diff --git a/public/app/features/templating/templateSrv.js b/public/app/features/templating/templateSrv.js
index 3527c386220..ece69302196 100644
--- a/public/app/features/templating/templateSrv.js
+++ b/public/app/features/templating/templateSrv.js
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@ function (angular, _) {
     }
 
     this.formatValue = function(value, format, variable) {
+      // for some scopedVars there is no variable
+      variable = variable || {};
+
       if (typeof format === 'function') {
         return format(value, variable, this.formatValue);
       }
@@ -126,9 +129,6 @@ function (angular, _) {
 
       return target.replace(this._regex, function(match, g1, g2) {
         variable = self._index[g1 || g2];
-        if (!variable) {
-          return match;
-        }
 
         if (scopedVars) {
           value = scopedVars[g1 || g2];
@@ -137,6 +137,10 @@ function (angular, _) {
           }
         }
 
+        if (!variable) {
+          return match;
+        }
+
         systemValue = self._grafanaVariables[variable.current.value];
         if (systemValue) {
           return self.formatValue(systemValue, format, variable);