Beyond the Paddock: How does Media Exposure, Parasocial Relationships, and Fan Engagement in Formula One: Drive to Survive Redefine Theories of Sports Marketing?

open_access
Open Access
Author:
Hayes, Leah
Area of Honors:
Marketing
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Arvind Rangaswamy, Thesis Supervisor
Jennifer Chang Coupland, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Formula 1
F1
Sports Marketing
Parasocial Relationships
Docuseries
Media Exposure
Athletic Performance
Social Media Engagement
Racing
Drive to Survive
Abstract:
The objective of this analysis is to explore the relationship between the time spent in dialogue by Formula One (F1) drivers in Netflix’s docuseries Formula One: Drive to Survive (DTS) and their overall social media performance (e.g., # of followers, engagement rate), independent of their competitive performance. F1 racing was once a Eurocentric niche sport and has now expanded into a global marketing powerhouse by leveraging broader parasocial strategies to reach new audiences, especially in the American market. This study examines how media exposure, athletic performance, and social media engagement interact to shape fan relationships with F1 drivers. Drawing on theories of parasocial relationships, this research investigates whether increased visibility through dialogue on DTS translates into measurable growth in fan engagement. This study includes the development of a dataset for F1 drivers that integrates Instagram metrics, performance indicators, and dialogue time from DTS. Quantitative analysis reveals three key findings: a negative relationship between driver performance and follower growth, a marginally significant negative relationship between driver performance and engagement rate, a negative relationship between media exposure and follower growth, and a positive relationship between media exposure and engagement rate. These results suggest that, as expected, dialogue exposure in DTS plays a significant positive role in shaping fan engagement with the F1 drivers. Surprisingly, on-track performance has a marginally significant negative impact on audience engagement level. These findings indicate an important shift from pure performance-driven fandom toward media-driven and identity-based engagement. This study contributes to existing literature by extending the understanding of parasocial relationships in the context of professional sports. The findings suggest that modern sports fandom is increasingly narrative-driven, with the growing popularity of docuseries produced for the NFL, F1, and many other sports, with important implications for the sports and media industries.