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This Ain't Bernie's F1

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This Ain't Bernie's F1

The Liberty Media market saturation strategy is working

Vincenzo Landino
Nov 23, 2021
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This Ain't Bernie's F1

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Pole Position

Whew! That was a wild three-week stretch of races. It feels like yesterday we were in a rain-soaked Spa for the Belgian GP, and now we’re just two races from the end of the season.

Here’s where we stand after the inaugural Qatar GP:

Drivers Championship

Max Verstappen — 351.5 points

Lewis Hamilton — 343.5 points

Constructors Championship

Mercedes — 546.5

Red Bull — 541.5

Ferrari — 297.5

McLaren — 258

Thanks to the amazing F1 subreddit, u/QC_1999 gives us these scenarios for Max Verstappen to take home the World Drivers Championship in Jeddah:

Verstappen 1st + fastest lap and Hamilton 6th (Max 377.5, Lewis 351.5)

Verstappen 1st and Hamilton 7th (Max 376.5, Lewis 349.5)

Verstappen 2nd + fastest lap and Hamilton 10th (Max 370.5, Lewis 344.5)

Verstappen 2nd and Hamilton doesn’t score (Max 369.5, Lewis 343.5)

Essentially, a gap of 26 points with a Max win or a Lewis non-win, gives Verstappen the Championship.

What a season!


The Blitz is Working

This data in this thread from August continues gaining momentum.

Twitter avatar for @vincenzolandino
Vincenzo Landino @vincenzolandino
Liberty Media’s F1 blitz is working, not just in the USA but globally. Viewership is up 36% over 2019. Revenues are up nearly $40 million from last year, clocking in at $180 million for Q1. // @F1
Image
11:33 AM ∙ Aug 2, 2021
68Likes12Retweets

The next step for Liberty Media was to lower the age of viewers and attract a newer audience to the sport.

Former Formula 1 boss, Bernie Ecclestone was notoriously against new ways of marketing, especially to younger fans. He was even quoted as saying things like:

I'd rather get to the 70-year-old guy who's got plenty of cash. So, there's no point trying to reach these kids because they won't buy any of the products here and if marketers are aiming at this audience, then maybe they should advertise with Disney.

Ecclestone famously relied on race promoters, teams, sponsors, and media to publicize the sport rather than the rights holders themselves investing money in marketing.

In 2018, that changed when Formula 1 rolled out a minute-long film ‘Engineered Insanity’, which initially rolled out over social media channels. It focused on the visceral appeal of the sport as experienced by ‘superfans’ inside a wind tunnel.

Twitter avatar for @ausgrandprix
F1 Australian Grand Prix @ausgrandprix
Engineered Insanity. A new era of #F1​ begins today at the #AusGP.
9:00 PM ∙ Mar 22, 2018
606Likes142Retweets

Ellie Norman, Formula 1’s appointed director of marketing and communications, told Reuters at Formula 1 that teams were supportive of the initiative.

There is definitely a sense of appreciation that for the first time Formula 1 is promoting the sport and the series itself.

The teams work incredibly hard from their team and driver perspective but there has not been something from Formula 1 that promotes the series.

Liberty Media is truly embracing the internet age.

Drivers and teams have online personas. Drive to Survive is a piece of brand content that would never have flown in Bernie’s F1. There’s personality in the content. It feels like work you want to support.

Just a couple of months back, Formula 1 released the results of the massive survey they put out earlier this year to some amazing results.

Twitter avatar for @vincenzolandino
Vincenzo Landino @vincenzolandino
These two headlines are two years apart. According to the largest single-sport survey ever conducted, the average age of an F1 fan globally is 32. Four years ago, that number was 36. The content that continues to be produced by F1 and its teams, has a lot to do with this.
Image
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3:01 PM ∙ Nov 22, 2021
39Likes8Retweets

The blitz is working — and I believe it’s time for other sports to follow suit.


Lewis Hamilton on Qatar

Lewis had these words to say about racing in Qatar and the duty he feels for raising awareness for the equality issues:

We’re aware there are issues in these places that we’re going to. But [Qatar] seems to be deemed as one of the worst in this part of the world.

As sports go to these places, they are duty bound to raise awareness for these issues.

These places need scrutiny. It needs the media to speak about these things. Equal rights is a serious issue.

I am aware that in this place they are trying to make steps and it can't change overnight.

If we are coming to these places, we need to be raising the profile of the situation. One person can only make a certain amount of small difference but collectively we can have a bigger impact.

Do I wish that more sportsmen and women spoke out on these issues? Yes.

I have been to a lot of these countries and have been ignorant, been unconscious of some of the problems in some of the places.

It's down to whether you decide to educate yourself and hold the sport more accountable and make sure the sport is actually doing something about it when it goes to these places.

That's why I've tried to raise my voice, but there are far brighter people that are knowledgeable on these issues that are trying to fight them in the background.

But I still think we can bring a spotlight to it and create that scrutiny and that pressure that can hopefully create change.


Speaking of Bernie Ecclestone

Would you work from home if Senna’s MP4/8-6 was your backdrop?

My short answer: no, I’d be figuring out how to drive it at any moment.

Twitter avatar for @vincenzolandino
Vincenzo Landino @vincenzolandino
Ayrton Senna's McLaren MP4/8-6, that ex-F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone bought for €4.1m in 2018, is displayed behind glass in Ecclestone's study.
Image
1:11 PM ∙ Nov 22, 2021
12,928Likes1,158Retweets

ICYMI

One of the funniest F1 impressions skit you’ll watch. Carlos and Kimi had me absolutely rolling 🤣 😂 😂

Twitter avatar for @ConorSketches
Conor Moore @ConorSketches
Some Formula 1 🏎 impressions ahead of the Qatar GP
12:00 PM ∙ Nov 19, 2021
85,930Likes14,155Retweets

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