The illumination of Singapore, pinpoint navigation in WRC, paddock rivalries, renowned sponsorship partners – and of course, David Crofts’ famous mantra. What’s not to love about the motorsport industry? In the past fourteen months, petrol heads will know that although motorsport has witnessed an extraordinary absence of physical audiences and dependable revenue streams, it has welcomed a surge of digital fans.
The recent changes in the industry have presented brands with physical and digital issues, but we have the solutions to get you back on track. Its lights out, and away we go.
The 2020 and 2021 motorsport seasons have seen a drastic reduction in physical attendances at race weekends across the respective calendars due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 season calendars were initially postponed leaving fans unable to attend or watch any motorsports events. Even after the return of motorsport events, spectator attendance has been limited or not permitted. The full return of live audiences is still on hiatus, but it can’t come soon enough for brands and sponsors across the industry – even motor racing giants like Formula 1.
Formula 1 saw their disrupted 2020 championship “suffer a 4.5-per-cent decline on its average Grand Prix audience.” [1]. The attendance decline is expected due to the unforeseen situation, but Formula 1 and motorsport, in general, need fans to return as soon as it is safe to do so. Audiences and fans underpin key income streams for brands and competitions, with everything from in-stadium merchandise and ticket sales contributing to their live event revenue.
The cancellation and limited return of live sport has meant fans aren’t contributing to live events revenue; instead, they are consuming their sport through digital, social and OTT platforms. GlobalWebIndex’s Online Survey highlights this change in media consumption and a significant interest in sports content rising in 2020. [2] The importance of capitalising on increased media consumption and retaining interested digital sports fans is key to achieving future success – especially in the post lockdown landscape.
Formula 1 is a prime example of how a motorsport brand has taken advantage of the implications of the global pandemic on live sport and digital content. The brand’s social media following across Youtube, Twitch and all other major social networks “were up 36 per cent to 35 million, video views up 47 per cent to 4.9 billion and total engagement up 99 per cent to 810 million.” [3] The ability to maximise the shift to digital can allow your brand to potentially convert digital audiences into long-term motorsport fans and generate unthinkable engagement on social. Formula 1 is a proven example to follow!
If you don’t have the internal capacity or industry knowledge to overcome the above and other vertical-specific issues, we can help you. Digital Playmakers are sports growth specialists with expertise across critical aspects of the sports industry, including live event solutions and winning on social & OTT platforms.
The gradual and safe return of motorsport will allow us to demonstrate our ability to draw your audiences back to the circuit with fully optimised campaigns. We tailor our campaigns to sell tickets, event registrations – even sell-out events for our partners.
We understand you could have other requirements, like increasing average order values (AOV’s) and upselling alternative revenue streams – don’t worry, we can cater to those needs too. The team has proven expertise in planning long-term strategies that ensure brands out-qualify their competitors in pre-season and sit top of the tree by the end of the race calendar.
Digital Playmakers will work with you to maximise the return of live sport, as we still believe ticket sales will remain a key revenue stream in the sports industry, increasing to $65bn by 2024. [3]
The motorsport industry won’t be welcoming back a whole capacity crowd for a while yet, but you can use this time to nurture your digital audiences on OTT and social platforms. Digital Playmakers can help you to offer your consumers exclusive and subscription-based media and let them quickly access motorsport content with their fingertips.
Digital Playmakers will create success by optimising our campaigns for end-user engagement. We aim to filter out short-term trailers and focus on increasing retention rates that provide long-term revenue streams. The key to OTT success isn’t about churning out lots of branded content, we believe less is more, and the team will actively seek to decrease your churn rates.
Digital Playmakers can capture your audiences’ immediate and long-term attention by managing your social accounts. Let us create a long-term connection between you and your desired audiences by putting your brand at the heart of the sports fan ecosystem.
The industry wheels are starting to spin, and the fierce paddock rivalries are beginning to ignite once more – but are you ready to take pole position? We have the live event, OTT and social expertise to ensure motorsport brands and rights holders alike are thriving ahead of the pack for years to come. If you are looking to get yourself onto the front of the grid, get in touch with the team today. We can discuss a suitable pricing model and ways to win in the 2021 motorsport landscape.
References
[1] https://www.sportbusiness.com/news/covid-19-impacts-on-formula-1-viewing-figures/?logged_in=1
[3] https://advanced-television.com/2021/02/08/f1-maintains-strong-audience-position/
