This year Formula 1 has seen a massive increase in viewership globally. The Azerbaijan GP in Baku became the most watched race in US. This growth is coming from a certain age group between 16 and 25.

All thanks to Netflix.

In 2019, Formula One and Netflix teamed up to produce the ‘Drive to Survive’ docuseries which gave fans (and non-fans) a look into the inner workings of the championship. The show wasn’t just about lap timings and statistics - but portrayed the racers, managers and owners as ‘characters’ creating ‘narratives’ that got people hooked.

This gave existing fans a never-seen-before view to F1 and put the friendships, intense rivalries, backstabbing deals and personal tragedies - all on display for the world to watch and experience. It’s hard not to get invested in the sport when there’s so much tea being spilled.

Forbes hailed the show as a must-watch even if you hate racing. But Red Bull Principal Christian Horner said it best when he said :

“My 14-year-old daughter and her friends didn’t have much interest in F1 before the Netflix series, now they know who all the drivers are!”

The two biggest teams - Mercedes and Ferrari , didn’t give Netflix access to their team in the first season. But with the eventual success of the show, they folded and you can now go behind the scenes with Lewis Hamilton as well.

F1 isn’t the only sport that’s riding this wave, with OTT platforms churning out more and more gripping, binge-worthy content around cricket, basketball and football.

A quick scroll on Prime Video and you will see a list of sports documentaries taking you behind the scenes of Manchester City’s title winning run in 2018 (I support Manchester United btw), or how the Australian cricket team turned it around after the scandalous sandpaper incident in England.

Marketing maven Ryan Reynolds too seems convinced with this formula. Part of the actor’s impressive portfolio is also Wrexham AFC - the Welsh team for which he’s producing a docu-series on FX.

In a somewhat similar fashion, The Queen’s Gambit sent chess sales soaring in 2020 as well.