Wolff: Formula 1 “on a really good path” with younger growing audience/fanbase

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has said that Formula 1 is “on a really good path” with viewership of the sport thanks to growing audiences and fan base with a younger generation.

Since the introduction of the hybrid era in 2014 Mercedes have won every drivers and constructors championship, making it six in a row in 2019 where they took 15 out of 21 wins.
 
Some have commented that the Silver Arrows’ domination has led to the sport becoming less appealing to watch, as well as for new manufacturers to join.
 
But Wolff believes that isn’t the case with the recent competition from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen.
 
“Mercedes winning a sixth championship, you can say, does this make people turn off? But the point is there was still variability and unpredictability,” Wolff said, as quoted by Motorsport.com.

“You wouldn’t know before the weekend if a Ferrari was on pole position or if a Red Bull was on pole position, whether Max Verstappen would win.

“The battle between the generations is something that is a great attraction: [Sebastian] Vettel against Leclerc, Verstappen against [Lewis] Hamilton. This is something that attracts the audiences.

“For me the best news is that we’re growing our audiences and fanbase with the younger generations. And I think, overall, we’re on a really good path.”

It was reported by F1 that 2019 saw a TV audience of over 1.9 billion, the sports highest since 2012 despite being behind a pay wall in most countries.

“You would imagine that linear TV is something that should be quietly shrinking, and it’s not for Formula 1,” Wolff added.

“It’s actually one of the few sports that is growing the audiences, whilst we are moving certain countries behind the pay wall.

“We’re looking back at the year 2019 with almost 2 billion viewers, 419 million unique viewers, almost 90 million viewers over a weekend and an average of more than 20 million live viewers for the grand prix.

“We’re the fastest growing sport on social media, even compared to all the American leagues. You can see that we’re on a good track. Liberty is doing a good job by opening up social media, which wasn’t the case before.

“These are huge numbers compared to any other sport out there. So in terms of global attraction for the sport, it’s there.”