The 2021 Formula One season may have ended in controversy with Max Verstappen claiming the championship title over Lewis Hamilton in a final lap shoot-out, but it has also proven to be a ratings juggernaut for Foxtel and Kayo.
The thrilling final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, which started at midnight Monday Australian time, is currently the third most-watched Formula One race in the history of the Foxtel Group having achieved an average national audience of 437,000 across pay-tv and streaming (Foxtel, Foxtel Go, Foxtel Now, and Kayo).
The big audience for the finale comes at the same time as the 2021 Formula 1 season has claimed the title as the most watched of all time, with an average audience of 308,000 per race across the platforms of Foxtel and Kayo.
The result is up 31% compared with last years season and comes at a time when the sport has discovered a whole new fan base thanks to the Netflix reality series Drive To Survive.
Eight of the top ten most viewed F1 races occurred in 2021, headlined by the Italian Grand Prix at Monza won by Aussie Daniel Riccardo (467K total viewers) and the Russian Grand Prix which saw Lewis Hamilton reach his 100th Grand Prix Victory (439K total viewers).
The increased interest in Formula One follows a bumper Bathurst event earlier in the month which saw an average national audience of 482,000 tune in for The Great Race via Foxtel and Kayo, making it the second most-watched Bathurst event of all time.
The dedicated 2021 Bathurst pop-up channel on Fox Sports delivered 7.1 million hours viewed.
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Kevin,
Have you heard anything regarding TV rights for Formula 1 post 2022?
SMH/theage and AFR have reported that Foxtel have signed an extension with F1 yet there has been no formal announcement.
Rich
Rich,
Thank you for you post, I have been trying to find out if Foxtel would signed an extension. Reading your comment, makes me more hopeful. Fox has always been the best