Ratings Roundup: Formula 1 Rides High in Europe Despite Time Difference

October 30, 2012 World Screen Top Stories
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PREMIUM: The Indian Grand Prix race, which took place near New Delhi, attracted some of the biggest audiences of the day on Sunday, October 28, in major markets—despite a mid-morning time slot on European channels.

The pulling power of Formula 1 in Europe was on display again on Sunday October 28. In Germany, RTL scored its biggest audience of the whole day with live coverage of the race, starting at 10:30 CET. The event averaged 5.64 million viewers, the third biggest audience of any program behind ARD 1’s prime-time series Tatort (Crime Scene) with 8.73 million viewers, and the evening news on the same channel. German driver Sebastian Vettel’s victory drew a 36.6 percent viewing share.

On RAI 2 in Italy, the race drew an audience of 4.983 million and a share of 39.06 percent. It was the third highest audience of the day on any channel, just behind Endemol’s Affari tuoi (Deal Or No Deal) on RAI 1 with 5.274 million and the sports mini-program 5 minuti di recupero (5 Minutes Of Injury Time) leading into that game show, starting at 7:40 p.m. in access time. The Formula 1 race actually outscored all prime-time fare.
 
In Spain, the performance was even better as the Indian GP on Antena 3 was number two of all programmes of the day. The race averaged 3.306 million viewers and a share of 41.6 percent, just behind Telecinco’s prime-time light-entertainment show Aida with 3.332 million.
 
This year’s Indian GP did much better in Spain than the inaugural race in 2011, which aired on laSexta and drew 2.144 million and a share of 32.3 percent last year—still great going for a Sunday morning.
 
The excellent performance of the Indian GP follows strong showings of the races in Japan and Korea in past weeks. Both of those events aired even earlier, at 8:00 on Sunday mornings on European channels, with the Korean race pulling bigger audiences than the one in Japan. The Korean GP attracted 3.52 million viewers on RTL in Germany, 4.352 million on RAI 1 in Italy and 1.606 million on A3 in Spain.