The cancellation of the first Grand Prix of the 2020 season was announced just hours before the start of practice in Australia, causing a lot of frustration among Formula 1 spectators. It was then necessary to wait until the summer to see the first races in Europe.
The impact of COVID on the organization of F1 has been monumental, as it has been for all sports in general. In addition to having to cancel race after race, FOM and FIA worked together to finally manage to include 17 races in the 2020 championship. Therefore, with four fewer races compared to 2019, it is necessary to analyze the statistics in the particular context of the pandemic.
Growth through social media
Since the acquisition by the American Liberty Media, F1 has become digitalized. F1 TV, an active website, YouTube live streams, and especially a presence on social networks like Twitter and Instagram. This strategy has worked, and F1 is the 2nd fastest-growing sport in terms of fan base on social networks in 2020, according to the website Shareablee.
With TikTok, Giphy, Facebook, Twitter, etc., there is a 99% increase in the number of interactions with no less than 810 million comments or shares. F1 videos on the official site have been viewed more than
F1 is one of the trendiest global sports according to social media, ahead of the NBA, the PGA, La Liga, and the Bundesliga.
Declining TV audiences
In 2020, F1 claimed in a statement an average audience per Grand Prix of 87.4 million viewers. That’s on average 4.5% lower than in 2019, which had been a record season.
- 87.4 million in 2020
- 91.5 million in 2019
- 87 million in 2018, 2017, 2016
- 80 million in 2015
- 83 million in 2014
The F1 statement explains this slight drop in viewership by the fact that American and Asian countries did not have many Grand Prix in their time zones: the race start times were not compatible with certain markets where viewership is usually strong. However, we have seen strong viewership in China (+43% compared to 2019), the Netherlands (+28%), England (+10%), Russia (+71%), and also a +5% increase in Germany. The United States also experienced a 1% increase even though there is no Grand Prix in the United States in 2020.
Overall for the year, with 17 races compared to 21 in 2019, F1 recorded 1.5 billion cumulative viewers, which is 21% less than in 2019 (1.9 billion) for 19% fewer races.
Spikes on certain races
The 2020 Hungarian Grand Prix was watched by over 103.7 million viewers, a 7% increase compared to 2019. The Portuguese Grand Prix in Portimao also attracted over 100 million people to their screens.
Stefano Domenicali, the new President and CEO of F1 commented:
« Last year was unprecedented in the history of Formula 1 with numerous challenges to overcome due to the consequences of the pandemic. We raced 17 events when we thought it was impossible at the beginning of 2020 in this context. We did it in a healthy and safe manner. »
« The figures show that our sport has been resilient despite this difficult year. We have had significant increases in China, the Netherlands, England, Germany, and also in the USA, but it is also the Digital that has boosted us. »
« We are proud to have been able to hold this championship in 2020 and we have an even stronger fan base for the years to come. We are happy to see that they appreciate F1 and the way we responded to the health situation. »
Note that in France, Canal+’s audiences were particularly good in 2020 and are indeed increasing.
