GPWizard F1 Forum
F1 News & Discussions => General F1 Discussion => Topic started by: Wizzo on October 26, 2007, 06:01:01 PM
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Lewis Hamilton's remarkable debut season in formula one has led ITV to almost double the cost of sponsoring its coverage to £5m a year.
ITV said that the F1 season that concluded at last Sunday's Brazilian grand prix saw an increase of around 40% in the average number of viewers per race to 3.3 million compared with 2006.
Viewers were gripped by a tense race in which Hamilton was pipped at the post for the drivers' title by Kimi Raikkonen. This was ITV1's highest average audience for any F1 season since 2001.
ITV is now opening negotiations for sponsorship of its F1 coverage for next year, following the end of Honda's one-year deal thought to be worth just over £2.5m.
In the recently concluded F1 season, ITV pulled in an estimated £12m in extra ad revenue compared with 2006. This figure includes around £9m from advertising on the race day itself and £3m from additional revenue during qualifying and replays.
A single 30-second ad spot on ITV cost an estimated 43% more year on year at around £39,000, according to figures compiled by media agency Carat.
The so-called "Hamilton effect" - which saw around 1.7 million more viewers watch the British grand prix than in 2006 - meant that over the 2007 season an advertiser taking a spot in each grand prix would have paid around £200,000 more than last year.
Overall, it would have cost around £670,000 for an advertiser to buy a spot in all grand prix races this year, compared with around £470,000 last year, according to average rates analysed by Carat.
The agency estimated that ITV took around £20m in ad revenue for the 2006 season and just over £30m this year, thanks to the Hamilton effect.
Actual revenue figures are very difficult to work out due to a number of factors including the varying length of races.
The French grand prix had 940 seconds of ad space, while the British race had more than 1,500 - with Carat using an average figure of around 1,350 seconds across the F1 season.
Jason Smith, a TV buyer at Carat, said the £12m boost should be viewed as a guideline of the additional airtime value of the 2007 season to ITV, as opposed to actual cash in the coffer.
The boost in prices and viewing figures, particularly the valuable ABC1 male audience, will be of tremendous value to ITV in the ad airtime trading deals season currently under way with agencies.
Kevin Alavy, a senior analyst at media agency Initiative, said the tense finish to this year's F1 championship also saw a 5% boost in global audience viewing - against a backdrop where most sports events are experiencing ratings dips.
ITV has had the UK broadcast rights for F1 since 1997 and holds them until 2010. The BBC broadcast live coverage of the sport before 1997.
It is expected that Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Management will attempt to squeeze more money for the UK TV rights next time around because of the Hamilton factor.
"Bernie will ask for a lot more money from UK broadcasters next time around," said Mr Alavy.
"[Hamilton] is arguably the most commercially attractive driver on the whole grid so there will be a premium rights fee next time. He is the reason why people who may not be formula one fans are tuning in. There is a gap in the market for a young sportsman of his pulling power."
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I suppose that means that Ecclestone is already negotiating with Sky, well, we all knew it would happen did'nt we. :'(
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no wonder there are so many adverts on itv1....look at al the sausage n mash its racking in :o