The FIA has released its audience figures for 2020, after a season like no other amid the current global pandemic.
Organisers managed to successfully delivered a revised 17-race calendar and was the first international sport to safely resume last summer.
The stats released today showed Formula One to be the second fastest growing major sports league on the planet across the four major social platforms.
It also maintained a strong audience position with an average audience per Grand Prix in 2020 of 87.4 million.
The highest audience figure for a race in 2020 was 103.7m for the Hungarian Grand Prix, +7% higher than the same race in 2019, and we saw strong figures for the new races that joined the revised calendar with 100.5m for Portugal, 98.1m for the Bahrain outer track and 89.1m for Turkey.
72% of spectators reportedly think F1 has improved over the past 2 years compared to 52% in June 2019, 68% believe F1 is in good hands under Liberty Media vs 56% in 2019.
Speaking about the impressive figures, Stefano Domenicali, President and CEO, Formula 1, said:
“Last year was an unprecedented time for everyone and Formula 1 had to adapt to the challenges presented by the pandemic.
“We delivered 17 races, something many thought impossible earlier in the year. We did it safely and brought excitement and new races to our fans around the world.
“The audience figures for 2020 show the strength and resilience of our sport, with average audience figures in 2020 at 87.4m and a total season cumulative audience of 1.5bn.
“We had strong growth figures in China, the UK, Netherlands, Germany, and the USA, combined with the huge boost in our digital figures.
“We saw only a marginal reduction in TV audiences, caused by multiple reasons but clearly driven but a shortened and limited geographical calendar compared to 2019, but something every major sport has experienced in 2020.
“We are proud of what we delivered in 2020 and know we have an incredibly strong fan base and audience platform to grow in the coming years. We are delighted our fans feel a strong satisfaction with the sport, our season, and the way we responded to the global pandemic.
“We are looking forward to the start of the 2021 season after the winter break and we know our fans are as excited as we are to get racing.”
