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The Winning Formula For Grand Prix Coverage?

ITV broadcast its first Grand Prix this weekend and the channel’s overnight figures show 100,000 more people watched the race live, than they did the previous year, when the programme was broadcast by the BBC. Last year, 646,000 people tuned into BBC2 to watch the first race of the season. 873,000 fans are reported to have stayed-up to watch the equivalent race live this year, when it was shown on ITV for the first time. While, a peak audience of 3.9 million watched the day-time re-run of the race yesterday.
However, it must be stressed that the source of these figures is ITV and this figure can not be confirmed until the official ratings are released on March 19.
Since winning the lucrative motor-racing contract from the BBC, there has been much speculation about how advertising breaks will effect the quality of the programme and the viewing figures.
ITV:0171 843 8217