend, largely because of the success of Jenson Button, and the BBC enjoyed a 6% rise in its audience in the first year since it regained the broadcast contract from ITV. The biggest audience of the year there was for the Brazilian Grand Prix when 16.2 million watched Button clinch the drivers' title.

Bernie Ecclestone has also warned audiences not to hold their breath for the introduction of high definition broadcasts of F1. Despite most other sports adopting the new technology, Ecclestone insists that there isn't enough demand from TV stations to make HD worthwhile.

"If somebody guarantees to broadcast it we'll do it," he said. "We'll do a deal when people are more interested." Although he hinted that it would need more than just one TV station to use an HD feed to make it financially viable.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.