ITV want more from F1 ads

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Are ITV unhappy with the income they generate from advertising sold during Formula One? An interview with their Sales MD Gary Digby in Media Week suggests they are. Digby was interviewed regarding ITV’s coverage of the football World Cup, which apparently failed to bring in enough advertisers to justify the ?âÔÇÜ£50m they spent on the broadcasting rights.

But he turned to Formula One for an example of a sport they may consider dropping if the money isn’t coming in:

When everyone sits there at the end of the process and we haven’t got any more money out of them…we wonder if it’s worth it. If we’re going to be in the same process again, we’re thinking ‘should we spend x amount, should we carry on with Formula 1 if advertisers don’t want those audiences?’

What’s more, he revealed how unlikely ITV are to drop any football coverage, as they have already agreed to broadcast the UEFA Cup and next two World Cups. Their current main sponsor Swiftcover only came on board from the fourth race of the season.

Of course it could just as easily be the case that they’re not planning to drop F1 and are limbering up to battle with Bernie Ecclestone on the value of their broadcasting contract.

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Tags: f1 / formula one / grand prix / motor sport / itv

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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4 comments on “ITV want more from F1 ads”

  1. Quite frankly the adverts during the live coverage are a distraction and I for one think they spoil the coverage anyway. ITV need to look hard at the service they are trying to give their customers, if they are already loosing popularity they should ask themselves why that might be!
    If they are spending too much on the rights then there is a simple answer . . . accept the loss or give it up.

  2. I wish for once that I can watch Formula 1 live without the cruel interruptions for those advertisings. I am not watching them, I always pause! Let that be known that we (I hope I speak for all of us who are deeply passionate about F1) don’t care to see any adds during a live transmission and miss half the race. In Spain they have NO ADDS during F1 and other countries are following suite. Please stop the ridiculous adds, we don’t care for those products and now I start boicoting them.!!!!!!

  3. I for one will be glad to see the back of adverts during an F1 race.

    I’m glad that ITV has finally been ditched in favour of a TV company that actually cares about it’s audience enough to realise that given the choice between watching Hamilton and Massa battle it out on the track and watching some inane advert, the Hamilton/Massa battle will always win.

    They don’t put adverts on during play with football matches, why did they feel the need to do so with F1 racing?

    Good riddance to bad rubbish. Long may F1 remain with the BBC.

  4. Advertisements during a Nail gripping sport it’s pathetic and i for one think that f1 sport leaving ITV is the best thing yet. I hated every season with ITV welcome back to the BBC where f1 belongs. i was losing the will to live whilst f1 was with the ITV goons. YOU AINT GOT A CLUE GOODBYE!!! AND YES THERE IS A GOD!

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