Ever since Liberty Media took over the management of Formula One, they have tried to make the sport accessible to fans in various ways. One of their most successful ventures has been the podcast show Beyond The Grid. Despite the show not having F1 stars like Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen as guests, it is still thriving more than ever.
Beyond The Grid is not the only podcast curated by Formula 1. There are various other shows produced by the Formula 1 Group, for example ‘F1 Nation’. However, the immense success that has been achieved by Beyond The Grid has not been replicated by any of its competitors. The main reason behind this success is the man who hosts the podcast: Tom Clarkson.
Clarkson is a very trusted and renowned journalist in the F1 paddock. He uses his reputation to attract a lot of Formula 1 drivers and experts as guests on his show. This is what differentiates Beyond The Grid from any other podcast. His guests are also very comfortable with his easy and knowledgeable style of maintaining a conversation.
Clarkson will be running Beyond The Grid till 2025
Beyond The Grid started off in 2018 and since then has had more than 80 million downloads to date. Each episode racks up a staggering 300,000 plus downloads. And as expected, with such a huge follower base comes a lot of revenue.
The podcast is published by a company named audioBoom that funds its podcasts by selling advertisements. On average, a podcast manages to earn around $41 per thousand listeners. And as of now Beyond The Grid is racking up an impressive $13,000 per week on average.
This immense success led to the Formula 1 Group unsurprisingly renewing Clarkson’s contract. The new contract runs from 2023 to 2025 for three years, after which F1G will again take a decision regarding the same.
The future of Beyond The Grid
The podcast has often been criticized for not separating its main content from the advertisement content provided by Audioboom. But Audioboom’s contribution towards the success of the show cannot be disregarded either. The UK-based company is the fourth largest podcast distributor after Spotify, SiriusXM, and iHeartMedia. According to Lisa Spencer-Hayes, F1G’s head of content partnership, Audioboom has provided them with the speed, accuracy, and reliability that they require.
Formula 1 curates various podcast shows, including F1 Nation and Formula Why. Apart from these, there are many podcasts produced by media houses regarding Formula 1. However, none of them have managed to reach the success level of Beyond The Grid.
Tom Clarkson’s show has grown exponentially over the years and will continue to do so. The interesting personalities that he manages to get on the show often provide a unique aspect to the sport. Therefore, it will definitely be a fan favorite for quite some time if Clarkson continues to do what he does best.
