The Singapore Grand Prix returned last weekend after a couple of years off. ESPN saw another impressive increase in F1 TV Ratings.
Last weekend’s race saw Max Verstappen struggle for the first time this season. He started in 8th and lost a couple of places at the start. It was an eventful Grand Prix for Verstappen that eventually led to just a single position gained on the night. He was unable to win the Drivers’ Championship that will now carry over to the Japanese Grand Prix. In a wet race that was delayed a full hour, it was Sergio Perez that won, taking the lead in Turn 1 after second on the grid.
Considering there hasn’t been a race since 2019 in Singapore, it was not surprising that there was such a large increase in American viewers. The steep 80% increase though was impressive. In 2019 the race averaged 574 thousand viewers compared to this year’s 1.046 million. That brings the average increase over the last four races to 52%. Can those F1 TV ratings gains continue after Max Verstappen clinches the Championship?
| Race | TV Rating | Audience | 2021 Rating | 2021 Audience | Difference |
| Belgian GP | 0.57 | 1.045 M | 0.39 | 637 K | 64% |
| Dutch GP | 0.62 | 1.148 M | 0.53 | 870 K | 32% |
| Italian GP | 0.53 | 0.995 K | 0.53 | 880 K | 31% |
| Singapore GP | 0.54 | 1.036 M | 0.37 | 574 K (2019) | 80% |
| Totals/Avg | 0.565 | 1.056 M | 0.455 | 740 K | 52% |
Record-setting audience tunes in to #F1 #SingaporeGP on ESPN2
🏁1.04 million viewers, peak 1.2 million
🏁Largest U.S. TV audience ever for event
🏁 @F1 race viewership avg up 20 pct over '21 (1.2 million vs 949K)NEXT: #JapaneseGP | Sunday 12:55a ET (late Sat night) | ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/a7AwTI8a4T
— Andy Hall (@AndyHallESPN) October 4, 2022
What do these ratings mean?
Last weekend’s ratings were higher than the viewership of the Italian Grand Prix (995 Thousand). An impressive feat for ESPN when you consider the fact that Dish Network and other streaming services dropped ESPN’s family of channels on Saturday morning. This is also not taking into account that the race overlapped with the NFL’s London Game that started at 9:30 on the East Coast.
F1 continues to show strong growth in the American Market regardless of outside factors. The question though will be if this continues for the Japanese Grand Prix, as that is expected to start at 1:00 am on the East Coast, and at 10:00 PM Saturday night on the West Coast. It will be interesting to see if ESPN releases viewing figures for tape-delayed replays and on-demand viewing on the ESPN app.
