Thread by @AudienseCo

#F1’s 2021 season viewership was up 41% on the last “normal” year in 2019.
It was up a significant 56% over 2020!
Why such a 🚀 in 👀?
One huge reason…the @netflix docuseries #DriveToSurvive.
Here’s how @F1 blew up ratings (& ticket sales) by segmenting their audiences.
🧵

F1 viewership in the US has shot through the roof and across different age groups.
Before #DriveToSurvive, @F1 viewership was around 547,000 for the 2018 season.
After the show’s launch on March 8, 2019, viewership went up to 672,000 for the 2019 season.
An 18% increase.

The 2021 season saw yet another 54% increase as the average viewership rose to 934,000.

This acceleration in audience numbers directly correlated with the conversation online.

https://twitter.com/Jrfaught25/status/1491244138981105664

The latest season of @F1 also got viewers hyped for Drive to Survive season 4 after the @LewisHamilton and @Max33Verstappen feud for the Driver Championship 2021 season, which saw Verstappen win amid HUGE controversy.

https://twitter.com/JoePompliano/status/1489247637001756678

In early 2019, #F1 was struggling to attract a younger audience, with under 25s making up just 14% of their total audience.
According to Audiense data, things have changed dramatically since then.
sportspromedia.com/news/f1-tv-vie…

The conversation around @F1 in the US is now largely driven by:
Men aged 18-24 (40%)
The 25-34 segment (~20%)

UK numbers run similar with the 18-24 segment about the same and the 25-34 segment, coming in at just over 20%.

There’s a broad spread of newly minted @F1 fans across the US.

The top 5 leading cities:
➡️ Chicago
➡️ Los Angeles
➡️ Austin
➡️ Miami
➡️ Dallas

Nascar fans are likely to be the most influential group driving that F1 popularity to a broader audience.

Demographics are all well and good, but how can @F1 actually reach them?

A successful multi-faceted marketing campaign would focus on:

✨ Influencers.
📺 Sponsors & partnerships.
📲 The online habits of their ideal audience.

We’ve identified four main audience segments that #F1 can tap into… and our report produced some interesting findings.

The 4 main segments:

💼 Business-led Dads
🎮 Call of Duty leagues
💰 Car enthusiasts
🏎 IndyCar fans

Here are the top 15 brands and influencers that @F1 fans follow.

It’s fascinating to see a crossover between motorsport fans and space enthusiasts following @elonmusk, @NASA & @SpaceX.

Media buys are hugely important for brands looking to expand their reach and our data shows that @F1 fans in the US are most likely to be engaging with:

🔹 @espn
🔹 @SportsCenter
🔹 @CNN
🔹 @Netflix
🔹 @NPR
🔹 @business
🔹 @nytimes
🔹 @WSJ
🔹 @Forbes
🔹 @TIME

Where are motorsport enthusiasts in the US spending their time?

This audience of night owls (6pm - 5am) hang out on:
@Reddit
@Medium
@Twitch
@tiktok_us
@SoundCloud
@YouTube

This provides many new ways for @F1 to diversify & repurpose existing content to reach new audiences.

We know who they are, what they’re watching, and where they’re spending time.

Now we want to know how exactly @F1 and #DriveToSurvive used this insight to expand their reach into US audiences.

F1 took to social media to share the latest news and sneak peeks of behind-the-scenes content.
They also created a TikTok account in 2020, they now have over 3.5 million followers.

Joining TikTok was a smart move for @F1 considering they now have a younger audience.
They engage their TikTok followers by posting:

🏎 Snippets from the races.
🏎 Close-range videos of the race cars.
🏎 Short interviews with the racers and the technical team.

F1 has also been collaborating with huge influencers such as@KhabyLam, who has over 131 million followers on #TikTok—the 2nd most followed person on the platform.

F1 is also paying attention to that gamer audience crossover identified in the audience segments.

@LandoNorris, an #F1 driver, is breaking records over on @Twitch.

Lando went from averaging 2,000 views to hitting over 70K views on a single broadcast.

Another area of focus for @F1 is partners and sponsorships.

F1’s audience is highly motivated by brand names.
This audience is heavily influenced by brands such as @Porsche, @Audi, @Lamborghini, and @Maserati_HQ.
They also like family favourites like @Ford, @Honda, and @BMW.

Going deeper into audience segments creates food for thought for continuing to grow #F1’s audience.

Media outlets such as @CARandDRIVER, @MotorTrend, and @therealautoblog rank highly.

This consumer segment is hungry to read, learn, and talk about cars as much as possible.

How could @F1 go the extra mile in the 2022 season and continue to build their brand in the US market?

We’ve come up with five key takeaways for delivering audience-focused campaigns that are likely to drive brand growth.

👀👇

1️⃣ Build insight into platforms used, media channels consumed, and even how audiences are browsing.

Use this data to build Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram advertising campaigns that can reach your audiences more effectively without breaking the bank

2️⃣ Use affinities & influencers to go where you haven’t before!

e.g., the insight into car fans also following @NASA & other space-related industries could result in interest-based ad targeting looking for engineering enthusiasts.

3️⃣ Pay attention to the content that really resonates with your audiences.

For example, @F1 focused on humanizing their brand by sharing driver-focused and behind-the-scenes content, which generated much more engagement than just tweeting out race results.

4️⃣ Consider new marketing approaches that will reach audiences in their native environment!
We saw Twitch, Reddit, Medium and WhatsApp appearing as popular channels, presenting opportunities for @F1 to repurpose their existing asset bank and engage fans in creative new ways.

5⃣ While traditional out-of-home advertising can easily max out your budget, savvy teams can look to place publicity hits with key publications that are likely to influence your target audiences in a more authentic way.

#DriveToSurvive, the Netflix docuseries, has played a significant role in F1’s 🚀 rise, bringing their audience behind the scenes of the racing world.

Dive into how leveraging #AudienceData can drive massive growth, as demonstrated by Netflix & F1 👇
bit.ly/3uBWOAG