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TV programming has a long history of inspiring audiences to get more involved in their passions and pick up new hobbies. In some cases, TV shows have given a lucky few the opportunity to live out their dream jobs, such as Last Comic Standing winner Iliza Shlesinger and Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard.

But TV programming can do more than just fuel internal passions: In the case of docuseries, which are becoming increasingly popular on streaming platforms, Nielsen research has found that they can transform audiences into sports fans.

There’s no short-changing the power of sports and its influence on live TV viewing. Last year, sports accounted for 98% of the top 50 most-viewed programs through September on traditional U.S. TV. And as content creators expand the TV landscape to grow—and attract—new audiences, the world of sports is growing outside of live competition.

While match highlights and recap videos have always provided audiences with a way to catch up with live competition and gain insight into on-the-field action, non-related content, like docuseries are also gaining momentum among viewers—and inspiring them to engage with sports firsthand. In fact, among global audiences, the appeal of content that’s unrelated to a live event is just slightly less than the content that’s directly related to a match or game.

To learn more about the connection between the viewership of docuseries and sports fandom, Nielsen recently analyzed viewership of Netflix’s Formula 1: Drive to Survive to see if it inspired U.S. audiences to start watching Formula 1 races. The analysis, which looked at F1 viewership during three specific periods, found that more than 360,000 viewers who didn’t view F1 in the latter part of the 2021 season, watched F1 racing in 2022 after first watching Drive to Survive.

Nielsen isn’t the first to highlight the impact of Drive to Survive on F1 fandom, and Nielsen Fan Insights has tracked F1 fan growth of about 10% in the U.S. over the past three years. But this is the first time audiences have been analyzed to track the halo effect from the show to live action—something earlier coverage stated couldn’t be done.

To arrive at the findings, Nielsen calculated the television viewership of:

• F1 content between Nov. 19, 2021, and Dec. 12, 2021
• All seasons of Drive to Survive between Dec. 13, 2021, and March 17, 2022
• F1 events between March 18, 2022, and April 10, 2022

According to Nielsen data*, nearly 16 million people watched at least part of any of the programming listed above. Of the 16 million, 2.3% did not watch any of the last three race weekends of 2021 F1 programming, highlighting that Drive to Survive generated more than 360,000 new fans of F1 ahead of the highly anticipated Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix, which begins this Friday.

When we look at viewership of just the docuseries and the new F1 season, which kicked off in mid March, we see that 41% of Drive to Survive viewers also tuned in to the first three weeks of the new F1 season.

The new fans also bring a different profile to the sport. They are:

• More Hispanic (23% vs. 12% who watched F1 content and not the docuseries)
• Younger (46% are 34 and younger vs. 16% who watched F1 content and not the docuseries)
• Affluent (69% earn $100k+ vs 49% who watched F1 content and not the docuseries)
• White collar (70% vs 42% who watched F1 content and not the docuseries)
• Have homes with kids (49% vs. 21% who watched F1 content and not the docuseries)

In addition to inspiring docuseries viewers to become F1 fans, Drive to Survive has played a significant educational role as the general population grows its interest in the sport. In fact, among the general population, Nielsen Fan Insights found that:

• 34% became a fan after watching
• 30% say they understood the sport more
• 29% felt more engaged with the sport

Given the buzz to date, it should come as no surprise that the fourth season of Drive to Survive has garnered even bigger audiences. Premiere week for season 4, which dropped March 11, just ahead of F1 Round 1 in Bahrain, attracted 60% more audience than the premiere for season 3, which arrived right before last year’s F1 season.

Compelling stories are everywhere, and sports are increasingly gaining TV screen time outside of live competitions. While there’s no denying the attraction of live sports, there is now clear evidence that one of the keys to attracting new fans might be rooted in the power of compelling, documentary-style storytelling.

Note

 *Nielsen national TV data and Streaming Content Ratings 

It’s easy to see how audiences could feel overwhelmed by the wealth of new streaming services. The abundance of services, in fact, has many wishing for something that many cord cutters were once trying to get away from: bundled content.

Despite the notable rise in streaming adoption, the premise of bundled content is rooted in something audiences have never wanted more than they do today: convenience. As detailed in our recent State of Play report, 64% of streaming subscribers say they wish there was a single company that would allow them to choose as few or as many video streaming services as they wanted, “more like channels.”

While today’s TV landscape is much different than when multichannel programming started back in the late 1940s, bundled video content back then was rooted in the same idea: content access. Specifically, the advent of multichannel television gave national TV audiences access to a wide range of programming options through a single subscription. That model remained dominant until cord cutting picked up speed with the arrival of the Great Recession, at which time the average U.S. household had access to 189 different channels.

Despite the wealth of options, TV households only tuned into an average of 17 channels. That, combined with the weight of rising unemployment amid the recession, left many households unable to justify a monthly cable bill that averaged $71, resulting in a rise in cord cutting. But convenience has never fallen out of favor with audiences. It’s just evolved.  

Today, 44% of U.S. households have cut the cord (i.e., they don’t rely on cable or satellite for their TV content), but cost isn’t the motivating factor that it once was. Today, the growing variety of over-the-top (OTT) streaming services—many with their own unique offerings—has many audiences adding to their existing options to avoid FOMO. 

Today, cost is less of a concern than it was back in 2007-08, and consumers are gravitating to over-the-top (OTT) streaming options for choice of content—often as a complement to their existing TV services. In fact, 36% of streaming subscribers¹ say they would add a new service as an incremental cost when faced with the prospect of missing content that’s available on a service they don’t currently have access to. Another 12% say they’d rather drop a non-video subscription before simply not adding a new video service.

It would be naive to say that streaming audiences aren’t concerned with cost, but saving money is no longer the value proposition that video streaming showcases. In fact, Nielsen’s recent streaming media consumer survey found that 15% of respondents now spend $50 or more each month on their streaming services; 17% spend between $30 and $49.99.

The increase in consumer spending on services correlates with the growing wealth of streaming service choice, which some estimate exceeds 200. With more than 817,000 unique program titles² to choose from across traditional TV and streaming services, it’s easy to see why audiences are increasingly subscribing to more than just one or two services.

As much as the TV landscape has evolved amid the rise of video streaming, convenience remains a top desire among audiences, especially as many are finding it hard to navigate the expanse of platform choice.

In fact, ease of use (i.e., convenience) and variety of content are almost as important to consumers as cost.

Few would argue that more content is a bad thing, and the significant shift in how consumers engage with video content has forever altered TV viewing. Importantly, 93% of consumers say they plan to increase their streaming usage over the coming year, highlighting that the crowded industry isn’t having a negative effect on audiences’ overall experiences. The sentiment about feeling overwhelmed—while consumers simultaneously increase their streaming time and spend—highlights an opportunity to deliver on a need that continues to stand the test of time: convenience.

Notes

1. Nielsen streaming media consumer survey
2.  Gracenote Global Video Data