Formula 1 now has a strong presence in the digital and television mediums. The sport’s new owners Liberty Media can be credited for the success. Formula 1’s official social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube – have a combined following of 11.9 million. The sports brand has registered a 54.9 per cent increase from 2016 in Bernie Ecclestone’s final year in charge.

Formula One’s Facebook page saw a 1600 per cent rise in the number of minutes of video content. The official Facebook page has garnered 3.9 million likes and follows. 64 million views were accumulated on Twitter video content which equated to a 165 per cent increase. F1’s Instagram followers almost doubled to 3.8 million.

On the television front, the cumulative audience in the top 20 markets reached 1.4 billion views. This meant that there was a 6.2 per cent increase compared to 2016. Ferrari’s early charge resulted in the Italian market registering the strongest growth of the top four markets (Germany, Brazil, Italy and the UK). In Asia, China saw a 42.2 per cent increase in viewership last year. All through 2017, 352.3 million unique viewers tuned into Formula 1 programming at least once. For the first time in seven years, this particular measurement did not suffer a decline.

Sean Bratches, Managing Director of Commercial Operations at Formula 1, said, “We are encouraged by the growth in audience numbers across linear and digital platforms during the 2017 season. Central to our efforts last season was to improve the fan experience across our platforms and it is encouraging to see the engagement that fans around the world have with Formula 1 media. Our work continues as Formula 1 fans will see material changes in 2018 with respect to both incumbent experiences and the creation of new ones. It is a good time to be a Formula 1 fan.”

So how will the dynamic look by the time the 2018 season ends? Will it increase or decrease? How will F1 as a sports brand grow in the future?