F1 shares the figures from 2021 across various platforms which includes social media, TV and on-ground attendance of fans.
F1 has shared a positive growth across three spectrum for the hotly contested 2021 season which saw Max Verstappen take the drivers’ title and Mercedes win the constructors’ championship. The controversial ending aside, the numbers shows a positive step.
In fact, the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP was the highest watched grand prix of the season with 108.7 million viewers which was 29% higher than the same race in 2020. Overall, the cumulative TV audience stood at 1.55 billion which was up by 4% than last year.
The 2021 season-opener stood at 84.5 million views, while the sprint weekends saw overall good viewing figures at Silverstone (79.5m), Monza (80.4m) and Sao Paulo (82.1m). The market rise in terms of cumulative audience was there to be seen too.
Unsurprisingly Netherlands led the way with 81% increase on ‘Year on Year’ basis, followed by USA (58%), France (48%), Italy (40%) and the UK (39%). The TV unique viewers where individuals tuned into watch at least one race stood at 445m (+3% YoY).
China was biggest market which saw 70.8m unique viewers, up by 13% from 2020. Spain (272%), Russia (129%), and the USA (53%) were next in line in terms of YoY increase. The global average audience per Grand Prix was 70.3m in 2021.
Moving on to the markets where similar broadcasting arrangements was kept from 2020 to 2021, the overall figure stood at 60.3m which was up by 13% – Brazil and Germany were excluded from the list which saw lower figure in 2021 than before.
F1 seems confident that the new pay system will grow over the years especially with the expanded coverage. Brazil is seeing more hours of TV coverage, while Germany’s Sky cumulative audiences in 2021 has seen growth with +55% YoY.
Looking at the social media figures, F1 has 49.1m followers at present with the highest engagement figures across all sports in 2021. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Tiktok, Snapchat, Twitch and Chinese social platforms were up 40% to 49.1m.
The video views were up by 50% to 7bn and total engagement up by 74% to 1.5bn. The video figures on F1.com, the F1 app and social media were up by 44% vs 2020 to 7.04bn, with the unique users up by 63% to 113m and page views by 23% to 1.6bn.
In China-specific platforms like Weibo, WeChat, Toutiao and Douyin, it saw numbers growing by 39% to 2.7m. Taking overall numbers, the digital share of total minutes consumed (across broadcast and digital) has grown from 10% in 2020 to 16% in 2021.
After the pandemic halted fan attendance in 2020, the 2021 season saw return of fans at selected venues – some were even full house. While the pre-COVID figure stood at 4.16m, the 2021 figure of 2.69m shows the strong desire of fans to visit the races.
Three venues saw massive increase in attendance in 2021 which even bettered their 2019 numbers. USA saw 400,000 fans coming through the gates in 2021 to only 268,000 in 2019. Similarly Mexico stood at 371,000 vs 348,00 and UK was at 356,000 vs 351,000.
The 2021 season saw 11 events which crossed the mark of 100,000 fans. The list was led by Belgium with 213,000, followed by Netherlands (195,000), Turkey (190,000), Brazil (181,000), Abu Dhabi (153,000), Saudi Arabia (143,000), Austria (132,000) and Hungary (130,000).
“The 2021 season was something very special,” said Stefano Domenicali. “We had a championship battle that went to the last race with huge excitement throughout the whole championship. We began to welcome back our fans who are the heart and soul of our sport and although we were limited in our capacities due to COVID, it was fantastic to see 2.6 million fans in the grandstands around the world.
“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. 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.”