Formula 1 holds the race against Covid-19. With four fewer races than in 2019 due to the pandemic, the World Championship obtained an average of 87.4 million spectators per Grand Prix, which is 4.5% less than the previous year, but in line with 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Cumulative TV viewership in 2020 was 1.5 billion compared to 1.9 billion in 2019. In 2020 the unique spectators of the competition were 433 million, 8% less than the previous year
“Most of the races were in Europe and the Gulf, several regions did not host their own Grand Prix and race start times were not always suitable for certain markets,” the organization said in a statement.
The audience in the Chinese market grew 43% on average per race
Formula 1 has explained that there has been an average growth per Grand Prix of 43% compared to last year in the Chinese marketas well as 71% growth in the Russian market. The audience growth in the Netherlands was 28%, in the UK 10% and in Germany 5%. In the European Union the increase was 1%. The Hungarian Grand Prix had 103.7 million viewers, 7% more than the previous year, being the highest audience per competition.
On the other hand, followers among its social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Tiktok, Snapchat, Twitch and Chinese social networks) increased by 36%, while the videos viewed increased by 47% and the total participation, a 99%. In Chinese social networks the growth was 133%.
“The audience figures for 2020 show the strength and endurance of our sport, we had strong growth figures in China, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and the US,” explains Stefano Domenical, President and CEO of Formula 1. “We saw a marginal reduction in television audiences, caused by multiple reasons,” he recalls.
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