F1 eyes online streaming from 2018

Editor

Formula 1 could yet to be viewed via an online live streaming service in 2018; that’s according to commercial chief Sean Bratches.

In their first season as F1’s new owners, Liberty Media have embraced the online world through social media and could take it even further next year through an online live streaming service.

“We have an obligation to our fans, quite candidly, to ensure that they are able to access our content in any means they want,” Bratches told Autosport.

“We would be derelict if we pursued a path for anything other than that.”

But while some are suggesting that Netflix or Amazon could be the platform, Bratches is keen to keep it in-house.

“Our objective is to create platforms in the direct-to-consumer arena that engage fans and leverage our assets – whether they are live races, archival [or] are data,” he said.

But, he added, “we are trying to create content that lives outside the grand prix weekends, which has been almost non-existent from digital or linear standpoints.

“Our objective is to engage with the Netflix of the world, [with] the Amazons, and create content that fans can consume, which is compelling and tells different stories about what is going on in F1.”