F1, TV Viewing Figures and Social Media

[Chrisgr31]

Theres a report on the Autosport website http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/114278 which basically says that Bernie is not worried about a fall in TV viewing figures and that there is no need for the sport to embrace social media.

I found it interesting for a number of reasons particularly the comment that live listening figures on radio jumped by 53%. Now some of those will of course be listening to english commentary whilst watching foreign TV feeds, but others will be listening because they refuse to pay Sky. However it is still a substantial increase and suprises me, but then I fail to see the point in listening and watching!

The other interesting thing was Bernies assertation that socail media is not rquired. I use Twitter and follow a number of teams drivers and F1 journalists. The danger with Twitter is overload but I do think the teams Twitter feeds have added something to my enjoyment of the season.

Anyone else got any opinions?

[rdjohn]

Being an old git, I do not use social media much, but in terms of the future, PPV personal streaming must feature as a sensible way to increase revenue for the sport.

If true, I guess this statement shows just how out-of-touch Bernie has become. His world is on fire and he cannot even smell the smoke yet.

[Eric Mc]

It's a Bernie quote.

Is there any point in discussing it.

The one thing you can safely say about a Bernie quote is that it bears little or no relationship to what he really thinks.

[Lost soul]

Maybe Bernie says he is not bothered but I am sure he will be when some of the major sponsors feel they are no longer getting value from F1 because the audience has shrunk

[mistakenplane]

Simple really:

"When asked if he believed F1 needed to change its approach, and officially embrace social media like other sports have done, he said: "No. We're commercial... If they find people to pay us [to do that] then I will be happy.""

If theres good money to make, yes. Otherwise, no.

Bernie has a goal in mind as usual, but I cant see why the reluctance to do so, unless it would mean more revenue sharing from profits made.

[Derek Smith]

Lost soul said:

Maybe Bernie says he is not bothered but I am sure he will be when some of the major sponsors feel they are no longer getting value from F1 because the audience has shrunk

One way or the other, Ecclestone will probably be out of the system in the near future. If the float goes ahead, and all bets are off it seems, then he is unlikely to stay in charge. Then there's the court case. I would assume also that the rumours of further civil cases arising from the evidence to the court might well be true.

CVC want out of the present situation, they've made that plain. On any float I would assume that Ecclestone's share will be, at least to an extent, part of the parcel. So there's little chance of him saying that the drop in viewing figures for the sport are anything to worry about.

Ecclestone is a genius salesman. Believe everything he says in the way you would believe any other saleman's patter. I feel certain that the F1 rights might have had just one owner, but one wonders if the mileage is higher that he suggests.

[thegreenhell]

Eric Mc said:

It's a Bernie quote.

Is there any point in discussing it.

The one thing you can safely say about a Bernie quote is that it bears little or no relationship to what he really thinks.

Exactly. He is well known for saying the exact opposite of what he really thinks, either as a smoke screen for something he is plotting or just to stir things up a bit.

[Justaredbadge]

Gaz. said:

iirc viewing a broadcast via a laptop or tablet does not count towards viewing figures even from an official broadcaster. The R5 jump of 53% is quite telling, the audience haven't gone away, they are just using another means to follow the sport for free.

I do think Sky have messed up with their business model surrounding their SSF1 channel, if it was my trainset it would have been a standalone channel available to Sky, VM & BT customers independent of a Sky Sports subscription in its current format and on Freeview/FreeSat with green/yellow flag adverts as per ITV's model.

Regarding social media, I'm not sure what a FOM twitter feed or Facebook page would bring to the audience that we cannot already get. Also look how low the twitter numbers are, very few people in F1 have a significant following and I don't know about anyone else but when I use it occasionally I am bombarded with tweets from absolutely anyone. It really is like sifting through silt to find an ounce of gold. I can't be arsed and would rather wait 20 minutes for an official/trusted source.

Youtube is a funny one- it seems obvious that FOM should allow videos to stand but on the other hand if you were a broadcaster that has paid £30m for the current & historic rights to air the sport in your country would you want people to see your material for free independent of your network?

I can't see F1 abandoning TV just yet though, even in Britain not everyone has an internet speed to view a HD stream uninterrupted. When fibre optic broadband is available on a national level then TV will follow the newspapers into decline.

Agree with every bit of that.

[Chrisgr31]

Gaz. said:

I do think Sky have messed up with their business model surrounding their SSF1 channel, if it was my trainset it would have been a standalone channel available to Sky, VM & BT customers independent of a Sky Sports subscription in its current format and on Freeview/FreeSat with green/yellow flag adverts as per ITV's model.

Not sure if I necessarially agree, well from the point of view of a viewer I do, but suspect they have spent a lot of time on pricing model and calculated that their current model gives the best return. It seems that if I want Sky and F1 I need to spend at least £49 a month or £600 a year. Now if offered it as part of a BT contract they wouldnt get more than what £50 a year? So they need to find 12 of me first.

[Some Gump]

I really, really fail to see how social media adds anything but ste to F1. That god awful bit on the btcc coverage when that bloke reads out tweets from people with little or no clue what is going on? If you want that for f1 it's right here on PH in the spoilers thread.

The teams are not going to tweet any proper info during the race, so what the hell can social media add?

[Derek Smith]

thegreenhell said:

Eric Mc said:

It's a Bernie quote.

Is there any point in discussing it.

The one thing you can safely say about a Bernie quote is that it bears little or no relationship to what he really thinks.

Exactly. He is well known for saying the exact opposite of what he really thinks, either as a smoke screen for something he is plotting or just to stir things up a bit.

I doubt we ever know what he really thinks, so we have no idea as to whether what he says is the opposite of anything.

Ecclestone follows the money: that's about all we can say.

[Chrisgr31]

Some Gump said:

I really, really fail to see how social media adds anything but ste to F1. That god awful bit on the btcc coverage when that bloke reads out tweets from people with little or no clue what is going on? If you want that for f1 it's right here on PH in the spoilers thread.

The teams are not going to tweet any proper info during the race, so what the hell can social media add?

It adds background between races, what the teams are doing, if they or the drivers are doing publicity events, photos, links to team press releases, an element of piss taking between the teams as well. Then you get the F1 journalists tweeting their articles or links to them.

Its a lot better than this forum for finding information as each post os only 140 characters long and easily scrollable through and you dont get the fan arguments!

I would agree its not much use in the race itself although teams do tweet about what has happened tot heir cars if they have issues etc.

[mistakenplane]

Some Gump said:

I really, really fail to see how social media adds anything but ste to F1. That god awful bit on the btcc coverage when that bloke reads out tweets from people with little or no clue what is going on? If you want that for f1 it's right here on PH in the spoilers thread.

The teams are not going to tweet any proper info during the race, so what the hell can social media add?

Someone used to tweet radio communications, which was interesting and really helpful to follow the race with.

[darth_pies]

Chrisgr31 said:

Not sure if I necessarially agree, well from the point of view of a viewer I do, but suspect they have spent a lot of time on pricing model and calculated that their current model gives the best return. It seems that if I want Sky and F1 I need to spend at least £49 a month or £600 a year. Now if offered it as part of a BT contract they wouldnt get more than what £50 a year? So they need to find 12 of me first.

You can pay £10 for a Now TV Sky Sports day pass, which gives access to the F1 channel (and all other Sky sports channels) for 24hrs.

[realjv]

Bernie doesn't see why F1 should embrace social media seeing as they won't get paid or make money from it. I dunno, how about the commerical rights holder and supposed F1 promotor actually doing some....you know....promotion?

[Derek Smith]

darth_pies said:

You can pay £10 for a Now TV Sky Sports day pass, which gives access to the F1 channel (and all other Sky sports channels) for 24hrs.

The only reason I continue with Sky is for F1. My package is well north of £50pcm. Today I received an offer from BT: £5 for all freeview channels, plus 20 others and then there's BT sport.

If I watch to 10 GPs on a daily basis then I can regain the charge in 2 months. On top of that, for one of the races I will be away and there's no way I would have paid money to watch Monaco live.

Seriously thinking about BT.

[StevieBee]

We forget sometimes that F1 is a global sport and how people use media is very different around the world. Twitter is the dominant social media in English speaking countries but hardly surfaces in other countries and Facebook whilst more widespread, is still used differently by different demographics in different regions. So looking globally, I'd say Bernie's non concern over social media is not too far off the mark.

[darth_pies]

StevieBee said:

We forget sometimes that F1 is a global sport and how people use media is very different around the world. Twitter is the dominant social media in English speaking countries but hardly surfaces in other countries and Facebook whilst more widespread, is still used differently by different demographics in different regions. So looking globally, I'd say Bernie's non concern over social media is not too far off the mark.

Your facts are correct (ish - yes Twitter is quite 'anglosphere' but is also big in Japan, Spain, Brazil etc) but that's a strange conclusion to come to.

While Facebook/Twitter are not quite universal, and social isn't the be-all and end-all of marketing, its still crazy for any global entertainment brand like F1 to ignore it.

Still, should we be surprised that an octagenarian billionaire with a monopoly over a cash-cow sport isn't at the head of the queue to invest in new areas of marketing?!?

[mistakenplane]

StevieBee said:

We forget sometimes that F1 is a global sport and how people use media is very different around the world. Twitter is the dominant social media in English speaking countries but hardly surfaces in other countries and Facebook whilst more widespread, is still used differently by different demographics in different regions. So looking globally, I'd say Bernie's non concern over social media is not too far off the mark.

Hamilton and Alonso have over 2 million twitter followers.

Even the smallest driver followers have 20,000+

The team accounts range from 200,000 to 600,000.

Even the BBC and Sky F1 accounts have hundreds of thousands of followers.

Theres a huge market there, and ignoring it isnt sensible at all, especially as F1 fans drift away, or watch it for "free" via online sources.

[rdjohn]

As ever, Joe Sayward's views on the subject are perhaps the most relevant.

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2014/06/12/sometime...