Little value to fans, but a lot of value to FOM as it increases viewers and attendance for what otherwise would have been practice time that only a small number of hardcore fans watch religiously.
I really do not like the format but it has resulted in exactly what FOM wanted from it.
Has it though? Gt-racer (someone who works on the F1 broadcasts) commented on RaceFans that overall viewership is down on sprint weekends. Apparently COTA don’t want to run this format again. Qualifying figures are down when held on a Friday, and even the main race figures are down. Unfortunately I can’t find their comment to link to.
It would not surprise me if they were down at least for quali as it is moved to a shit time for most people, but the increase in people watching the two sprint sessions on a weekend vs. people who actually watched practice is going to be a massive increase.
Getting the raw viewing data out of FOM is always going to be a nightmare, you’ll need a TV network or huge sponsor who will have access to it actually leak it. Otherwise what we get from FOM in public statements, in the words of Lewis: this has been manipulated man.
I would be very surprised if we do not see a large decrease in viewers this year, particularly in all the races post Max tying up the championship so early and in such dominant fashion. This would have impacted COTA this year, that and the saturation of US hosted races. Time zones work in both directions, whats good for Europe isn’t always good for the US and vice versa, the actual Sprint@COTA was on really really late in Europe this year so I would not be surprised time zone impacted viewers from Europe and beyond, but I doubt we will ever get proof of that.
FOM patted themselves too much on the back for being responsible for all of the growth in 21 when really an intense season long battle for the title that literally went down to the last lap of the last race has more to do with it that their gimmicky changes and low hanging fruit that Bernie couldn’t be bothered to pick.
I think the only we remedy this if we watch the sprint and skip the grand prix so their viewership numbers tank(Though the morons may then scrap the actual GP thinking people prefer the sprints). The GPs are boring anyway on sprint weekends as the sprint has given a clear pecking order of car and driver pace. Sometimes even the sprint itself is dull like the cota one. Very rarely are both the sprint and the main race both great. I can only remember interlagos and Monza being races with great sprint and main races
Just get rid of them. They are a pain in the ass for everyone involved and add little no nothing of value
Little value to fans, but a lot of value to FOM as it increases viewers and attendance for what otherwise would have been practice time that only a small number of hardcore fans watch religiously.
I really do not like the format but it has resulted in exactly what FOM wanted from it.
Has it though? Gt-racer (someone who works on the F1 broadcasts) commented on RaceFans that overall viewership is down on sprint weekends. Apparently COTA don’t want to run this format again. Qualifying figures are down when held on a Friday, and even the main race figures are down. Unfortunately I can’t find their comment to link to.
It would not surprise me if they were down at least for quali as it is moved to a shit time for most people, but the increase in people watching the two sprint sessions on a weekend vs. people who actually watched practice is going to be a massive increase.
Getting the raw viewing data out of FOM is always going to be a nightmare, you’ll need a TV network or huge sponsor who will have access to it actually leak it. Otherwise what we get from FOM in public statements, in the words of Lewis: this has been manipulated man.
I would be very surprised if we do not see a large decrease in viewers this year, particularly in all the races post Max tying up the championship so early and in such dominant fashion. This would have impacted COTA this year, that and the saturation of US hosted races. Time zones work in both directions, whats good for Europe isn’t always good for the US and vice versa, the actual Sprint@COTA was on really really late in Europe this year so I would not be surprised time zone impacted viewers from Europe and beyond, but I doubt we will ever get proof of that.
FOM patted themselves too much on the back for being responsible for all of the growth in 21 when really an intense season long battle for the title that literally went down to the last lap of the last race has more to do with it that their gimmicky changes and low hanging fruit that Bernie couldn’t be bothered to pick.
I think the only we remedy this if we watch the sprint and skip the grand prix so their viewership numbers tank(Though the morons may then scrap the actual GP thinking people prefer the sprints). The GPs are boring anyway on sprint weekends as the sprint has given a clear pecking order of car and driver pace. Sometimes even the sprint itself is dull like the cota one. Very rarely are both the sprint and the main race both great. I can only remember interlagos and Monza being races with great sprint and main races