Why is Formula 1 losing fans?

Many have wondered why Formula 1 has been losing fans over the years, and the answer seems to have been found by the president of an English football club: Steve Parish, from Crystal Palace, a team that competes in the English Premier League.

To begin with, the most obvious reason is the competitiveness. According to Steve Parish, the Premier League has the advantage that payments are relatively leveled, so the matches are balanced and a Crystal Palace could defeat a Manchester United or an Arsenal at some point.

"Let's take Formula 1 as an example. The big teams got all the power, demanded more and more money. Now there is a show where there are one or two teams with the possibility of winning a race and that's why people are stopping to follow the competition," said Parish.

All this goes hand in hand with the television rights. The more competitiveness there is, the more interested parties there will be in broadcasting the event. Thus, Sky and BT Sport, who have the rights for the 2019/20 Premier League season, paid £4.46 billion for three seasons, which is almost three times what the Formula 1 TV rights currently yield.

For now, the only certainty is that Formula 1 has announced a new OTT or streaming platform, from where users will be able to follow the practices, qualifications, races, and behind the scenes for a monthly subscription price. However, this does not guarantee more or fewer fans, only that true sports enthusiasts will have a new platform to follow the season.