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Declining F1 viewership due to greater choice - Haas

Team owner Gene Haas has spoken about the challenge facing Formula 1 to reverse its declining global viewership, saying the fall is down to consumers having greater choice over what to watch.

Top bosses of F1's new owner, Liberty Media, are set to look at ways to strengthen the sport and boost its global profile, with its TV audience falling by a third over the past 10 years.

Speaking to reporters during pre-season testing in Barcelona, Haas discussed the challenge facing F1 to compete for viewers, saying there is a similar battle going on in NASCAR where he also owns a team.

"Statistics say less people are watching it, but I think the core audience is really involved in cars, and it delivers, at least to manufacturers," Haas said. "The ability to reach maybe a more gearhead centric type person, somebody who is really into cars, that can help sell cars.

"Now in NASCAR, for Ford, Chevrolet and Toyota, that is very important to them. In Formula 1 it is a little bit different in that you do have Mercedes, Ferrari, which is a dream car, and then you have Honda. So there are some similarities there. It is nice to bring in the big-name manufacturers, that is where customers can find those kinds of names in racing."

Despite there being a falling audience, Haas was not concerned about it given the amount of choice viewers now have, but said it could lead to changes in the way that F1 is consumed and sponsors in the sport target their markets.

"NASCAR is in the same process of trying to recruit new fans. Almost all sports venues are facing the same problems that people have a lot more to choose from in terms of what they watch," Haas said.

"It is not that we are losing viewers, it is just that they have a lot more variety to pick from, and so we are all getting less viewers, there is no doubt about.

"The question is do we become more selective in our viewers like a Google or a Facebook where you click on something and advertisers will spend a premium for anybody who clicks on something because they fit the demographics of who you are as opposed to just broadcasting over the airwaves where you are trying to hit as many people as you can hoping you get a percentage of it.

"The people in racing are obviously car aficionados, that is something you can sell to people that manufacture cars and accessories. Even though we are seeing this decline in viewership, the viewers that we have are still very valuable to the right kinds of advertisers."

Zdroj: crash.net