The Decider in the Desert (Abu Dhabi Grand Prix) helped C4 to generate its biggest-ever crowd for a Formula 1 race!
The coverage of Sunday's race (12/12/2021), controversially won on the final lap by Max Verstappen, drew a peak of 4.4m (35.3%) at 2.30pm as it reached its closing stages to comfortably claim the slot.
The race was no match for the crowd who tuned in to watch Emma Raducanu triumph in the Women’s US Open on Saturday 11 September, when 5.9m (40%) tuned in across 220-minutes from 8pm, with a peak of 9.1m (64%).
C4 only confirmed that it would share Sky’s live coverage of the race last Thursday, three days ahead of the event. The combined one minute peak audience watching the gripping finale on Channel 4 & three Sky channels at 2.32pm was 7.4m, an amazing 59.7% audience share.
C4 chief content officer Ian Katz said:
“Following on from the return of Test cricket to free-to-air television, a remarkable Paralympics and Emma Raducanu’s triumph, it was a fittingly dramatic end to an extraordinary year of sport on Channel 4.”
