Singapore F1 Grand Prix Suffers Ratings Drop as F1 borefest marches on

Boring cars and a Mercedes parade up front. A sure sign of disaster. German free-to-air TV channel RTL "attracted more than 4 million viewers on Sunday for the broadcast of the Singapore F1 Grand Prix," according to Alexander Krei of DWDL. The race, which was won by Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, was watched by a total of 4.35 million viewers. The number translated into a market share of 28%.

"It was the first time in almost three months that an F1 race obtained less than a 30% market share on RTL." In the target demographic 14-49, the race had a market share of 25.3%. Last year's Singapore GP was watched by 5 million viewers. German pay-TV operator Sky Deutschland, which also aired the race, reported "a drastic ratings drop." Sunday's race had a 2.2% share in the target demographic. The Italian Grand Prix two weeks ago obtained a 5% share. A total of 320,000 tuned in to watch the night race, which is Sky's lowest F1 viewership since the beginning of June.