F1 News: Liberty Media Reveals True Impact Of Formula One In The US
With races in Miami and Canada witnessing the Red Bull domination this year, Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei informed the investors that the sport signified a 'particularly solid growth' this season in the USA. Speaking of how the TV viewership numbers have increased drastically this year, he said (as quoted by GPFans):
“Viewership on ESPN is up on season to date versus the 2022 average viewership with strong F1 TV performance as well.
"The 2023 season has already seen three of the four largest live audiences in F1 history on US TV, including Miami, Monaco and the Canadian GPs. All but two of our races have averaged more than one million viewers. Huge numbers for the US market."
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Not just TV ratings, but the number of people turning up at the Grand Prix venue has increased manifold as ticket sales have been at an all-time high. Liberty Media attributes the jump in numbers to the change in race format in 2021 which saw the introduction of the Sprint race format.
Though the format was not a welcome move for classic F1 fans, the sport has attracted quite a crowd from it. For example, the race at Spa Francorchamps this year saw a boost in audience numbers across the sprint race, the race, and the qualifying when compared to the same event from last year.
Formula 1 returns to the US in October for the United States Grand Prix in Texas which is expected to draw a large audience. The season would also witness the debut of the grand Las Vegas Grand Prix in November, reported to be the world's largest sporting event. Preparations for the grand-scale street race have been in full swing and construction of the paddock and viewing area is expected to conclude in October.