It is safe to say that without this documentary series about Formula 1 that has been airing on Netflix for the past 5 seasons, Formula 1 would not be where it is today. This Netflix special which has been watched by tens of millions of people around the world has made a lot more new fans of Formula 1 because of the realism that the show has had over the seasons. Drive to Survive is one such example where Sports and Entertainment have come together for the benefit of something for the world.
It all started 5 seasons ago when an idea popped up to Formula 1 that a documentary series needs to be made on Netflix that will show the fans the behind the scenes of Formula 1 races.
Let’s look at how important Drive to Survive on Netflix has been for Formula 1
It has brought in a whole new fanbase for Formula 1
Drive to Survive is the reason why there are a lot more fans of Formula 1 than there were before. Formula 1 as a sport has been going in for decades and in that time the popularity was not as big as it is now and Formula 1 was not in as many countries because there were no fans in those nations but due to this series on Netflix fans all around the world have been able to see the ins and outs of Formula 1 and they have loved what they have seen and all the drivers have their own fans as well and not just 1 or 2 drivers. And as more and more seasons come along the fans will keep increasing. Season 5 of Drive to Survive was the number 2 show on Netflix for 3 weeks and in total it was watched by more than 7 million viewers.
The Markets expanded after this series
Now to the business side of things as before this series Formula 1 was a sport that was largely focused on Europe and a few nations other than that but as soon as the Drive to Survive series gained popularity, The USA which is one of the biggest markets in the world showed interest in Formula 1 and that was a big thing and since 2018 the races in the USA started and now there are a total of 3 races which happen in the USA in Miami, Austin Texas and Las Vegas. Other than that the middle eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE have also added races to the calendar and billions of dollars are being paid to Formula 1 for those races.
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The sport is commercialized
Formula 1 was a great sport but it was not a commercial one and only a few fans watched it at home. And no Celebrities outside the sport or from other sports come to watch the races as they do now and it is all thanks to the Netflix series Drive to Survive because these celebrities have also seen this series and now in every race there are a number of high profile stars that come to see the races like Roger Federer, Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Neymar, Shakira, Tom Cruise, Vin Diesel etc and so many more and it allows the fans of these stars to watch the races and more than 100,000 fans full our the circuits in every race and millions of new fans have started watching every race at home and it will only grow in the years to come.
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