Formula One has seen some audience growth in China and the USA
Formula One has seen audiences shrink but sponsorship stay strong since its move to pay-tv.
The racing series has managed to keep revenues steady despite the loss of viewers, in part helped by the unevenness of that loss. The sport has actually seen audiences grow in the US and China by 7% and 5% respectively.
However, Sportcal‘s The Business of Formula One 2020 report also revealed that unique viewers have declined by 3.9% globally. This has been particularly pronounced in the UK, where 8.6 million people stopped watching at the switch away from free-to-air in 2019 – according to The Independent.
Despite this, sponsors still appear to be interested in the sport, with technology (20%), automotive (17.6%), and clothing/accessories (13.5%) brands making up a majority of the companies still involved in the sport.
Conrad Wiacek, head of analysis and consulting at Sportcal, said: “While the sport of F1 cannot claim to have the audience it did back in the mid-90s, thanks to the sport going for the money provided by pay-TV as opposed to free-to-air, brands are still as keen as ever to partner with the premier motor racing series as they see value in associating with the top tier of motorsport.”
McLaren, Renault, and Ferrari are the teams most sought after by sponsors, with 41, 32, and 28 individual team deals each. However, Ferrari earn by far the most from their partners, while McLaren look for more technical help from theirs.
Wiacek added: “While McLaren do not generate the same amount of revenue from their sponsors – $86.35m according to GlobalData’s Sportcal Intelligence Center, compared to Ferrari who lead the way with $254.1m thanks to their title sponsorship with Phillip Morris – they are well placed to lean on their partners to help them get back to winning ways.”