There is no doubt that Drive to Survive (DTS) has helped increase F1’s popularity drastically since the show debuted on Netflix back in 2019. However, whether it was solely for entertainment or whether it was a docu-series is still up for debate, with the kind of controversial storylines that emerge in it.
Veteran F1 journalist Louise Goodman, who has covered F1 for over two decades, criticized it for being an entertainment show rather than the documentary the producers claim it to be. “It is manipulated,” were Goodman’s initial thoughts when asked on the BackSeat Drivers podcast how realistic DTS is, according to her.
“It’s an entertainment show first and foremost. It is not a documentary,” she further explained.
“There are tensions…”
F1: Drive to Survive is back THIS FRIDAY. pic.twitter.com/uh21fejEV1
— Netflix (@netflix) February 20, 2024
She believes that many of the conversations recorded in the paddock are then exaggerated to create storylines that may or may not be true. However, she did admit that Netflix has done a brilliant job of making the show hugely entertaining, which has attracted a whole new generation of fans.
Goodman’s last point led the hosts of the podcast to ask her if former F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone failed to keep up with the times, as he was seemingly very protective of broadcasters’ rights and did not allow platforms like Netflix access to what went on behind the scenes in the paddock.
Goodman praises Ecclestone for helping F1 reach new heights
Goodman also believes that F1 would not have reached the heights it has reached today if it were not for Ecclestone’s astute leadership. She added it was not that Ecclestone hesitated to keep up with the times, but rather that he wanted more control over the broadcasters to maximize revenue.
She gave the example of her time as a digital broadcaster with ITV and how the company needed to pay a lot of money just to have access to the paddock back then. However, ever since Liberty Media purchased the commercial rights of F1 in 2017, they have changed their policies to commercialize the sport.
By coming up with new ways to grow the audience such as bringing Netflix on board to film Drive to Survive, they were able to increase the value of the media rights they then sold to the top broadcasters. Per niftycomms.com, Liberty Media sold a whopping $850 million worth of media rights in 2021 alone.
Moreover, their deal with Sky from 2019-24 brought them $1.3 billion in revenue. Thanks to such shrewd deals and by finding new ways to increase the sport’s audience, Liberty Media has helped almost double the valuation from $8 billion (including debts) in 2017 to approximately $17 billion in 2023.
