Why F1’s social media dip is no cause for panic

An interesting report on social media trends in Formula 1 caused quite a stir last week – itself generating a bit of viral momentum as it totted up more than 60 million impressions across various platforms.

After years when F1 has got bigger, better and reached ever more people, the Buzz Radar analysis that 2023 was witnessing a dip was perhaps the first data to set a new tone. A chief example of this was analysis of F1’s Twitter account from January to May this year, and comparing it to 2021 and 2022.

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It showed that mentions of F1 were down 70.2% in the first five months of this year compared to the same period in 2022, with new followers down 46.29% and social reach dropping off by 64.10%. All three figures were also down on 2021.

F1 moved quickly to dispel any alarm over matters, as it issued some counter data points to suggest that, across all its platforms, there was nothing to be worried about. FOM said growth of followers across its accounts (so beyond just Twitter and including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok) was 800% higher than Buzz Radar suggested.

In the second half of this season, F1’s channels ranked second globally (behind La Liga) for followers’ growth rate among all major sports. FOM also stated that active engagements (such as likes, comments and shares) are up 4% so far this year compared to 2022, and were on course to surpass 1.5 billion by the end of the season.

Those figures appeared to suggest that Buzz Radar’s figures were wrong, but read them a bit closer and you can see that the numbers are ultimately comparing different things and timeframes in their details.

While it is often said that you can make statistics say anything you want, it is perhaps important to put into context that the change in social media trend – let’s not deny the basic premise that 2023 is less popular than 2022 – is not actually that much of a surprise.

The fallout from the 2021 finale created the perfect storm for 2022's audiences to peak as they did

Photo by: Alfa Romeo

First of all, 2022 marked a perfect storm of circumstance to drive audiences to a peak that may well be hard to beat for a while.

The FIA’s mishandling of the safety car restart at the 2021 Abu Dhabi season finale drove fan debate and discussion through the winter like we have rarely seen before.

Then there was the excitement and intrigue over the new ground effect cars, and a start to the season that was unpredictable and thrilling, with it genuinely looking like there would be a super intense title fight between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen.

Throw into the mix new drivers in new places, controversy over porpoising, plus Mercedes in a world of woe, and there were endless elements to keep fans engaged.

Feedback from senior figures in the paddock is also that, while any dip in social media activity should not be totally ignored, there is no evidence of any trailing off of interest from critical stakeholders

Fast forward to this year and we had a winter where there was no lingering controversy from the previous year, cars that were virtually identical to 2022, a pretty stagnant driver market and the kind of single team dominance that we have not seen for a while – helped perhaps only by Fernando Alonso being the big surprise at the start of the campaign.

It’s actually impressive that F1 has managed to continue adding followers at all, because there would have been every reason for those less committed to have upped sticks and gone and followed another sport. There is another important factor to throw into the mix here too when analysing the Twitter figures; the Elon Musk effect.

The American entrepreneur’s takeover of Twitter in October 2022, and the subsequent change of how the platform runs and the reach of gives certain accounts, has led to a dip in engagement across the board. F1 will not have been isolated from this, but it is hard to be sure exactly how much of a factor it has played in the trends for this year.

F1's social media dip in 2023 doesn't represent the true picture of the situation

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

What is critical to understand about the 2023 dip though is that it is wrong to think of it as all downhill for F1 from here. Just as in the stock markets, traders don’t just look at the hourly charts, it’s trends on the daily, weekly and monthly that are critical (remember the trend is your friend until the end when its bends). F1’s figures should equally be looked at over a much longer timeframe.

Traders don’t offload stocks automatically just because of one blip; as there are always ups and downs on the way to new all-time highs. For F1, the bigger picture is that even a dip on social media in 2023 still puts it well ahead of where it was years ago – so the global trend on a long-term timeframe is still up.

Feedback from senior figures in the paddock is also that, while any dip in social media activity should not be totally ignored, there is no evidence of any trailing off of interest from critical stakeholders. One team boss, who is well across the commercial toing and froing in F1, said that everything pointed to sponsors in particular still being absolutely in love with grand prix racing and showing no signs of their interest waning.

Furthermore, other bosses have suggested that some of the factors that may be a turn-off to fans – like the lack of driver bust-ups, an absence of political turmoil in the paddock and war between teams or F1 bosses – were the very things that made sponsors even more attracted to grand prix racing.

Indeed, rumours this week of Apple lining up for a future TV rights bid served to dish out some intrigue (and helped F1’s stock market price) and offered further good news about grand prix racing’s long-term potential. A dip in fan engagement on social media then is just a small bump in the road for F1; and is one that would likely be put in the rear-view mirror very quickly by a more engaging 2024 campaign.

So with Mercedes and Ferrari both anticipating gains with all-new cars so they can start threatening Red Bull properly, plus what looks set to be a fascinating driver market silly season as many contracts expire before the start of 2025, F1’s push onwards is far from being halted just yet.

Returns to the front of the field for Ferrari and Mercedes to challenge Red Bull will sustain interest and stop the skid

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images