Formula 1 Was The Fastest Growing Major Sport On Social Media Platforms In 2018
Formula 1 has registered a significant increase in its audience figures across both digital and TV platforms in 2018, reaching a record 1.758 billion people, which is a 3% growth over the 2017 figures.
China, Brazil and the United States were the top three markets in terms of TV reach, with the revised broadcast deal in China paying huge dividends in terms of reach.
In terms of unique viewers, during 2018 the sport once again had an improvement globally (+10%), reaching 490.2m.
The Monaco Grand Prix had the highest cumulative audience of the season with 110m viewers (+10% year on year). Another six events – Bahrain, France, Austria, Great Britain, Italy and Mexico – also had more than 90m viewers.
Formula 1 has recorded its second consecutive year of growth and is successfully managing its own dedicated digital TV channel – https://f1tv.formula1.com/en/
In 2018 the number of users across Formula 1’s social media platforms also grew significantly, with the total number of followers on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube reaching 18.5m (+53.7 compared to 2017), confirming Formula 1 as the fastest growing major sport on social media platforms.
The average number of unique users per race week was 11.1% higher than the previous year, with more and more content being viewed.
Total impressions grew up by 29.2% (10.4bn), video views by 77.2% (2.0bn) and minutes watched almost doubled, reaching 1.75bn (+84.6%). F1’s growth on YouTube was particularly successful – at 115%, the sport had the highest subscriber growth rate of all marquee rights holders.
Interactions, meanwhile, totalled 185m across all platforms (+52%) – with F1 having the highest interaction rate of all major sports’ rights holders.
The Formula 1 fan base also increased slightly during 2018, moving from 503m to 506m.
The data released by Nielsen also provided interesting information about the fan’s age group distribution, with 205m fans under the age of 35, Formula 1 is third among of all global sports leagues in terms of the number of fans in this age group.
Almost two-thirds of the fans (62%) were 45 or younger, with an improvement of 3% year on year.
With an average age of 40, the F1 fanbase is in line with other major global sports and leagues (i.e. football, NBA, NFL, tennis), which have average ages between 39 and 40.
