The Digital Value of Fans

FORMULA 1 EDITION

#S PO NS OR The Digital Value of Fans Formula 1 Edition

FORMULA 1 NEW FANS & THE POWER OF FOUR DRIVING DIGITAL GROWTH

Following the launch of The Digital Value of Fans, our industry study which analysed the digital efficiency of the world’s top sports leagues, we have taken the methodology and applied it to Formula 1 to create this special edition report looking at motorsport’s premier competition.

Fuelled by new races and driven by new fan interest from Netflix’s ground-breaking “Drive to Survive” series, Formula 1 is one of the fastest growing major sports leagues on the planet across the four major social platforms – in 2020, total engagement was up by 99% YoY across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. The sport has also seen huge digital success with its F1 Esports series. The 2020 edition attracted 11.4m streams, up 98% on 2019 and the final alone generated 1.7m social media engagements.

Using Intelligenz, our benchmarking solution that uses AI to project digital performance based on publicly available data, we have analysed the performance of all Formula 1 teams on Facebook Instagram and Twitter, across the first third of 2021, to shed some light on how this growth has continued into 2021 by analysing which teams have the biggest predicted digital inventory, which ones are best at generating value per fan and how Formula 1 currently compares with other top sports competitions.

KEY CONCLUSIONS

Unsurprisingly, Mercedes, Formula 1’s most successful team of recent times, have the biggest reach (19.9m) and are predicted to generate the greatest digital inventory in 2021 (€12.2m).

Formula 1 is heavily reliant on its top four teams – Mercedes, , and McLaren – for digital presence and value with the quartet responsible for more than 75% of the total combined audience (81.3m) and almost 80% of the predicted total annual inventory value (€42.8m).

In terms of value per fan, the amount of inventory that can be attributed to each digital audience member, are the most efficient team with a value per fan of €0.32. Haas were second with €0.25 and Mercedes third with €0.20.

When looked at in comparison with other elite sport competitions, Formula 1 compares favourably with leagues of a similar audience size, both in terms of predicted annual inventory where it is ahead of the likes of MLB and NHL, and in particular in terms of value per fan, where it ranks 3rd amongst all the world’s major sport leagues.

These results are even more remarkable given that Formula 1 has much fewer teams than the other competitions and was in its off-season for half the period measured.

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FORMULA 1 AUDIENCE / INVENTORY SIZE & VALUE PER FAN

The 10 teams in Formula 1 are predicted to generate almost €43m in digital inventory across Facebook, Instagram & Twitter in 2021, from an audience of more than 81m.

The top four teams - Mercedes, , Ferrari and McLaren - account for more than 75% of the total audience and almost 80% of the predicted annual inventory.

Aston Martin Cognizant were the The Formula 1 team with the greatest value per fan - total inventory divided by total audience - in Q1 this year. They were able to geneate €0.32 per fan which is almost as much as Mercedes and Red Bull combined for the same period.

20.0 19.9 TOTAL AUDIENCE

PREDICTED ANNUAL 17.5 17.5 TOTAL INVENTORY (€)

15.0

12.5 12.8 12.2 12.2

10.0

7.5 7.9 Millions 6.9 6.8

5.0 5.2

2.5 3.2 3.2 2.8 2.7 2.6 1.7 1.9 1.4 1.4 1.1 0.0 0.7

VALUE PER FAN JAN - APR 2021 €0.20 €0.15 €0.18 €0.19 €0.09 €0.11 €0.18 €0.32 €0.09 €0.25

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FORMULA 1 THE LEAGUE COMPARISON

Despite impressive recent growth, Formula 1 does not yet have the audience or inventory power of Europe’s biggest football leagues or the biggest US sports like NBA and NFL but it does compare favourably with major competitions of a similar audience size. With a predicted annual digital inventory of €42.8m across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, Formula 1 is ahead of MLB (€41m) and NHL (€40m) and only marginally behind the Bundesliga (€46m) and Ligue 1 (€46m).

Of these five selected leagues, Formula 1 has the fourth highest audience with 81.3m but it is important to note that it also has a lot less teams than the other competitions making its reach and predicted inventory all the more impressive.

Interestingly, in terms of Value per Fan, with a value of €0.18 for Jan-Apr, Formula 1 ranks 2nd amongst the five selected leagues - and 3rd overall amongst world top leagues behind NHL €0.24)( and the Premier League (€0.21) - despite being in the off-season for half the period measured.

150 TOTAL AUDIENCE 143 PREDICTED ANNUAL 134 TOTAL INVENTORY (€)

120 118

90 81 73

Millions 60

46 46 43 41 40 30

0

VALUE PER FAN JAN - APR 2021 €0.11 €0.12 €0.18* €0.12 €0.24

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FORMULA 1 TEAM SHARE OF AUDIENCE

COMBINED AUDIENCE OF F1 TEAMS ACROSS 81.3M FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM & TWITTER

3.2% 2.3% 3.4%

3.9% 24.5%

3.9%

6.4%

15.0%

21.5%

15.7%

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FORMULA 1 TEAM SHARE OF INVENTORY

PREDICTED ANNUAL DIGITAL INVENTORY OF F1 TEAMS €42.8M ACROSS FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM & TWITTER

1.6% 3.3% 6.3%

4.0% 28.5%

2.6%

3.3%

15.9%

18.5%

16.1%

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