Across the eight Grands Prix which have taken place so far this year, the
BBC’s total audience of viewers watching at least 15 minutes has fallen
20.5% to 20.2m which is understandable given that it lost half of the live
races. In contrast, F1 has gained as it is understood that 5.5m watched at
least 15 minutes of Sky’s broadcasts of the first eight races and this
offset the BBC’s drop. In fact, the total audience for the race in Valencia
was 8% up on 2011.

The deal suits F1 particularly since only a core of die-hard fans watch every
race live in full. The crashes and overtaking moves, which are condensed
into the highlights, appeal to casual viewers and although the BBC’s total
audience is down, the taxpayer cost has been significantly reduced. It is
for this reason that the structure of the deal has already been copied as a
similar agreement was signed in Italy last month with more believed to be on
the way.

Despite the huge sums paid for live rights Mr Coles says that appetite for
sports highlights is growing. “I’ve been negotiating the BBC’s sports rights
now for 10 years,” he says adding “I used to say that if it’s not live it’s
dead but actually Match of the Day this season has posted the largest
audiences we have ever had with a total of around 7 million each weekend so
we are growing our football highlights.”

He adds that “losing half of the live Grands Prix has been gut wrenching, but
we are living in challenging economic times which often require hard choices
and sacrifice.”