German free-to-air TV channel RTL drew close to 2 million viewers for its broadcast of F1's season opener, according to Alexander Krei of DWDL. The race from Melbourne's Albert Park drew 1.94 million viewers early on Sunday morning, which was about 200,000 more than in '15. In the target demographic 14-49, RTL was able to increase its market share by about four percentage points to 38.8%. The race replay drew an additional 1.83 million viewers. As a result, the Australian Grand Prix drew a combined audience of 3.77 million viewers. In '15 only 3.33 million viewers tuned in to watch the race. On Saturday, RTL drew 1.11 million viewers to its broadcast of the qualifying session. German pay-TV network Sky Deutschland, which also aired the race, drew 190,000 viewers to its broadcast. Sky obtained a 4.2% share in the target demo. In '15, the race recorded a market share of more than 6%. More successful than F1 was Sky's Bundesliga coverage. On Saturday, the pay-TV net had a market share of 14.6% as a total of 1.46 million viewers tuned in.
TWO-WHEEL OPENER: Close to half-a-million viewers watched the opening round of the '16 MotoGP season on pan-European sports channel Eurosport on Sunday. The race from Qatar drew 490,000 viewers starting at 6:45pm. The number translated into a market share of 1.7%. In the target demo, the season opener obtained a 2.4% share. The Moto3 and Moto2 races earlier in the day recorded viewership figures of 320,000 and 370,000, respectively. The corresponding market shares were 2.3% and 2.1% (DWDL, 3/21).
