Indeed, it has even fallen in Liberty's beloved US market. Adam Stern, of Sports Business Journal, reports that in the US, for the season opener in Bahrain ESPN had 1.318 million viewers, compared to 1.353 million in 2022.
Last year's race on ABC attracted a record-breaking viewership of 2.6 million people, the highest number for a live F1 broadcast in the United States. However, this year's broadcast witnessed a significant drop in viewership. ABC experienced a staggering 25% decline in its audience compared to the previous season.
The main reason F1 is not popular in the US is because of tradition and culture. F1 emerged in Europe in 1950 when a wide variety of motorsports were born in the US, causing a divergence of interests and exposure over the years.
The 2022 season also became the first in U.S. television history to average 1 million or more viewers per race. For 2021, F1 reported a global TV audience of 1.55 billion.
Formula 1 is now the world's fastest-growing sports league on social media. The average age of an F1 fan has dropped from 36 years old in 2017 to 32 years old today, which is drastically lower than the MLB (57), NFL (50), NHL (49), and NBA (42).
And The Fastest Growing Sport In The World Is...
Esports. Yep, you heard that correctly. Esports is estimated to be a $3.5 billion industry on its way to exponential growth that will likely eclipse $10 billion in the next few years.
But in the rest of the world it's just behind soccer as the most watched sport. So actually, more people (total) watch F1 than NASCAR, IndyCar, NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL etc.
Formula 1's next generation of cars will be just as powerful as ever when they hit the track in 2026 – but will use significantly less energy and produce net zero exhaust CO2 emissions, thanks to all-new engine regulations agreed this week.
[ii] Despite this global popularity, F1 has struggled to grow in the US market. This has been attributed to various factors such as the open-wheel racing sector being dominated by the Indy 500 and NASCAR.
In Europe alone, F1 managed to garner 2.85 million additional fans; from 17.3 million to 20.1 million. This represents a 17% increase over the previous year, reports Motorsport-Total.com. It also means that Formula 1 has experienced an even bigger increase than football, which only managed to rise by 6%.
As the start to the 2023 Formula 1 season neared, Formula 1 failed to sign-up an official broadcaster for India — forcing the sport to launch its own live streaming service, F1 TV, in India.
An F1 driver needs strength to keep the car on the road. One area of the body that has to be strengthened are the muscles of the neck. With the G-forces pushing on the body it becomes harder for drivers to hold their heads upright.
Outside the U.S., Formula One is undeniably more popular than NASCAR. In the 2022 season, NASCAR averaged over three million viewers per race, the most they've had in four years. Meanwhile, the 2021 Formula 1 season saw an average of 70 million viewers per race.
F1 drivers are the highest-paid athletes in motorsports, taking home $11.4 million on average across all 20 drivers on the 2022 grid – a figure set to slightly reduce this year with high-earners Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo stepping away.
Formula One is transitioning to more environmentally friendly technologies, but the sport's current CEO has unequivocally said it will never switch to electric power.
The fifth series of Drive to Survive – Netflix and F1's documentary going behind the scenes of Formula 1 – will debut on 24th February 2023.
“But Formula E will always remain Formula E and not mutate into Formula 1, never overtake it or even replace it. “Formula 1 is the evolved pinnacle of motorsport, simply because of its history. Formula E is a championship that is still emerging and will grow in importance.
Soaring viewership means the sport is also reaching new audiences. The 2021 season, which featured one of the most thrilling championship battles in history, averaged 949,000 U.S. viewers, according to ESPN. The 2022 season beat that by 28%, topping 1 million viewers on average per race for the first time.
F1: Carlin and LKY SUNZ announce plans to join F1 grid by 2025 | Metro News.
It has the highest speeds, the fastest laps, and the most powerful teams in motorsport: nothing goes faster around a racing circuit than a Formula One car. This isn't cheap: F1 teams have annual budgets in the hundreds of millions of dollars, employ hundreds if not thousands of people, and build a new car every year.
According to Sports Virsa, the top 10 hardest sports in the world to play in 2022 are as follows: Boxing (hardest), American football, mixed martial arts, ice hockey, gymnastics, basketball, soccer, wrestling, rugby, and water polo.
Soccer, also known as association football, is by far the most popular sport in the world, despite the fact that it may not be obvious in the United States. Soccer is the most popular sport in practically all of Europe, South America, Africa, the Middle East, Central America, and Asia.
The NFL is king, and the latest Forbes list of profitable sports franchises in the world demonstrates the royalty of American Football.