Formula 1's growth under Liberty Media will be studied for decades. Formula 1 Annual Revenue • 2017: $1.8 billion • 2023: $3.2 billion (+78% since 2017) Average F1 U.S. Per-Race Viewership • 2017: 538,000 • 2023: 1.11 million (+106% since 2017) Formula 1 Enterprise Value • 2017: $8 billion • 2023: $16 billion (+100% since 2017) And now Liberty Media is looking to replicate that success, acquiring the world's top motorcycling racing series, MotoGP, for $4.5 billion. Today's newsletter breaks down the deal. Enjoy! READ: https://lnkd.in/erhVaXqA #sports #sportsbiz #linkedinsports
Jason Agnoli
6mo
"The average age of a Formula 1 fan has declined from 36 years old in 2017 to 32 years old today, providing the racing series with a far younger demographic than US counterparts like Major League Baseball (MLB) (57), National Football League (NFL) (50), and National Basketball Association (NBA) (42)." This is a huge part of why Liberty Media has been so successful with F1. Before Liberty, FOM (Formula One Management) was not interested in growing on social media and streaming; they did the bare minimum. Today, F1 has become the sports "champion" on social media. They encourage teams to share content, they post tons of race week media on YouTube, their pages are growing faster than any other sport, and they even have their own streaming service (F1TV). If anyone needed a playbook on how to grow a sport/event online for younger fans, Formula 1 is it.
Ning Choi
6mo
And if they do succeed, the racing would be more entertaining than watching one person win every race with a 10-20 sec difference between 1st and 2nd!
Jose Cerdeira
6mo
Good reading. Although this is clearly about the valuation of the brand and not necessarily about the sport it stands for. The brand is being run more and more as a show (bling and show-off) and not as a sport. DTS has brought younger generations to the sport, but at what cost? It is, generally speaking, a reality show that dramatizes collateral and not-meaningful aspects (not to say untrue), just for the sake of audiences. We all understand that the sport needs to rejuvenate itself and that the society has moved on (... or sideways) and see things differently from previous generations. And younger drivers have a social-media persona and audiences need instant gratification and to live a 'photogenic' life and all that. But, either we all assume that this a great opportunity for emerging countries to sell themselves (and do a bit of image-cleaning in the process) allowing for the collection of higher and higher fees, and to increase pay-per-view revenue, while extending the calendar to the point of breakage. Or, we consider that this is still a sport and can be marketed as such and not as another non-descript piece of showbusiness. The same will apply to MotoGP (given some commentaries, there shouldn't be many fans here).
Paulo Santos
6mo
Congratulating (obviously) Liberty Media for their achievements it is intellectually honest to also mention that: 1-7 years ago before LM, Social Media wasn’t developed has it is now which hugely helped the growth of F1 fans 2- the people in charge of F1 at the time were not up to date on knowledge on how to develop the sport mostly involved in politics and pure old school hard commercial and sponsorship deals 3-necessary to say that Netflix drive to survive made a whole difference within the American market which 7 years ago didn’t exist. Having said the above hopefully a couple more teams will be allowed to join F1 to bring something new to the Sport.
Donny Greco
6mo
This will be a tough sell imo
Lewis Houghton
6mo
Dorna and MotoGP have been stagnant for years now, quivering in the shadow of F1. Since Valentino Rossi, their poster boy for the last 20 years, retired in 2021, there have been no real characters or stories to get behind. They attempted their own Drive To Survive, show, called MotoGP: Unlimited, but it fell short in so many ways. I'm actually working on a post about this very topic. It'll be great to see them modernise what is an incredible series for racing.
Mark S.
6mo
The value of sports media properties has exploded beyond anyone’s most optimistic expectations. I would be interested in your analysis of Silver Lake taking Endeavor private in a $13 Bn deal. How do Ari Manuel and Patrick Whitesell benefit from rolling over their equity stakes. Does their ownership as a percentage increase? What are their future incentives? How are they protected?
Michael Curtis
6mo
Shorter format, more interesting racing than F1 and not fully reliant on the car determining the race.
Advisor. 35+ years in sports & media tech. "A guy with a scarf" Public speaker. C-suite, strategy, product, innovation, OTT, digital, B2B/D2C marketing, AI/ML.
6moWell said. Impressive growth. And not at all obvious when it started. What's next apart expanding. Will they stay long? Any data on profits?