It is estimated that nearly 100 million people around the world will follow live on TV this Sunday, the Spanish Formula 1 Grand Prix counting for the fourth round of the World Championship.
In 2020, each Grand Prix was followed on average by 87.5 million viewers on the planet, for a cumulative audience over the year which is close to two billion.
For those who are not in front of their TV, do not panic.
The number of views on YouTube and others also jumped + 47%, to climb to 4.9 billion in total.
On its various official social networks, F1 has 35 million subscribers, a figure up 36% compared to 2019. It is on par in all these areas with the biggest sports leagues such as the NBA and the English Premier League.
“There is a lot of media work and everything that goes with it that has been done in recent years, analyzes the consultant of Canal +, Jacques Villeneuve.
It started after the departure of Bernie Ecclestone
(Editor's note: the former F1 boss, who left in 2017)
”.
One million regular subscribers in front of Canal +
In France, they will be around one million Canal + subscribers to follow live from 3 p.m., the racing car tourniquet.
The first race of the season, broadcast in clear, drew up to 2.3 million fans.
A historic record for the channel which broadcasts the grand barnum exclusively since 2013. They were still 1.3 million for the next grand prize, encrypted this one.
In 2020, its audiences jumped + 27% compared to 2019 and in 2021, they are still up compared to the previous season.
🎉 Grosjean back in an F1!
🔝 Alpine really in progress?
🔁 A Bottas / Russell exchange in sight? @Julien_FEBREAU answers YOUR # F1 questions before #SpanishGP on CANAL +!
🏁 # RDVau1erVirage pic.twitter.com/zRlax8Fjxq
- CANAL + F1® (@ CanalplusF1) May 7, 2021
The F1 audience regularly exceeds that of Ligue 1 matches: “For the cocorico side, the first explanation is the actors, analyzes the former driver, Jean Alesi, consultant for Canal +.
We have Pierre Gasly who won us his Grand Prize.
He fights to be in the Top 10 in every race.
The same goes for Esteban Ocon with Alpine.
"
Read alsoFormula 1: Romain Grosjean becomes consultant for Canal +
In the United States, in a country that prefers the Indycar, interest in F1 has climbed by + 75% among 16-35 year olds.
F1 is also a hit in Poland (+ 256% TV audience in one year), Greece (+ 75%), the Netherlands (+ 56%), Italy (29%) and Germany (+ 23%) ) or in China (+ 5%).
“Young people,” resumes Jean Alesi, “are interested in it again.
We wondered why they were turning away from them and why F1 was also moving away from them.
Yet it is a magnificent spectacle sport which has everything to please them.
Yes, after years of food shortage, declining interest and polite indifference, F1 has once again become a sport that is fashionable, sexy, rejuvenated and even, a bit feminized.
The new owner's facelift
This is primarily thanks to the new owner of F1 since 2017, the American group Liberty Media.
He put an end to the opaque years of old British guru Bernie Ecclestone which lasted 40 years.
“They search, do non-stop surveys to find out what the fans want.
They really want F1 to become a popular sport again, ”notes Jean Alesi.
First stroke of genius from the new owners: a program that dust off this closed, inaccessible world, reserved for an elite of cold-blooded, unaffordable pilots. This program is "Drive to survive", of which Netflix broadcasts the third season. It enters the intimacy of the pilots, their daily life, their anxieties, their joys.
The platform does not communicate its audience figures, but it is a worldwide hit for an audience that discovers F1: “It is one of the pillars of our strategy to open up this sport, to reach a wider audience, while continuing to serve enthusiasts, ”confirms Ian Holmes, F1 rights director at Liberty Media.
“At home,” says Yannick, a converted Seine-et-Marnais, “it was the discovery of this very nice and addictive series, during the first confinement, which gave me back the taste of F1.
"
"All of this makes F1 human"
“My 14 year old daughter and her friends weren't interested in F1 at all before Netflix.
Now they know all the pilots.
This other testimony comes from… Christian Horner, the director of the Red Bull team of Max Verstappen.
“The quality reports from Canal + on the sidelines of the races, which show you behind the scenes, also make you want to sit in front of the TV on Grand Prix day.
All of this makes F1 human, ”continues Jean Alesi.
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Ancestral regulations jostled, pilots with three chin hairs (an average age of 24 years with the Verstappen, Leclerc, Ocon, Gasly, Russel or Norris) but in tune with the times, charismatic personalities like Lewis Hamilton who engage in the public debate, spectacular images which give the sensation of being aboard the fastest single-seaters in history: all this contributes to the enthusiasm of a sport that has once again become a gladiatorial fight.
“The reality of F1 is competition,” continues Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 world champion. The championship is extremely competitive at the moment, very tight.
The cars are amazing.
They are going as fast as ever.
On top of it all there is a great brawl with fantastic cars and drivers.
It matters too.
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