We need a ‘Drive to Survive,’” said many a rights holder at some point in the last five years.“You should do a behind-the-scenes documentary,” said pretty much every sport sponsorship agency at some point in the last five years in response to a client brief.
Many sports industry professionals have drunk the sports documentary Kool-Aid, deeming it a panacea to any number of marketing ills. Make *insert sport here* famous among a peripheral audience and the growth will look after itself.
But as marketing commentator Bob Hoffman regularly reminds us, “There is nothing about marketing that is black and white, true or false. All we have are likelihoods and probabilities. Fame is no guarantee of brand success, but it’s the most reliable driver.”
For every success story, such as “Drive to Survive” (DtS), there have been (and will continue to be) failures, such as “Break Point.” The latter was scrapped by Netflix largely due to the underwhelming narratives of tennis tour professionals relative to the depth of A, B and C storylines that are endemic to F1. Data released by Netflix shows that “Break Point” amassed a “mere” 30.5 million viewing hours in the first half of 2023 compared to 90.2 million by DtS season 5 — 121st on a list of over 18,000 titles.
It’s encouraging to see rights holders “up” their marketing ante. However, the approach involves outsourcing their most valuable assets — namely their IP and audiences — to partners in exchange for a quick buck. It seems illogical that rights holders should let someone else tell their story, but the reality is that they are not set up to execute such marketing endeavours. As a result, many of these partners, Netflix included, are successfully building businesses from this relatively “cheap” way of working.
“Drive to Survive” is perhaps the strongest manifestation of this challenge. The hope was to bring new audiences to F1 which, in turn, would drive commercial value. However, it could be argued that outsourcing these efforts to Netflix has had an unintended effect.
Instead, DtS has mostly succeeded in building a secondary audience, one that has limited interest in the main event. As a result, much of this audience sits outside of F1’s commercial ecosystem which, in theory at least, hinders F1’s ability to commercialise this newfound fandom.
In 2023, F1 saw increased revenue, operating profit, attendances, and team valuations. It also saw a decrease in the average age and male skew of the fan base — much of this attributed to the ubiquitous “Drive to Survive Effect.”
However, if DtS has really fed the F1 funnel, it’s reasonable to assume that audience growth would be directly affected.
F1’s social media channels have certainly benefited. Social analytics tool Tagger suggests that Instagram alone has seen a 440% follower growth since Series 1 in 2019 (from 6.1 million to 26.7 million). According to F1, their social channels ranked second among all major sports leagues for follower growth rate in Q2 2023 — bettered only by Spanish football division La Liga.
Similarly, 6.15 million attended races in 2023, up from 4.16 million in 2019 (albeit the number of races has increased).
While these numbers may seem significant, they are dwarfed by TV audiences that average 70 million per race. Cumulative global TV viewership, however, has somewhat stagnated in the last 6 years, peaking at 1.92 billion in 2019 and clocking in at 1.55 billion in 2023. And despite the Las Vegas factor, TV audiences in America fell 10% during 2023 to an average of just 1.11 million — a small figure that belies supposed U.S. growth narrative.
Matters are not helped by the absolute dominance of Red Bull and much of F1’s broadcast ecosystem sitting behind a paywall, but from a commercial standpoint, a rights holder’s viability is largely determined by the size of its TV audience. And while F1 still presents a unique proposition — it’s an annual global sports platform that runs the best part of 10 months per year — and commands a strong audience, it’s difficult to validate a DtS related growth story unless there is tangible evidence that new audiences are tuning in to watch the main event.
It now seems that F1 has two main audiences — one whose primary motivation is racing and another whose main interest resides in everything but the racing.
This audience, younger and more female, inhabits a world of (scripted) off-track drama, subplots and personalities of F1’s main protagonists — spearheaded by Netflix and amplified by social media. For this audience, racing is a means to an end, a single plot line within a much bigger narrative.
To put it another way, Christian Horner’s early-season antics have already set up the opening episode of DtS Season 7 a year in advance. Unfortunately for F1, this will likely prove more compelling than yet another Red Bull 1-2 finish.
Sport’s business model is primarily B2B. It has profited from selling off its primary assets to broadcasters, sponsors and content platforms alike. In doing so, however, many rights holders have inadvertently relinquished control of their IP and audiences to third parties.
In the case of DtS (and others), a new subaudience has been created that exists in isolation from the rights holder’s commercial ecosystem. And while you could argue that sponsors receive a degree of “added value” due to the exposure generated via DtS, the real winners are Netflix and, in all probability, the social media platforms. It would not be a surprise to see Netflix monetise DtS through advertising and product placement given its need for new revenue streams.
While DtS has been a resounding success as a content play, its commercial impact on F1 has been overhyped. Despite this, F1 have played a blinder — capitalising on the bull market narrative generated by the supposed “DtS effect” to create tangible value out of something largely intangible. The real proof will come during the next broadcast cycle — given the depleting audiences, uncompetitive racing and challenging economic climate, it may be challenging to justify higher rights values.
For other rights holders, it’s important to be aware of the potential consequences of documentary-led endeavours and ensure the commercial model can capitalise accordingly.
This article looks at the opportunity for brands presented by the annual music competition, Eurovision.
Eurovision provides brands with an opportunity to strategically resonate with a huge and diverse audience across Europe – an opportunity that hasn’t yet been fully utilised. It is a rare moment in the music calendar that truly transcends markets and encourages sharing of the experience in real time.
Eurovision’s scale and multi-market appeal should not be underestimated. It provides an opportunity for
brands to tackle the fragmented music landscape, with a ‘one-stop shop’ akin to those found in the sports landscape.
While Eurovision is both playful and entertaining, it can also be controversial so brands must understand
their role in the platform before committing.
To succeed in the space brands should:
Music is the biggest universal consumer passion point and provides brands with a huge opportunity to
strategically resonate with a multitude of audiences. The true scale of music fans is difficult to quantify but taking the music subscription service market alone you’re looking at a global audience of over 616 million users (massive). Then when looking at festival attendees this is over 37 million and for concerts 30 million….in the UK alone. With fans who attend live music events sharing their experiences at a rate of 92% and the hype around global tours such Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour being far reaching, it’s safe to say the influence of these events goes beyond their venues, making them an alluring tool for brand engagement.
However, time and again major brands are opting to invest in sports sponsorships instead. Of course,
established properties such as UEFA Champions League, Ryder Cup or F1 have huge global audiences, in-built media, local-level access and relevancy across markets, as well as having tried and tested activation playbooks with proven track records.
The challenge in music is that, for the most part, there isn’t the same fix. The European landscape is fragmented and can be challenging to navigate without the right stewardship (and even then, it can require a deep level of effort). The European festival landscape has a few major players, but these represent partial offerings in individual territories versus a one-stop shop for multi-market, consistent activation. The nuance of popular music also varies market by market. While a German football fan looks much like an English football fan (they are passionate about the same game), with music, the binding factor is a love of music, but it’s often very different music. This means ambassador or tour deals need to be with the highest-level artists to ensure multi-market cut-through (which of course comes at a high cost). Tours also aren’t as frequent or predictable as sports fixtures and rights can be inconsistent due to venue prohibitions and, for the most part, a lack of broadcast agreements.
These factors often result in brands struggling to find truly global or European platforms for local market
exploitation, which can result in brands having a fragmented multi-market music approach or being sworn off the space altogether.
Eurovision is somewhat of a unicorn in the music landscape. A single property that resonates across European markets and beyond. It provides brands the opportunity to buy into the ‘disco magic’ centrally and activate credibly across local markets, using a platform that consumers genuinely care about. However, it’s a property that hasn’t yet been fully utilised by brands.
The scale of Eurovision cannot be underestimated, with a viewership of 181 million it has over 60 million more viewers than the Super Bowl Halftime show. When considering the NFL were looking for a reported $50m in rights fees for the sponsorship, which Apple Music took up in 2023, that’s pretty impressive. Interestingly there has been huge growth in both YouTube and TikTok streams of the event in recent years, up to 7.6m and 4.8m respectively in 2023. The growth in digital viewership is particularly positive for potential brand partners when considering varying degrees of brand limitations with the public service broadcasters who show Eurovision.
As well as drawing in huge numbers, Eurovision provides a rare moment in the music calendar where viewing live is inherent to the experience, and where the event invites ’watch parties’ akin to those you see for major sports finals. However, the audience make up for Eurovision is altogether more diverse, attracting youth, family, and LGBTQ+ audiences in their droves. These social-first audiences are hungry for content, expect brands to be playful, and are open to sharing their experiences.
Eurovision’s ability to resonate with LGBTQ+ audiences is of huge benefit for brands, especially when
considering the purchasing power of this group is over $3.7 trillion globally and the fact that 72% of
consumers, regardless of orientation or background, make purchasing decisions based on a brand’s inclusivity and diversity. Much more than a camp and playful event, Eurovision should be considered a major platform for engaging valuable audiences with huge purchasing power and cultural sway.
It would be remiss not to mention that, as with any sponsorship or partnership of this scale, there will be risk factors for brands. In a politically turbulent period, with a platform that millions of global fans feel passionate about and, just as has been seen in sporting environments, there can and has been controversy with fan groups and in the press – most recently, the ‘boycott’ in light of Israel’s inclusion in the competition for 2024. When entering a scaled partnership of this nature, it is important to acknowledge that there may be passionate social sentiment that puts pressure on brands to comment on highly sensitive subjects. It’s important that brands analyse the risk involved in doing so, stay true to their brand ethos and understand their role in the ecosystem. Ultimately, what is appealing about Eurovision as a consumer is its unpredictability and how it reacts to culture, which can be both fun and playful but also has the potential to be political and controversial. This comes with challenges and it’s a brave brand that enters that space.
Taking a look at Eurovision’s current and more recent partners, there are some obvious categories taking up these sponsorship spots. Travel brands such as easyJet and Royal Caribbean have a natural role in the fan experience – from the clear link with travel to and from the host nation to fun-filled entertainment for consumers. Morrocanoil, the presenting partner, leans heavily on behind-the-scenes storytelling and glamourous on-stage looks told through the lens of social to engage with Eurovision’s social-first audience. Baileys, a playful and ‘the world’s most loved spirit brand’ showcases unique cocktail recipes and encourages communal enjoyment and watching parties. TikTok, Eurovision’s Entertainment partner, focuses on being ‘the go-to destination for all things Eurovision’, hosting streams, behind-the-scenes content and performances in the app. A strategy for driving users and generating content on their platform which is implemented across their broad partnership portfolio.
We are yet to see the full breadth and scale of the official (and not so official) partner activity in the coming weeks, but looking back on 2023’s Eurovision, some key principles for brands to ‘get it right’ this year can be seen.
In the UK, nearly 85% of the population is on social media, so while there is such a huge opportunity to reach a big audience, it can be harder to cut through. Being creative, unique and playful is imperative to reaching the Eurovision audience. For example, last year Tesco’s campaign #Cheese4Cheese saw the brand launch a singing competition on TikTok spearheaded by The Fizz – the group spun off from Bucks Fizz, which won Eurovision in 1981. This tongue-in-cheek campaign saw winners receive giant cheese wheels as the top prize.
Whether that be for those fans travelling to the event, following their countries’ representatives, or planning their own watching events through brand-relevant moments, brands need to be able to cater for the entire fan journey and consider where they can have a meaningful role in the fan experience.
More than 80% of Gen Z and Millennials say an influencer would have at least some influence over their
purchasing or viewing habits. Last year, John Lewis’ Eurovision Disco leaned into nostalgic music talent and focussed on the communal watching aspect of the event by having Sophie Ellis Bexter host an iteration of her Kitchen Disco in their Liverpool branch. Booking.com also enlisted Eurovision icon Conchita Wurst, who won the contest in 2014, to front their campaign focussed on ensuring they were the go-to for booking a stay in the host city.
This year and in future iterations of Eurovision I would love to see brands take these learnings and fully
recognise the global to local market power of Eurovision, treating it as a major platform that can unify their approach and deliver a genuine multi-market music activation.
