The encouraging trend emerging from F1’s embrace of social media

Assuming you follow F1 closely, chances are you consume it through multiple devices across a number of social media platforms. You know the form. Streaming races on TV while running live timing through the F1 app on a tablet and interacting with the Twitter feeds of teams, drivers and fellow fans on your mobile.

When F1 revealed its 2021 media figures back in February, it was again the fastest-growing major sporting championship on social media. Across Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube, TikTok and the Chinese platforms – Weibo, WeChat, Toutiao and Douyin – followers were up 40% to 49.1 million.

The statistic which really shone was the number of video views. At 7.04 billion across formula1.com, the F1 app and social media platforms, it made you think. Yes, those figures are cumulative but, even still, there are only 7.8 billion of us on planet Earth.

The rise of social media has been one of F1’s successes under Liberty, but it has unquestionably brought with it a darker side. The one in which even a short time spent on Twitter can quickly lead down a rabbit hole of racism, misogyny and homophobia. To see the contemptible abuse levelled at black female broadcasters such as Naomi Schiff, an authoritative and fresh addition to Sky Sport F1’s line-up, is appalling.

Fortunately there is another side to the social media revolution, one which is helping to drive the sport’s audiences in more positive ways. The proliferation of content creators, most of whom are amateur, generating video content, images, podcasts and blogs which entertain and educate existing fans and lure new ones into the fold.

Toni Cowan-Brown is one such, a 37-year-old motorsport content creator based in San Francisco. Born and raised in Europe, Toni moved to California with her husband four years ago to work in the tech sector.

Toni Cowan-Brown started posting about F1 on TikTok during the early stages of the COVID pandemic

Photo by: Carl Bingham / Aston Martin

Having previously followed F1 on and off – her father used to take her to Spa-Francorchamps – she started posting about the sport on TikTok during the early stages of the global pandemic.

“It was a perfect storm for F1 because Drive to Survive coincided with the pandemic lockdowns, the growth of Twitch and the creator economy. Then TikTok took off,” she said.

Cowan-Brown started by making short videos explaining how Formula 1 works, then produced a beginner’s guide. By combining entertainment with education she was helping feed Formula 1’s growing audiences, answering the questions which these eager new fans wanted to ask.

She now has over 75,000 followers on TikTok and was invited by Aston Martin to join the team at May’s inaugural Miami Grand Prix. While F1 focused on celebrities, Aston Martin made room for this new breed of content creator.

"It was a perfect storm for F1 because Drive to Survive coincided with the pandemic lockdowns, the growth of Twitch and the creator economy" Toni Cowan-Brown

“Everyone I interacted with at Aston Martin was young, female and everything other than a middle-aged white cis man,” she told me. “They gave me free rein to hang around the garage. It was a breath of fresh air.” The result was 18 videos which generated 21m views.

As teams increasingly engage with content creators the opportunity to further accelerate F1’s growth is clear. With an estimated 50m content creators globally, 8% of whom are professional, the creator economy is now reckoned to be worth approximately £86bn annually.

This tidal wave of talent will, with the right support, help to further increase F1’s reach. It might also help turn online Formula 1 interactions into an altogether more enjoyable experience.

F1 coverage is increasingly moving beyond traditional coverage by written media

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images