Formula 1 will stream every session of this weekend’s potentially championship-deciding Mexican Grand Prix live to six countries via Twitch.
The broadcast, a one-race deal for this weekend, will include “interactivity and gaming elements” which will allow viewers to predict the progress of drivers during the race.German gaming influencer Peter Georg Smits, whose Twitch profile PietSmiet has accumulated over nine million views, has been chosen as one of the ‘co-streamers’ for Germany, Switzerland and Luxembourg. The Twitch broadcast will also be available in Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
“We are really excited to be partnering with Twitch to live stream content from the Mexican Grand Prix,” said F1’s director of digital and licensing Frank Arthofer.
“Audiences in Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden will be able to visit Twitch’s website and app and tune in to all the action from practice, qualifying and the race itself.
“Twitch has incredible reach, a unique creative spin on sports media coverage and an engaged digital audience; they are a perfect partner for us to be working with on this project.”
McLaren driver and Team Redline simracer Lando Norris regularly stream his gaming activities using Twitch.
Twitch attracts millions of viewers every day according to its strategic partnerships manager Farhan Ahmed. “It’s a pleasure to work with a partner who embraces our community experience, creating something truly exciting, enhanced through co-streaming and extensions,” he said.
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Jose Lopes da Silva
23rd October 2019, 13:24
Great news, as the average F1 fan doesn’t know what Twitch is.
The community desperately needs young blood or it will end up like pidgeon racing.
Chaitanya
23rd October 2019, 13:27
Please expand this service worldwide, I wont mind paying small fees to watch livestream as many TV channels regularly drop F1 due to either football or cricket matches having conflicting schedule.
Imre (@f1mre)
23rd October 2019, 13:34
F1TV?
Chaitanya
23rd October 2019, 14:09
F1 TV doesnt work in India, only Hotstar current offers live streaming in India.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
23rd October 2019, 14:09
It’s not yet available in India, @f1mre, and if I’m not mistaken (based on his prior comments) that’s where Chaitanya is situated.
Vincent.ouwehand
24th October 2019, 5:28
F1 TV is so unreliable that I agree I would subscribe on twitch in a heartbeat
DAllein (@)
23rd October 2019, 13:30
Twitch?!
The platform whose sole goal is to support Nazis, ultra-rights, terrorism and bigotry – just what F1 needs to raise its popularity!
Nice!….
NOT!
Matteo (@m-bagattini)
23rd October 2019, 13:35
@dallein wait what?
Sloppy Shades (@sloppysmusic)
23rd October 2019, 13:47
Poster is referring to the very recent live stream on Twitch where a person of undoubted racist, sexist and sub- standard education went on a shambolic rampage against a synagogue’s wooden doors and murdered 2 innocent people after failing to do this. Apparently 2000 or so people watched this live before someone actually reported it..Stream continued regardless until the person finally turned it off while driving away from the scene.
As an avid viewer and occasional streamer myself on Twitch this is NOT a normal occurrence so was unfair to signal Twitch out as responsible. The problem is unmonitored social media in general which is fairly unrestricted and capable of spreading uncensored information faster than any previous media format known to mankind.
Alxndr
23rd October 2019, 13:39
ive seen some inzane comments from this user but this by far takes the prize… WOW… o.0
Enachescu Claudiu
23rd October 2019, 15:45
How did u come to that conclusion? How. I’m genuinely curious.
Dewald Nel (@ho3n3r)
23rd October 2019, 18:09
You require a psychologist, son.
Vincent.ouwehand
24th October 2019, 5:30
Who was that f1 figure doing nazi dress up with hooker? Would say twitch fits perfect :)
Also, 1 person does not make the whole organisation’s, hence we still watch f1/twitch.
Matteo (@m-bagattini)
23rd October 2019, 13:30
F1 live on Twitch… that’s not something you would have expected just 3 years ago.
Tim
24th October 2019, 11:16
Don’t remember exactly how much time ago, but I’ve certainly have been watching F1 streams on twitch quite for a while and it’s not the first year.
bosyber (@bosyber)
23rd October 2019, 13:31
Well, I picked the right weekend to travel from Germany to the Netherlands it seems! Oh well.
Bart
23rd October 2019, 16:25
Many places in the Netherlands (the majority?) have Ziggo cable TV which broadcasts the races live for free. With Dutch commentary… But at least you’d be able to see the race. Ziggo is owned by Liberty Media.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
23rd October 2019, 19:16
That explains the bias. F1 has definitely got worse since mr E left, any progress is futile when you have seasons of extreme lobbying and as the case for 2019 bias. Fia and EU don’t seem to be interested f1 these days.
Vincent.ouwehand
24th October 2019, 5:33
F1 got worse since Eccleston left? I disagree. We are slowly getting rid of the mess the old geezer left behind
RB13
24th October 2019, 12:49
Usual @peartree nonsense.
bosyber (@bosyber)
24th October 2019, 6:09
Well yes Bart, and I have my Dutch mobile phone, Vodafone (also liberty!) registered at my mother’s address, who has Ziggo, so I can, and have been, using ZiggoGo.
But, this twitch streaming is a different experience, which I won’t be seeing this weekend,clearly.
Adam (@rocketpanda)
23rd October 2019, 13:44
Actually think this is a great idea of trying to put the sport out there and grab different audiences that usually wouldn’t watch it.
Then again, as it’s not streaming in my country I’ll just angrily shake my fist at Sky.
MEGATRON M12 (@megatron)
23rd October 2019, 13:48
Why not youtube?
Khalid (@leblep)
23rd October 2019, 15:47
Because Twitch is a subsidiary of Amazon and Amazon is a sponsor of F1. So this is basically to promote Twitch.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
23rd October 2019, 19:37
… Against reaching a new audience and try gaming experiments, it’s an advantageous deal for F1.
MtlRacer (@mtlracer)
23rd October 2019, 13:48
The Canadian broadcast contract with TSN and RDS is up for renewal at the end of the season… if Canada isn’t the only country up for renewal, maybe Liberty is using this to put pressure on negotiations?
rpaco
23rd October 2019, 13:50
No help to us in the UK.
If Liberty were to charge say £5 per race, many of us would take it up. However we will not pay £30-£40 plus per month for sky.
While the Channel 4 much delayed replays are well presented it is near impossible to avoid all prior knowledge of the race result and any incidents. Thus I often don’t bother to watch any more.
ian dearing
23rd October 2019, 17:15
I just watch where its free, I see it as my duty. :)
Matt (@hollidog)
23rd October 2019, 17:23
NowTV had a package on offer at the start of the year, I think it was about £160, or ~£8 race including all the practice, quali, etc
Thecollaroyboys (@thecollaroyboys)
23rd October 2019, 22:19
In Australia we now have the Kayo app that broadcasts the same feed as on Foxtel (Sky). It’s A$25 per month, about a third of the cost of Foxtel. Foxtel’s other channels were absolutely dire and of no interest to me so I was happy to go kayo. It even worked Ok through a VPN though only at SD.
RB13
24th October 2019, 12:50
I pay £10 a month for Sky F1 and with the sessions in 4K find that well worth it imho.
pluk
23rd October 2019, 14:26
Liberty seeing the light it seems that if you want people to watch you need to provide them a reasonable option to be able to watch. Revolutionary! The sheer volume of advertising across the sport should be more than sufficient to fund it, as it has done for decades. Stick it behind a paywall and you are devaluing your primary revenue source massively as the viewer numbers fall away.
I can only hope it’s deemed a success to the extent they decide it’s worth while bringing back free to air to the UK, to not renew or even find a way out of their Sky contract. The Sky offering is dreadful value for an average presentation compared to previous broadcaster efforts, no way in the world I’d pay for it. What C4 are left with is well presented but hugely damaged due to the delay and heavy editing down to highlights the contract demands.
Casual interest in F1 has been destroyed here.
DavidDesu
23rd October 2019, 14:28
Yeah F1 is actually learning. The sport is unsustainable if it keeps itself locked off to pay per view only, especially in huge markets like the UK where watching F1 is becoming prohibitively expensive for casual fans. They want teams and teams need sponsors to fund their endeavours. This sponsors do it precisely for the exposure. Exposing your brand to less and less people, and a ‘preaching to the converted’ audience doesn’t really justify their expenditure.
If F1 embraces online and free viewing such as Formula E does on YouTube, then it could really invigorate the sport internationally. With an actual audience again sponsors would have more confidence and we can have more teams and better competition all around.
Bernie ran the sport into the ground but so long as he was raking in millions in fees he did t care how healthy the sport actually was. The UK Sky deal is a travesty and I hope beyond hope that Formula One does NOT continue that partnership once the contract is up.
DC
23rd October 2019, 15:07
Can’t wait to see it and observe if it’s a better way to engage audience. The way young minds consume now is based in brief, multiple pitches disguised as notifications and news and messages directed to create short term emotions. Almost as any other stimulant. No way youngsters would consume lengthy works anymore. I can’t see a teenager today picking up a contemporary “Led Zeppelin IV” and please the ears a whole afternoon without distractions, unless you’re really into it. F1 is a great spectacle but requires an educated audience to palate the subtleties of racing. I barely see how current formats will drive the emotions of new fans if there are better entertainment, cheaper, instant with more personal connection with consumers. To probe my point, take out traditional media, and current F1 lineup are a bunch of complete unknowns to my children but Verstappen. Verstappen has to be the new face of F1 to survive. However, ask a teenager or tweenie for an internet star, or e-sport streamer, you will be surprised. Will F1 change because of that…? Sure, when they start losing big money.
emma
23rd October 2019, 15:28
I wont mind paying small fees to watch livestream as many TV channels regularly drop F1 due to either football or cricket matches having conflicting schedule.
PT
23rd October 2019, 18:03
The deal to grant Sky exclusive rights, for a fee of around £1.2bn over five years, was made by Bernie Ecclestone. Liberty are not going to let that kind of money go…
Paul (@frankjaeger)
23rd October 2019, 19:34
Great steps. This is the right direction to go. I’m a young-ish (25 year old) F1 fan and it’s such a rarity finding other F1 fans my age
Carlos Medrano (@carlosmedrano)
23rd October 2019, 20:45
Lol Lando bringing f1 to twitch
Duncan Snowden
23rd October 2019, 23:06
Hanging is too good for whoever figured out geolocation on the internet.