good call on viewing figures ^^^^ instant drop off and if the last event wasn't in Spain its popular there they would be even worse
Ratings drop for MotoGP
Jorge Lorenzo's dominant home win at Montmelò scored a 28.66% share of the target audience with 3,706,000 viewers. The battle for second place between Pedrosa and Stoner was witnessed by a peak audience of 3,997,000 viewers for a 31.12% share.
The 125cc race registered a 12.53% share of target audience (586,000 viewers). While Moto2 did a 18.86% share with an average of 1,885,000 viewers and a peak of 2,400,000 (21.67% share).
The drop in MotoGP viewership compared to the 2009 race is significant. Last year 5,981,000 viewers tuned in for a 43.2% share.
The Moto2 class held steady, as last year saw 1,851,000 viewers and a 17.7% share for the 250 race.
TV ratings for the Dutch TT at Assen are in for the Italian TV market (one of the largest markets for MotoGP), and once again they show a decline in MotoGP’s allure without Valentino Rossi. With 2,579,000 viewers, making up 16.79% of the total television audience, MotoGP in Holland attracted only half the audience from last year’s event (5,249,000 viewers, 31.69% of the total television audience). With a similar trend in 125GP and Moto2, some in the Italian press are calling for Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta’s resignation, as these ratings are surely a sign of the sport’s demise.
However, a couple factors are unanswered in these reports, which could suggest an alternative and more likely scenario. While the viewership declines are statistically significant enough to give weight to them, they are admitted coming mostly from the Italian market.
While Valentino Rossi’s fan appeal spans the globe, Italian soil is clearly the largest domain the Italian rider holds sway over. The rider’s absense is surely to hit the Italian television market the hardest, and could explain at least a skewing in the results as they are applied to other markets.
But isn’t there a simpler explanation? Looking at the other notable events of the weekend, the knock-out round of the World Cup stands out glaringly. After watching the World Cup in Italy four years ago, we can attest to the fact that little else exists in the Mediterranean country while the event is underway.
If we borrow a maxim from Sherlock Holmes, often the simplest explanation is the cause of problems. Before the pitchforks get sharpened for Ezpeleta, we would like to see TV ratings after the Cup’s conclusion on July 11th. With that date in mind, the German GP could be an adequate perspective on life in MotoGP with Rossi, and give us a truer assessment into the state of MotoGP.
Source: MotoBlog.it
The British GP was the first full GP weekend without The Doctor present to charm the television with his media moxie (did we mention his crash was “worth” $8 million?), and as such we get our first glimpse into what the repercussions are for MotoGP with Rossi out of commission. Checking TV viewership, MotoGP’s stop at Silverstone saw a 20% decline in total viewership when compared to the last two GP’s at Jerez and Le Mans. The result is that advertisers in some markets are asking the local stations that cover MotoGP to readjust there viewership claims and media rates to account for the loss of audience.
Looking at the numbers, it’s clear to see why some advertisers are miffed over the viewership decline. At Silverstone it was estimated that only 4.8 million viewers tuned in to watch the British GP. This accounted for about 26.89% of the commercial target, or viewers watching TV at the point in time.
At Le Mans and Jerez viewership was around 6 million viewers for each race, and attracted 36%-38% of the commercial target. It’s not that these races are at more popular venues either. The British GP attracted over 6.8 million viewers last year, and with the race moved to Silverstone for 2010, and featuring a new highly praised layout, it’s becoming easy to point the finger at the absence of Rossi as being the cause for the decline.
For MotoGP to rebound in the rankings, it’s going to need to find star performances from its other riders. Many experts have written the season off as Jorge Lorenzo’s to lose, with no other riders stepping up to meet the Spaniard’s speed.
While many riders came out of the woodwork at Silverstone, there still remains a gap of 38 points between Lorenzo and second place Andrea Dovizioso, which means the Fiat-Yamaha rider could sit a race out and still maintain his series lead.
Perhaps the only event that can save MotoGP’s following is the return of Rossi himself, which paddock gossip puts likely to occur at Brno, five GP’s away.
Source: Affaritaliani.it
