How F1 aims to improve the fan experience 

Formula 1 has revealed how it is planning to improve fan experience at Grand Prix events in future, having carried out significant research over the past year. 

New F1 owners Liberty Media’s plans to improve the on-track show have been well-documented, but over the past 12 months, F1 has also made strides behind the scenes to place emphasis on fan experience as it bids to increase enjoyment and satisfaction from its loyal, paying customers. 

How F1 aims to improve the fan experience 

Formula 1 has revealed how it is planning to improve fan experience at Grand Prix events in future, having carried out significant research over the past year. 

New F1 owners Liberty Media’s plans to improve the on-track show have been well-documented, but over the past 12 months, F1 has also made strides behind the scenes to place emphasis on fan experience as it bids to increase enjoyment and satisfaction from its loyal, paying customers. 

Within months of taking over control of the sport, Liberty had already relaxed F1's previously strict social media policy, allowing the potential for teams and drivers to promote greater fan engagement and insight, while it has already promised to "revitalise" its TV coverage for the 2018 season and announced plans for a new over-the-top streaming service that will launch in time for the new campaign. 

In June 2017, F1 set up a Research and Analytics Department with the aim of achieving its objective of improving fans experiences of the sport in the pursuit to make F1 the “greatest racing spectacle on the planet”. Since its inception, the Research and Analytics Department has set about carrying out a comprehensive analysis of customer satisfaction. 

By interviewing over 18,000 fans and using sensor technology to study spectator behaviour across the course of the 2017 season, F1 was able to identify the actions fans would like to see implemented at future grands prix, with a clear pattern in response centralised on the aspiration to get closer to the action - as highlighted in the graph below:

How F1 aims to improve the fan experience 

According to F1, its surveys also concluded that 97 percent of race attendees said a Grand Prix was a positive experience, while 73 percent described it as "very enjoyable." The events that scored highest for "very enjoyable" were Brazil (84%,) Mexico (84%) and Great Britain (82%.)

The department also carried out research into how F1 fans behave during Grand Prix weekends. At the 2017 United States Grand Prix, F1 trialled a new sensor technology  - which works by collecting signals from Wi-Fi enabled devices such as mobile phones - to detect and monitor fan movement.

34 sensors were placed in the COTA Fan Zone, main grandstand and at Turn 4, and the results collated led F1 to the conclusion that fans “tended to stay in the area where they arrived at the circuit”, with “very few actually moving to different areas."

F1 says it is now considering new ways to try and encourage fans to move around the circuit, including providing better information about the events and activities that take place over the course of a race weekend. 

This has led to the development and launch of a new F1 Grand Prix event app, which includes a guide to all 21 races on the calendar, as well as interactive circuit maps, local area and transport guides and F1, off-track entertainment information and support race schedules. 

“The spectator research programme has been one of our most successful insight projects in 2017,” research and analytics director Matt Roberts said. “It has allowed our fans to have an input in the race experience and F1 will be acting upon many of the fans' recommendations across the 2018 season. 

“We are also very excited by the new Meshh sensor technology as this will provide us with even more invaluable insight around how fans behave at races and will almost certainly help us to improve the fan experience in the future.”

F1 says it will continue its research throughout the upcoming 2018 season, with surveys to be carried out at 17 of the 21 races on the calendar. 

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