Almost seven million terrestrial viewers tuned into ITV1 coverage of the Formula Renault UK Championship with Michelin and ELF Renault Clio Cup in 2004 - an unprecedented increase of around three million armchair fans on the previous season’s broadcasts.
The best-ever audience figures for Renault Sport UK’s championships, which continued to be broadcast as an integral part of the channel’s ‘Motorsport UK’ magazine programme, provide a huge boost to Formula Renault UK and Renault Clio Cup and underline the true value-for-money opportunities which exist for competitors, teams and their sponsors.
Most shows attracted well in excess of 200,000 viewers, while the peak audience for a single episode of Motorsport UK was over 450,000. This translates to superb value for money for sponsors who wish to see a quality return on their investment.
The new-for-2004 Sunday night time/Monday morning slot of 00.30/01.00 ensured Formula Renault UK and Renault Clio Cup reached a much larger audience than in previous years.
Following immediately after highlights programmes of ITV1’s Formula One and World Rally Championship coverage on a regular basis, Motorsport UK’s new slot certainly helped raise the profile of the Renault championships to new heights.
Audience share figures by region showed marked improvements on 2003, with broadcasts regularly attracting between 20 and 30 per cent of the available viewership. On two occasions the share topped 40 per cent, once in the Tyne Tees area during the season finale programme in November and another occasion during the mid-season in the West Country where the figure was an unbelievable 60 per cent.
The season finale from Donington Park, meanwhile, attracted around 25 to 30 per cent of the audience share across all regions as the broadcast followed straight after ITV1’s popular I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! reality TV programme.
Of course, 2004 also saw the championships benefiting from continued live raceday coverage on the Sunday of each event through Paris-based digital satellite station Motors TV – broadcast on channel 413 of the Sky Digital platform.
Formula Renault UK Championship with Michelin and ELF Renault Clio Cup Championship Manager, Simon North, commented: “It’s phenomenal news we had seven million ITV1 viewers tuning into our coverage this year and it goes to prove the Renault championships are the ideal place to be in junior-level motorsport for drivers, teams and sponsors.
“It was key for us this year we had our races featured after Formula One and World Rally Championship coverage on ITV1, as this enabled us to reach an audience we could only ever have dreamed of in seasons gone by.”
For all the latest Formula Renault UK Championship with Michelin and ELF Renault Clio Cup news visit the official Renault Sport UK website www.renaultsport.co.uk built by Racecar.
