Formula E on TV: ProSieben achieves new ratings bests at season opener in Mexico

The German free-TV station ProSieben achieved new ratings records with its broadcast of the 2023 Formula E season opener on Saturday evening. The Mexico City E-Prix was watched by an average of just under half a million people. Market shares, on the other hand, were below average compared to the previous season.

For the first time since taking over the Formula E TV rights from Sat.1 at the beginning of 2022, ProSieben broadcast a race in "primetime" - the race started at 9 p.m. German time. The broadcast of the 'ran racing' format reached a total of 1.29 million different viewers:inside, which is a record for the Munich-based station. A similar number of fans last watched the Rome E-Prix last April (1.25 million). Broadcasting sister Sat.1 was even more successful in the 2021 season a total of four times.

The average figure for Mexico (490,000) and the peak figure - the maximum number of viewers:inside who watched simultaneously - (700,000) also represent new bests for ProSieben.

In terms of market shares, the Formula E broadcast did not achieve particularly good figures - presumably also because of the major competition on Saturday evening during "primetime". In the overall German TV market, ProSieben achieved a 1.7 percent market share. In the advertising-relevant target group (all persons between the ages of 14 and 49), it was 3.8 percent. Both figures are clearly below the 2022 average.

"By all means a positive start"

"In terms of market share, these are not very strikingly positive figures for the major broadcaster," a spokesman for the station admits to 'e-Formel.de. "But we have been able to use this prominent, unique spot as a showcase for Formula E." The broadcaster thus hopes to have won new fans for the rest of the season with the broadcast.

He classifies the coverage, on the other hand, positively: "Neither 490,000 viewers on average nor a coverage peak of 700,000 we had in 2022. So definitely a positive start," is ProSieben's assessment.

It will be exciting to see how many viewers:inside will tune in for the "double-header" in Saudi Arabia next week Friday and Saturday (January 27/28)