Saturday, July 18, 2015

Breaking Down the 2015 V8SC Townsville 400 Television Ratings


With the new era of V8 Supercars television (and online streaming) upon us, I’ve noticed on social media that there’s a lot of conjecture and confusion as to how the final ratings numbers for each V8 Supercars event are arrived at.

Following an article written after the Perth weekend that referred to what appeared to be drastically low numbers for this year’s event on Foxtel as compared to a year previous on Channel Seven, I am now included on the V8SC mailing list for ratings information, receiving an e-mail with a key metrics comparison breakdown after each round of the championship.

I know now that the way ratings are arrived at this year is significantly different this year to previous years. It’s fair to say that singular race numbers – as they are presented by outlets like TV Tonight and others – don’t look that great, but it’s important to remember that this figure is only one part of the total ratings number, which is not always indicated. To that end, I thought I would pass the details as they were presented to me, in an effort to spread awareness of both the figures and how they are split into particular categories.

Summation of ratings to and including the Townsville 400

The two-race Townsville 400 weekend, measured race-on-race, saw a six percent increase on the comparative event in 2014.

Cumulative Total Average Ratings – Year To Date

This number includes all races, practice, qualifying, highlights, and other V8SC programs, both live and replays, and including magazine-type shows like the Ten Network’s RPM, and FOX Sports shows Inside Supercars and Supercars Life. Although it is not specifically stated in the report, it’s fairly safe to assume that this number also includes digital streaming via FOX Sports Go and Play.

To the week ending 12 July 2015, the cumulative total average ratings are as follows:

2014: 20.376 million
2015: 19.419 million

Whilst the number, year on year, is down five percent, it’s important to take into account the fact that, to this point in 2014, there had been seven V8SC championship rounds, but only six to the same date this year.

On a like-for-like basis, comparing events year on year, the 2015 audience is up nine percent.

Cumulative Average Ratings – Weekly (6-12 July 2015)

This figure includes any and all V8SC-branded programs appearing during the week: live races on FOX Sports (including Go and Play streaming figures), FOX Sports race replays, live on-track sessions (measured as a weekend total), replayed on-track sessions, Channel Ten’s live broadcast of Saturday and Sunday, and magazine shows.

Individual figures for each broadcast are:

FOX Sports live races (including Go and Play): 227,000
FOX Sports race replays: 76,000
FOX Sports live other (all weekend sessions): 539,000
FOX Sports other replays (all weekend sessions): 6,000
Channel Ten Live Races: 905,000
Channel Ten live all other (all V8SC sessions): 768,000
Magazine shows: 84,000

[Note: numbers sourced by OzTam and Regional TAM]

Cumulative Average Ratings – Race Weekend (Live and Replay)

These numbers include all races and highlights.

Sydney.com SuperTest: 197,000 viewers (debut broadcast; no available comparison to previous years).
Clipsal 500: 2,335,553 (Up 12% year-on-year event, up 21% year-on-year cumulative).
Australian Grand Prix: 1,170,000 (Up 10% year-on-year event, up 17% year-on-year cumulative).
Tasmania SuperSprint: 791,300 (Down 23% year-on-year event, up 8% year-on-year cumulative).
Perth SuperSprint: 679,000 (Down 30% year-on-year event, up 1% year-on-year cumulative).
Winton SuperSprint: 719,000 (Down 27% year-on-year event, down 3% year-on-year cumulative).
Darwin Triple Crown: 967,000 (Up 4% year-on-year event, down 2% year-on-year cumulative).
Townsville 400: 1,176,600 (Up 6% year-on-year event, down 1% year-on-year cumulative).

[Note: numbers sourced by OzTam and Regional TAM]

Digital Footprint

Website Visits: 8.420 million (up 17% on comparative 2014 figures)
Website Page Views: 22.719 million (up 3% on comparative 2014 figures)
Facebook Reach: 52.589 million (up 16% on comparative 2014 figures)
Facebook Impressions: 226.455 million (up 20% on comparative 2014 figures)
Video Views: 7.630 million (up 187% on comparative 2014 figures)

[Note: numbers sourced by Google Analytics and Facebook Insights]

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