McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has called for a change to be made to Formula 1 broadcasts and Netflix’s Drive to Survive to bring fans closer to what teams see from the pitwall.
Drive to Survive brought in a whole new demographic of fans to the championship, and now Brown is keen to bring them closer to the data and how F1 operates beyond the on and off-track “drama”.
“It’s something that I’ve been a bit vocal with on Netflix and the broadcast,” Brown said during an appearance on How Leaders Lead with David Novak, when asked what fans should look out for to gain a deeper understanding of F1.
“If we look at how we need to evolve our fans and grow our sport, the technology in it, the strategy behind it, is insane – unlike any other sport.
“I think you’ve got different levels of sophistication and interest in technology, so we need to kind of tee it up at the right level – or right levels – depending on our audience. But if people had an even greater understanding and insight into what these race cars and race car drivers do, like the sheer speed, it’s impossible to actually describe to someone how fast these race cars are, but there are ways you can do that.
“The amount of technology, we’re talking terabytes, and I remember the first time I was like, I know what a terabyte is, but actually I didn’t at the time. So I was like, ‘Kind of give me terabytes for dummies,’ and it was, ‘Zak, that’s like 10million documents.’ That’s how much data we pull off of a race car or race weekend.
“So I think if we can, now that we’ve got the fans interested, they love the drama, the on-track, the 20 drivers, the teams, show them really how our sport operates, but pitch it at the right level of interest, I think people would be fascinated if they knew what I was looking at during a race on pitwall.”
Zak Brown, McLaren
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
The McLaren chief also discussed the changes in the demographic of the audience of F1 following the boom from Drive to Survive, and explained how the championship became “big in America” under Liberty Media.
“It’s [Drive to Survive] been a game-changer for the sport,” Brown added. “Of course, there’s a lot of contributors to it, but if I had a dollar for every time someone said, ‘Netflix got me into Formula 1,’ it would be amazing.
“What it did do, if you looked at where the sport was pre-Liberty’s acquisition and where the sport needed help, was women, youth, and North America – if you kind of think about the geographic demographics of where Formula 1 needed to kind of pick up the pace. Netflix, I think, you’ve got to give a lot of credit to.
“Now, the most oftentimes I’m going through the airport, the most common comment I get is from a female who says, ‘I never watched Formula 1 before and I love it.’
“It’s been amazing the audience that Netflix has brought to Formula 1. And so, we now have the world covered because North America was a weak spot for the sport for many years, and our demographic – which every sport wants, every consumer product wants, which is effectively what we are – is you want tomorrow’s audience today, and that’s the youth, and you want a diverse fan base. And when you come down to the almighty spending power of consumers, you want a nice balance that represents the world.
“And so, that’s what surprised me, it grabbed those audiences and geographies, but how big it made it. It’s like we’re not just on the map in North America now, we’re big in North America, and it’s super cool.”
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