Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Harte
I think that you may have misunderstood why Liberty bought out FOM.
FOM is a huge cash cow, which is generated from the income from selling the broadcasting rights of F1, from the contracts with individual circuits for the privilege of holding a F1 race and from various other licencing streams.
However, SKY in the UK certainly doesn't recoup the vast sums that it pays for holding the right to broadcast F1 races; it is a loss leader although their advertisers help to defray some of the costs. Why do you think that Channel 4 didn't even compete to continue their coverage after their contracts finishes at the end of this year?
Just look at the figures. In 2015 when the BBC were still broadcasting F1, the average viewing audience was 3.1 million. By the end of last year, Channel 4's average was down to 1.9 million, whilst SKY only brought in an average of 625,000 and they had to reduce the subscription to even achieve that.
F1 to a broadcaster is not a money-spinner; in fact, it's a drain on their resources. Liberty bought FOM, but they did so because FOM is not a TV broadcaster.
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Yes, but FOM's ultimate business model now as they seek to montise and razzamataz it up, is how many people watch it. You are not going to sell $200M sponsorship deals on a 100,000 (at best) race day attendance. Ulitmately it is about viewers- no viewer equals falling market, equals the end.