RTL abandons F1
After 30 years of presence in the paddocks, the German channel RTL has decided to drop F1 to focus on football.
It is one of the last strongholds of F1 on a free channel that has just fallen with RTL’s announcement to stop broadcasting F1 from next season.
The reason given by Jörg Graf, its general manager, is thus unequivocal and indicates that the economic equation was no longer there: The competition for TV rights has changed, the market has overheated in some cases and has thus left the ambitious but economically justifiable framework we set for ourselves. We will now focus all our strength, passion, and joy on football as the number one televised sport and our newly acquired set of rights.
It must be said that since entering the paddock in 1991, the panorama has changed significantly for the channel. It benefited from the great Schumacher era, which allowed it to reach a peak in 2001, with nearly 10.5 million viewers per race. But since then, there has been a slow erosion affecting the audiences. Thus, the titles of Sebastian Vettel or Nico Rosberg, and even those of the national manufacturer Mercedes, haven’t changed anything. The prospect of a likely retirement of the Ferrari driver at the end of the season and no longer having a home race have certainly convinced the executives to turn the page.
Liberty Media has, of course, refrained from relaying such news, which will inevitably impact the total viewership of the discipline. From now on, German viewers will have no choice but to turn to a paid solution, whether it’s on F1 TV’s online channel or on Sky.
With the participation of www.racingbusiness.fr
