Concerns over pay-TV strategy after audience declines in markets such as China, Russia, the US and the UK

Formula One's global television audience fell last year, driven down by a 34% drop – 25 million viewers – in China where several Asian races clashed with other local sports events.

Several F1 races in Asia and the Middle East took place during the evening so that they are broadcast in the morning in the sport's traditional heartland of Europe. However, this puts them in competition with local sports events and it fuelled the fall in viewer numbers in China from 74.5 million in 2011 to 48.9 million last year.

F1's boss Bernie Ecclestone said that "a small handful of territories didn't meet expectations in terms of reach, with the Chinese market suffering a decrease which could not be absorbed by a significant number of increases elsewhere".

The 2012 figures were revealed in F1's annual broadcast report, which measures the number of people who have watched more than 15 non-consecutive minutes of the sport throughout the season.

For the first time, the report did not publish a total figure for the global TV audience, which in 2011 was 515 million. But the 2012 audience is thought to be just over 500 million, when declines in China and other markets is counterbalanced with countries where F1 viewing is growing.

F1's largest market is Brazil where viewing figures accelerated 8.9% year on year to 85.6 million in 2012. There were also improvements in Spain and Italy, where respective increases of 11.5% and 15% compared to 2011 were fuelled by the strong performance of Spanish Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso.

UK coverage was split for the first time between the BBC and pay-TV broadcaster BSkyB in 2012, which led to viewing figures falling by 3.8 million to 28.6 million.

Audiences also dropped in other new markets for F1. In Russia they fell by 12.8% ahead of the first Russian grand prix next year which will take place at Sochi's $50bn Olympic Park. This drop was attributed to the poor form of Russia's only F1 driver, Vitaly Petrov, who failed to score a point in the 2012 championship and has not been signed up this year.

TV audiences even fell in the US, despite the return of its home race after a five-year hiatus. The US grand prix took place in Texas in November to great acclaim within the industry, but viewers of F1 in the US fell by 3% from 10 million to 9.7 million.

The decline in TV viewing is a trend which is being closely monitored by the F1 teams.

Lotus team boss Eric Boullier said: "We do monitor the new strategy to go to pay TV. It may increase the fan profile and 'educated' audience but we may have to review our sponsorship figures if the tendency becomes global."

On Thursday a deal was signed to move F1 to subscription-only coverage in France with Canal+ from this year. It follows the signing of new contracts last year which split F1 coverage between subscription and free-to-air in Italy and the Netherlands.

The loss of viewers puts pressure on team budgets which are already squeezed due to the weak economic climate. On average, sponsorship comprises 42% of team budgets and the lower the viewer numbers, the lower the rates they are able to command.

However, it isn't all bad news for the teams. For the first time this year they will receive 63% of F1's total profits as prize money, meaning that they also benefit from the increased money brought in from TV rights sales. The deal with the BBC and Sky is understood to be worth $100m annually – a 25% boost on the price of the previous free-to-air-only coverage.

F1's global TV audience took a big dip in 2009, from 600 million to 520 million, before recovering the following year to 527 million.

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