F1 2021 audiences: over 100 million viewers for the grand finale
The showdown between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton at the top is beneficial for Formula 1's TV ratings. Liberty Media has just released a statement on their 2021 performance, and it is very positive.
More than 108 million viewers tuned in to their screens during the weekend of December 12, 2021 for the grand finale between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. This is 29% higher than the same event in 2020 and it is the best result of the season.
In total in 2021, for the 22 races of the World Championship, F1 accumulated over 1.55 billion viewers, a growth of 4% compared to 2020, which only had 17 races due to the health crisis.
The opening weekend in Bahrain was also a highly watched event, just like the 3 sprint races, with respectively 84.5 million viewers for the Bahrain GP, 79.5 million for the United Kingdom, 80.4 million for Italy (Monza), and 82.1 million for Brazil.
The F1 also notes significant improvements for other races on the calendar, including France, which has seen its number of viewers increase by 48% compared to 2020.
In total, out of 1.55 billion viewers, F1 estimates that 445 million unique individuals watched at least one race in 2021, which is a +3% increase compared to 2020. China is currently the biggest market, with 70.8 million unique individuals.
The average number of viewers per Grand Prix was 70.3 million in 2021, making it the highest average result since 2013, which had 3 fewer races on the calendar at that time.
