It’s just motor racing enthusiasts who get up early on Sunday mornings to watch the F1 Grands Prix live. These events now attract a larger, younger, more diverse audience, and Drive to Survive played a “very big role” in it.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Filmed since 2018, the series was an instant success thanks to its format which flirts with reality TV, where the spectators have access to the scenes of the stables as well as the confidences of the directors and the pilots in front of the camera.
Produced in particular by Briton James Gay-Rees, it now has four seasons of ten episodes, each of which summarizes a full season of F1, and has won several citations for different awards. Seasons 5 and 6 are also planned. But above all, it created an extraordinary enthusiasm for a sport that already aspired to reach a different clientele.
Pierre Houde, official descriptor of Formula 1 races on RDS, has noticed the benefits.
In the last two years, including this one, I’ve been told so often by people who pass me on the street or friends that they had fled the F1 ship and that they came back. […] Much of the flame was rekindled by Drive to Survive. I am told this very often.
Pierre Houde, F1 racing descriptor at RDS
In 2018, RDS recorded an average of 146,000 viewers per Grand Prix presented on its airwaves. Since then, the audience has grown steadily every year. In 2022, after eight races, this number rises to 277,000: a notable increase of 90% in four years.
“Formula 1 has adapted a lot,” argues Frank Pons, director of the International Sports Management Observatory at Laval University. “There have been huge changes since the purchase by Liberty Media [en 2016]. »
“Their rebranding is aimed at a younger audience, and they stand out with their use of social media,” he says. In fact, it’s the sport with the biggest growth in terms of social media presence in the last three years. »
Expand your audience
The promoter of the Canadian Grand Prix, François Dumontier, can easily attest to this rise in popularity, while F1 is passing through Montreal this weekend.
Photo Olivier Jean, THE PRESS
François Dumontier, promoter of the Canadian Grand Prix
“There are the two Canadian drivers, yes. But the key element is the series on Netflix. Everyone tells us about it, he explains. It created new F1 fans. There are people I know who didn’t know anything about Formula 1. They weren’t interested. They looked Drive to Survive and suddenly they became amateurs. And it’s not just in Montreal. This is a phenomenon that we see in all the Grands Prix. »
Pierre Houde recognizes this: passionate for decades, he is not part of the “target audience” of Drive to Survive. “Me, it does absolutely nothing for me to listen to a conversation between a driver and his team manager while they are eating a sandwich,” he sneers.
On the other hand, the descriptor sees it as a good way for F1 to get closer to the supporters, after it has long been criticized that its “gigantism” prevented it from establishing close contact with those who follow it assiduously. “It targets a more detached target audience, and who wants to get attached. »
Photo Olivier Jean, THE PRESS
Popular open house at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, last Thursday
Frank Pons also praises the effort of Formula 1 in terms of data collected about its audience, which allows Liberty Media to create “good loyalty”.
“Cognitive engagement is the first way to seek engagement,” he illustrates. And the second way is affective engagement. Drive to Survive shows content that will fetch emotions. What we do is script real content: like a well-presented reality show. That’s what makes you get into the story quickly and find yourself on Netflix. »
The only challenge for Netflix now will be to pay attention to how conflicts between athletes or teams are presented on screen. Some riders complained about this aspect last season.
Photo Olivier Jean, THE PRESS
Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc (right) on the Gilles-Villeneuve circuit
For the rest, Pierre Houde is enthusiastic. Youngsters like Max Verstappen (Red Bull), Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and George Russell (Mercedes) are quietly taking over from veteran world champions like Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) and Fernando Alonso (Alpine).
“I really like the young generation of drivers who are taking up the torch,” admits the man who has been describing F1 since 1993.
With the collaboration of Katherine Harvey-Pinard, The Press