Formula E Significantly Grows Live Race Audience, dwarfs IndyCar

The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship has accelerated its audience growth and position as one of the fastest growing sports after broadcast figures revealed a substantial uplift in its live race day viewers across key markets. IndyCar, which is strictly a domestic series with a domestic audience, pales in comparison

Helped by this on-track action and an improved media distribution framework, initial data for the first seven races of the campaign shows the all-electric series recording significantly higher live cumulative audiences in key markets – an uplift of 125% – compared to the figures for the entirety of the previous season. Over 150 million worldwide cumulative viewers have tuned to watch coverage of the opening races of the sport’s first FIA World Championship season. IndyCar with its domestic audience can’t compare.  It explains why Formula E has so many manufacturers involved, while IndyCar has tried for 13 years to land a third manufacturer and can’t.

New media partnerships in Germany with Seven.One, France’s L’Equipe, Sky Sports Italia (together with existing media partner Mediaset) and TV Cultura and GloboTV in Brazil, have all delivered significant increases in cumulative audiences, already surpassing those recorded in season six after just half a season.

Formula E’s audience has been further bolstered by free-to-air partnerships in local race markets, including Saudi Arabia and Mexico, and strategic collaborations with premium sports broadcasters like CBS in the US, Star India and Disney+Hotstar in India, SuperSport in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa among others.