Formula E, the all-electric motor racing championship, is now just over 10 years old.
The series, a revolutionary concept when first launched, held its first race in September, 2014, in Beijing, China.
Since then, the series’ senior management and board have worked to transform the atmosphere around Formula E from very much that of a start-up, to a respected worldwide sports property that is an attractive prospect to fans, media partners, and brands.
Indeed, the championship is now multi-continent, multi-manufacturer, and has even turned out to be the first in a number of similar properties to have launched over the last few years (Extreme E, E1, and SailGP, to name a few).
As with any developing sports property, a crucial element in the growth of the series’ recognition and global appeal is how it manages to secure broadcast partners.
Just last week, for example, a free-to-air tie-up was unveiled in the UK with commercial broadcaster ITV, which will air all 16 E-Prix races and their accompanying qualifying sessions live from the upcoming 11th season of the championship on the ITVX streaming platform. Nine races, meanwhile, will air via linear TV through the ITV4 channel.
This tie-up, as well as deals in China with Tencent and in Spain with LaLiga+, comes on the back of record TV audience growth for Formula E in 2023-24. The series grew its global cumulative TV viewership by 35% during its 10th season (which ended in London in mid-July), to 491 million worldwide.
It also comes with Liberty Global, the major US media group, in the process of increasing its Formula E stake to a controlling 65% by snapping up shares held by media and entertainment giant Warner Bros. Discovery. At the time the deal was unveiled (in June this year), approval was said to be expected by the end of 2024.
With that in mind, Sportcal (GlobalData Sport), recently sat down with Aarti Dabas, the experienced chief media officer at Formula E who has now been in place for four and a half years.
The continual balancing acts between pay-TV and free-to-air, and linear and streaming, are discussed as the series enters its new campaign (beginning on December 7 in Brazil), as is why she doesn’t necessarily like Formula E being compared to its other motor racing cousins, for example, Formula 1.
Dabas, who has a wealth of previous experience from roles at organizations such as the International Cricket Council, starts by explaining that the 2023-24 season “finally saw us find the right balance between reach and revenue …
“We’ve been offered a lot of potential deals which would have helped our revenue go up - but our reach would have gone down. At this stage of our growth, we need to be careful [of taking that approach].
“I think free-to-air deals are so important for young sports like ours, if we want to attract new fans, the product needs to be available more.
“It’s about creating harmony and balance between us and the broadcaster - there will be trade-offs both parties have to make.”
She adds that there is also a similar balance to be struck between linear and streaming deals - both of which Formula E has in place across its key markets.
Dabas says that “we’re a younger sport in terms of our fan demographics than most, that’s a challenge for us. So, we have a diverse, young, fanbase, and most likely that fanbase isn’t watching linear TV.
“But, that doesn’t mean linear doesn’t have a role to play, because we need their numbers and reach.
“I do believe that while digital is our future, we need to balance it out. For example, in the US we have deals with both Roku and a free-to-air carve out on CBS for national exposure.
“Roku has almost 50% market share in the US, about 120 million people have a Roku-compatible device they can access.”
The US is the first market in which the electric series has taken that particular approach, with Dabas reiterating the need for Formula E to have “a digital layer” in its broadcast footprint.
Both the Roku and CBS deals - multi-year - were unveiled last June. The Roku tie-up marked the streaming service’s debut in terms of live sports rights acquisitions.
She describes the digital partnerships as a way for the keen Formula E fan to access all content - live, highlights, reviews - with linear deals instead acting as “the entry point, perhaps for several live races only.
“While we may stagger away from that approach eventually, it will take a while,” she says.
The series “has done some really good digital carve-outs recently, and our broadcast partners have been good in that respect," she adds.
Dabas feels that the fear amongst traditional broadcasters around sports properties carving out rights to sell specifically to digital platforms has now gone - as she puts it: “Just because people are watching highlights clips online doesn’t mean they’re going to stop watching the live coverage."
The deal between US soccer’s MLS and streaming giant Apple - one in which the tech behemoth has a major multi-year deal covering all games, but a selection of fixtures are being shown via traditional broadcasters - is referred to as an example of the approach Formula E is also aiming for.
She says: “We’re at an inflection point in terms of sports media in general, nobody’s going to get their approach [to broadcast deals] spot on immediately, so we’re all experimenting at the moment.
“All younger sports like us have these decisions to make.”
In terms of the various other methods Formula E is using to get its content across to as large an audience as possible, the series has also done some deals specifically for digital highlights and short-form clips, aside from live coverage tie-ups.
Again, referring to the average age of the Formula E viewership, Dabas says: “Whereas I might watch a whole sporting event - cricket match or Formula 1 race - I don’t know whether the younger generation has the capacity to do that.
“The more engaged fans will watch the live product, but through these digital clips we’re reaching out to the fans who are not as engaged to start with, but will watch shorter segments - the middle group of fans between casual and core, are who these deals serve.”
Formula E has also split off some rights for specific teams and drivers, with its media rights head saying that they “have the biggest platforms, in terms of followers, to reach fans."
Another element of the series’ overall media and content approach comes through the striking of editorial content deals in a range of countries.
In certain markets, Formula E is “partnering with digital sports publications” who are then reporting on the series and can reach out to fans via that method.
In some markets, Dabas points out, unless these editorial deals are signed, “potential fans just don’t know we exist - it might pop up on TV occasionally, but there’s no continuity as the major publications don’t cover us.”
Just this week, for example, a deal has been struck with Red Bull Media House, through which (among many other elements), German publication Bild will report on Formula E.
One issue that all growing sports who want to have an international presence must contend with is combining on-the-ground presence with broadcast reach.
Formula E is no exception - 16 races took place last season, across 11 countries, with the same number across 10 locations on the agenda for 2024-25.
This includes new race locations in Miami, US, and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a new double-header in Monaco, a double-header in Tokyo, Japan, and the return of Jakarta, Indonesia, to the calendar.
The campaign will begin in São Paulo, Brazil, and will mark the first time the new GEN3 EVO race car will be tested in public, with the car supposed to be 30% faster than a current Formula 1 car.
Dabas feels that after “creating a strong and exciting product for fans to watch,” as the first aspect of building a successful sports league, getting the format and the calendar right is the second element.
She explains: “For us, there is an expansion plan for our calendar, eventually we’ll be going to a certain number of races as per that. We’re going to grow.
“When we’re looking at adding an event, we consider a whole host of factors - race economics, logistics, sustainability, sponsorship - before I can look at the broadcast side of things.”
She says one option in future for the series is to go down the route of splitting the calendar up into sections - all European races in a block, followed by those in the Americas or the Middle East together as well, for example. This, she suggests, might be of benefit in terms of making it as appealing as possible to potential media partners.
While the 2024-25 schedule does factor this in to some extent - three consecutive stops next June and July are set for Japan, China, and Indonesia - there are also plenty of one-race visits to each region. For example, the series heads to Mexico City, then Jeddah, Miami and Monaco, across the first few rounds.
“There are so many things involved in creating the calendar, again it’s about trying to find balance,” she explains.
Dabas specifically mentions Indonesia as a big market for the series, in terms of making sure the correct broadcast deal is in place. Last season, Formula E action was shown in that country by pay-TV’s MNC Vision+.
When asked about where she thinks Formula E’s broadcast rights situation sits in the overall motor racing ecosystem, Dabas first comments that “across motorsport specifically, we’re in the top three competitions across many markets in terms of fan numbers.”
However, she does also say that “the motorsports world, I believe, does us a disservice in comparing us to Formula 1 - while it’s natural to compare in some ways, there are also a lot of differences.
“We have an opportunity to carve out our own niche, and develop our own brand as a sport, and we’re getting there.
“While we do look at other motorsports in terms of comparison, we look beyond that sector as well - when our sponsorship teams go and sell different packages, for example, we’re competing against lifestyle brands, not only against other sports.”
Turning to the future, Liberty Global taking a controlling share in Formula E is described by Dabas as “an inflection point in our sport … They have conviction and belief in our growth and the capital to invest in us.
“We’re talking to many of our partners - many of whom are still two years away from renewals - and they’re happy with the product, it delivers good numbers.
“You’ll see huge accelerated growth in Formula E in the next year, through different sectors. Every day there is something new happening, there’s a lot of movement on all fronts.
“I feel like in a lot of different areas, we are the future of motorsport.”
