F1 reports biggest TV audience since 2012

Formula 1 has reported its biggest cumulative TV audience since 2012 for the 2019 season, enjoying a year-on-year rise of 9 percent.

The cumulative TV audience came to 1.922 billion over 21 races last year, marking the third straight year of growth for F1.

The biggest five markets of Brazil, Germany, Italy, the UK and the Netherlands all reported audiences higher than 100 million, while the fastest-growing markets were Poland (up 256 percent) and the MENA region (up 228 percent).

F1’s unique viewers total rose slightly by 0.3 percent to 405.5 million, while 19 of the 21 races enjoyed a higher cumulative audience than the previous year.

There was further growth for F1 across its social media channels, enjoying a rise in followers of 32.9 percent on 2018, making it the fastest-growing major sports league in the world.

““I think that it should be acknowledged that in the ever-fragmented media landscape we live in, achieving a flat-line is a ‘win’ so to have secured another increase is particularly satisfying,” said Ian Holmes, F1’s director of media rights.

“In terms of what has been driving the increases I think it is a myriad of different factors on and off the track. I think generally there was more compelling racing in 2019, more storylines, new and exciting drivers challenging for honours.

“I also believe our efforts away from the track are bearing fruit. We ran four fantastic Fan Festivals, introduced ever more digital offerings and games, further developed our esports series and enjoyed great success with the Netflix series ‘Drive to Survive’ which really resonated with lapsed, light and new fans.

“All these elements aligned with our on-going event by event marketing efforts such as those we put on around F1’s 1,000th Grand Prix meaning that we are talking to ever more people through so many different channels.”