RATINGS: In Australia, Russian GP has you!
FORMULA ONE’s captivating 2021 season has continued to enthral Australian TV audiences, Sunday night’s Russian Grand Prix becoming one of the most viewed races of the last four years.
With a rare 10PM AEST start time helping the cause, the race soared to an average audience of 155,000 people on Fox Sports 506 which made it the most watched program on Subscription TV on Sunday.
That audience built from 44,000 watching the pre-race show and remained afterward too, with 32,000 sticking around to see the post-race debrief as Lewis Hamilton won his 100th Grand Prix and Lando Norris rued a call to not stop for wet tyres, costing him a maiden victory.
The Black Sea GP becomes the most watched-race of the year to date, the most-watched Russian Grand Prix in Australia and the second-most watched race since the start of the pandemic.
It’s also the 10th most-watched race on Fox Sports since 2018.
On Saturday, 77,000 watched qualifying which is a substantial number given the start of the session clashed with the washout from the AFL Grand Final, which drew enormous numbers to Channel 7.
As always, the number does not include those streaming via Kayo Sports or Foxtel Go as those figures are not freely published.
Unfortunately for Australian F1 fans, the remainder of the 2021 season will prove slightly more challenging to consume.
Europe’s shift to winter, the looming introduction of Daylight savings in Australia and subsequent races in the Americas and Middle East mean that every remaining race this year will start at or after midnight on the East Coast.
While it means the substantial numbers seen in the last two races are unlikely to be seen again this year, you can bet audiences will remain strong given the totally remarkable season and the increasingly significant chance that the world title fight will come down to Abu Dhabi’s final round.
RANKED: Most watched F1 races since 2018
- 2019 Australian Grand Prix 290,000
- 2018 Australian Grand Prix 279,000
- 2018 Chinese Grand Prix 210,000
- 2019 Chinese Grand Prix 188,000
- 2018 Singapore Grand Prix 185,000
- 2018 Spanish Grand Prix 177,000
- 2018 Monaco Grand Prix 167,000
- 2019 Singapore Grand Prix 162,000
- 2020 Turkish Grand Prix 158,000
- 2021 Russian Grand Prix 155,000
- 2020 Russian Grand Prix 144,000
- 2019 Russian Grand Prix 143,000
- 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix 138,000
- 2021 Italian Grand Prix 130,000
- 2018 Hungarian Grand Prix 129,000
FOX Sports only. SOURCE: OzTam.
PHOTO: Mercedes-AMG Petronas
Richard Craill (administrator)
Working full time in the motorsport industry since 2004, Richard has established himself within the group of Australia’s core motorsport broadcasters, covering the support card at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix for Channel 10, the Bathurst 12 Hour for Channel 7 and Porsche Carrera Cup & Touring Car Masters for FOX Sports’ Supercars coverage. Pretends to be a PR guy / Journalist and sometimes photographer to make ends meet when not yelling at a television in a padded room.
