F1 News: F1 is the largest sport in the world with 750 million fans

F1 is the most popular annual sporting series with over 750 million fans worldwide, according to a new study by Nielsen Sports – that has seen global interest grow by 5.7% or approximately 50 million new fans since 2021.

Nielsen’s study, which was carried out across 37 international markets and compiled the views of more than 46,000 people.

F1 has made efforts to grow its fanbase outside just men, and it is paying off in droves. The core growth area for fans is coming from females. Women now comprise 41% of the total fan base for Formula 1, with 16-24-year-old the fastest growing age sector.

“Formula 1 is a perfect example of a rights owner innovating its relationship with fans,” said Jon Stainer, Nielsen Sports’ Global General Manager.

“Growth of interest, especially among women and newer markets like Saudi Arabia can be attributed largely by a shift in how the teams and drivers are profiled today, and the access they are affording global audiences. New sponsorship categories are opening up. We’re seeing a significant shift in the brands engaging in the sport, attracted to this changing fan demographic.

According to Nielsen Sports, the largest growth has come from the United Arab Emirates (up +6%) and Saudi Arabia (up +11%). Women fans are also growing in the Middle East, with female interest in Saudi Arabia increasing by +11% compared to last season and +10% among men. The largest growth age group with the Saudis comes from the older 50-69 year olds which increased a staggering +22% for the 2024 season compared to the 2023 season.

F1 also continues to grow in its established European markets with the United Kingdom up +2.3% and Germany up +4.5%, versus the 2023 season.

Key to the growth continues to be Netflix’s docuseries Drive To Survive. In a sign that the series is creating a gateway for new fans to join the F1 ranks, Nielsen Sports reports that 35% of people who viewed the show said they intended to watch more races as a result. What’s more, 1 in 4 people (25%) said they became a fan of Formula 1 from watching the series.

On the business side, F1 now accounts for 6.6% of the total global sponsorship revenue generated in 2024. Based on Nielsen Sports’ figures, the average amount of an F1 sponsorship deal is up +56% compared to pre-pandemic levels dating back to 2019 from $2.87 million to $5.08 million today.

Crypto and gaming brands highlight growth sectors in the F1 sponsorship space with brands such as bybit, OKX, Stake, Crypto.com, and Infinox joining more traditional new brands such as LVMH and Qatar Airways. Over all Information Technology companies make up 20% of all F1 sponsorships HP, Dropbox, Globant, and Workday as examples.

Total growth in the IT sponsorship sector is up +3% compared to 2019.

Financial services also has seen considerable growth with pre-pandemic levels in 2019 accounting for 2% of the total sponsorship space to now reaching well into the double-digits at 17% of total F1 sponsorships.

Nielsen Sports’ media value metric shows in 2024, title partners of F1’s top teams generated on average over $6 million in Media Value per race.