Formula One enjoyed a strong increase following across social media and TV audiences in 2021 which featured a record-breaking 23-race calendar.
Having experienced a dip in 2020 due to a reduced calendar, TV audience figures saw stronger improvement with a 4% rise in cumulative TV audience to 1.55 billion viewers, with the controversial season finale in Abu Dhabi attracting the highest individual audience as 108.7m tuned in worldwide.
The introduction of Sprint Qualifying race weekends saw a steady rise of 2.6m viewers across the three selected race weekends in which Silverstone was the least watched;
- Silverstone – 79.5m
- Monza – 80.4m
- Sao Paulo – 82.1m
Several countries also saw a rise in cumulative audience figures with Netherlands seeing a 81% rise year-on-year, as Max Verstappen became their first-ever world champion in a season which also saw their home race return to the F1 calendar after a 36 year absence.
USA, France, Italy and the UK also saw successful growth in their cumulative audiences compared to 2020, following the ignition of the first proper title fight since 2016 season.
There also was a rise in unique TV viewers with 445m tuning in, of which China saw the biggest increase compared to 2020 with 70.8m viewers, with Spain, Russia and USA also seeing strong rises.
Global average TV audiences totalled 70.3m but discounting countries which saw the start of new broadcasting contracts in 2021, the figure stands at 60.3m which is a 13% YoY increase and stands as the best audience since the 2013 season.
Brazil and Germany however saw new broadcasting deals commence but results remained ‘very positive’, as F1 insists that Pay TV viewing figures are continuing to grow over time with more in-depth televised coverage.
Germany meanwhile saw a rise in cumulative audiences with a 55% YoY on Sky Germany.
Social Media Enjoys 40% Growth on 2020
Across Social Media platforms, F1 saw a huge increase in engagement with a 40% rise in followers from 35m in their 2020 report to 49.1m in 2021, whilst video views across F1 website, F1 app and social media rose to 7bn which represented a 2.1bn increase of 4.9bn views in 2020.
F1 also enjoyed high engagement rates in social media posts compared to other sports in 2021, as unique users saw further progress with 113m whilst individual page views saw a 23% rise to 1.6bn.
China in particular saw an impressive growth of 39% on digital Chinese platforms with 2.7m followers but F1 overall outperformed other sports in 2021 across digital platforms, in which digital share of total minutes consumed grew six per cent from 10% in 2020 to 16% in 2021.
Race Attendances Continue Drop
Despite enduring a behind-closed-doors campaign in 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic, F1 welcomed fans back across various races in 2021 but the overall fan attendance total slipped to 2.69m which is still below the pre-COVID figure of 4.16m.
F1 bosses however are confident that ‘there is huge demand’ for F1 races and expect attendances to continue rising back to normal levels in coming years, as the pandemic continues to subsides with the increasing availability of vaccines.
USA though was the most attended race weekend in 2021 with 400k ahead of Mexico (371k) and Great Britain (356k), with those three races also seeing a rise on their figures in 2019.
2021 Was “very special”
F1 CEO, Stefano Domenicali is delighted with how “very special” 2021 was for the sport with Verstappen locked in a tense title fight against Lewis Hamilton, despite F1 ending the season embroiled in an on-going scandal over the final few laps of the season finale.
On the topic of rises across social media and TV audiences, Domenicali commented: “We have also seen some very strong figures across broadcast and our digital platforms, showing once again the momentum, excitement and interest that is all around Formula 1.”
Domenicali also teased what 2022 has in store as he added: “We are looking forward to our record breaking 23 race season this year, with new cars, new regulations, and a new challenge for all the teams and drivers. I know all of our fans can’t wait to get the season started.”
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