Formula One will explore more digital opportunities, particularly in territories where pay-television rights deals are in place, according to the motor-racing world championship’s head of commercial operations, Sean Bratches.
As the F1 season got underway at the weekend with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, Bratches was asked by Motorsport.com whether the series would retain its push towards pay-television under the new owner, Liberty Media.
“We are in the process right now of re-imagining our entire portfolio of digital assets from web, apps, to social, to OTT – and we really look at that as an opportunity to engage with fans on a very broad basis and really navigate fans around our eco system, in and outside a grand prix weekend,” he said.
“We are not looking at fan engagement from any one specific platform, we are looking at it holistically. And with the advent of digital and broadband and interconnectivity, and the adoption of digital, we think that is a big opportunity to complement and augment markets where we do tend to go a little bit more in the pay direction.”
When asked how the balance between free-to-air coverage and pay-television will work for F1 in the future, Bratches said that it was important to have a “territory-by-territory basis.”
He said: “There are some marketplaces where the pay to free-to-air penetration is extremely high. The economic benefits are there, and it makes it a little bit easier to make that move. There are also some markets where the pay-television penetration is low relative to free to air, which makes those a little bit more difficult. We are working through those.”
Bratches added: “I think there are ways to have an opportunity to create a free-to-air package that acts as a barker for the sport to create a brand awareness to a broad population. The revenue on the pay side is difficult to ignore, but at the same time we are in a position in F1 where we are trying to build our brand and increase the number of sponsors who are investing in our brand, our belief and our vision.”