Formula 1 is — probably rightly — trumpeting the big TV viewership its final race in Abu Dhabi enjoyed this weekend.
Almost across the board for five European markets, the race was by far the most watched in years.
Here are the breakdowns, with more over that the F1 site:
- Spain had an average of nine million viewers — the highest since Fernando Alonso was last in the title hunt at the 2007 finale.
- German broadcaster RTL topped 10 million viewers for the second time this year, after failing to hit that mark in three years. The peak this weekend was 12.1 million when Sebastian Vettel crossed the finish line.
- In Italy, the Abu Dhabi race scored twice the viewers as the race did last season, making it the most watched F1 race since 2007.
- The BBC had its largest audience of the season 5.3 million viewers. (That’s not quite where the BBC was at last year in Brazil when Jenson Button won his title. 6.6 million tuned in then.
- In France, there was an average of 4.4 million viewers and a peak of 5.6 million, numbers only topped this year in Bahrain. (Question: Why?!?!).
Interesting that, while Bernie Ecclestone keeps moving F1 out of Europe, it is the Europe viewership that the sport touts. Anyone else noticing that disconnect?
