(Motorsport-Total.com) – The two recent Grands Prix in Suzuka and Miami brought different ratings to the German-speaking TV partners of Formula 1. Especially Sky in Germany achieved very varying results.
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At the Japanese Grand Prix, only 297,000 viewers watched the race live on Sky – significantly fewer than in Melbourne (388,000) and Shanghai (554,000) in similar time zones with a start in the early Sunday morning in Central Europe. Another 98,000 streaming customers raised the total audience to 395,000 viewers. The market share was a good 9.8 percent.
The year-on-year comparison is negative: Since 2022, Sky has only reached fewer viewers with its Suzuka broadcast in the 2023 season – 279,000. Otherwise, the pay-TV broadcaster has always clearly passed the 300,000 mark. This year’s figure also represents Sky’s weakest season performance so far.
In Austria, interest in the Japanese Grand Prix was also subdued: ServusTV reached 306,000 viewers in the significantly smaller TV market, narrowly surpassing Sky. The market share was 54.1 percent. In this case too, earlier live broadcasts were significantly better and only in 2024 with ORF was it slightly weaker at 302,000.
Ratings upswing at the evening race in Miami
At least on Sky in Germany, there was a ratings upswing at the end of the multi-week Formula 1 break in Miami: With 735,000 viewers at the Grand Prix, the pay-TV broadcaster set its best performance of the year and clearly surpassed Shanghai (554,000). With streaming, the total audience was 891,000. The market share was 3.6 percent.
The year-on-year comparison also reads positively for Sky: From 2023 to 2025, fewer than 600,000 viewers were interested in the Grand Prix each time. Only in 2022, at the Miami premiere in Formula 1, were more fans live with 803,000 viewers.
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In Austria, the public broadcaster ORF remained almost exactly at the level of its 2024 season broadcast with 580,000 viewers. However, ServusTV had clearly more viewers in 2022 and 2025, and ORF itself also in 2023. The market share of 27 percent for Miami was in the normal range for a Formula 1 evening broadcast.
How intensively the Miami sprint was followed
At the second Formula 1 sprint of the year, Sky and ORF each performed clearly better than at the season opener in Shanghai – probably mainly due to the more favorable broadcast time.
Sky almost doubled its audience and reached 223,000 viewers and a 2.1 percent market share. ORF was even somewhat more successful in Austria with 236,000 viewers and a 26 percent market share – improving by more than a factor of three compared to China.
Who will show the upcoming race in Canada
In Germany, Sky reports exclusively from the Grand Prix of Canada in Montreal. Free-TV coverage is not planned. In Switzerland, SRF broadcasts as usual, and in Austria, ServusTV will be on air again for Montreal.
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