NBC F1 U.S. audience rises to 13 million viewers

The television audience for NBC's Formula 1 coverage accelerated 15 percent to a record 13.1 million viewers last year driven by the strong start for America's Haas team.

F1's 2016 Global Media Report reveals that NBC recorded the highest-ever audience for the sport in the United States, while its year-on-year increase was the largest since it took over from the former SPEED Channel in 2013. It is well-timed cheer for NBC, which is in the midst of negotiations with F1 over an extension to its contract which expires at the end of this year.

NBC partly has Haas to thank as it was the first team in 14 years to score points on its debut when Romain Grosjean finished sixth in the season opener in Australia followed by a fifth place in Bahrain. Haas slipped down the standings as its rivals picked up the pace, and although it only finished the season in eighth this was still ahead of established F1 marque Renault.

The Media Report reveals that the largest audience of the year was 3.9 million for the Monaco Grand Prix, which was one of four races shown on the main NBC channel. The NBC Sports Network screened 14 with three on CNBC.

Last year it came to light that F1 had already begun talking to other U.S. networks with Fox Sports, which replaced the Speed Channel, thought to be in pole position. Although F1 has been sold to American investment firm Liberty Media since then, it hasn't protected the position of NBC, which pays a fee estimated to be $3 million annually.

F1's popularity in the U.S. got a boost in 2012 with the return of its home race after a five-year absence. The race in Austin, Texas has helped drive new fans to F1 and has fueled a more fervent interest in the sport. Testimony to this, the Media Report reveals that the number of viewers of three races or less increased by 19 percent last year while those who watched 10 or more grew by 25 percent.

It adds that the U.S. audience is "very open to digital and online consumption with total unique viewers for digital streams equating to around 10 percent of the traditional TV audience, the highest proportion recorded globally." It makes the U.S. a particularly attractive market for Liberty as it has repeatedly said it hopes to drive F1's revenues by boosting its digital presence.

Nevertheless, the total number of viewers in the U.S. still only represented four percent of the population last year compared to 50 percent in Hungary and 55 percent in Italy.

The U.S. audience is lower than that in Russia, which had 13.2 million viewers in 2016, and it pales in comparison to most markets in Europe where Britain has 21.8 million viewers, Germany has 28.5 million and Italy 32 million thanks to the pulling power of home heroes Ferrari.

F1's overall audience fell by 10 million to 390 million, marking the sixth straight year that the number of viewers has declined. It has lost a total of 137 million since 2010 driven by a move to pay TV.

Pay TV broadcasters are prepared to outbid their free-to-air rivals for F1 as it fuels subscriber numbers. They tend to have smaller audiences than broadcasters which don't charge to watch, and this can dent the teams' income from sponsors as rates are proportionate to the number of viewers. However, the increased fees from Pay TV broadcasters more than compensates for this as the teams share 63 percent of F1's profits as prize money.

Liberty has indicated that it wants to sign more pay TV deals but it has also said it wants compensate for this by revving up the races to attract a new audience. Time will tell whether it can pull it off.