LONDON: Formula 1 is keen on extending its partnership with global online giant, Amazon as they are negotiating a possibility of the F1 TV channel to be launched on Amazon Prime Video, digiday.com reports.
This could potentially mean that Formula 1 could reach out to 100 million subscribers over time in those countries where there is no official broadcaster of the event due to renegotiation or termination of contracts.
So according to the head of F1 global sponsorship and commercial, Murray Barnett, the partnership would work in a country like USA but not UK, where there is an on-going deal with Sky Sports.
“It makes sense for us to be on there [Amazon Prime] because it’s an open platform and we’re already in discussions with them about distribution in the future,” Barnett was quoted as saying to digiday.com.
“In the U.S. we have an agreement with ESPN that allows us to exploit our own OTT service separately so we’ll definitely be on Amazon Prime [there].
F1 has already entered into a partnership with Amazon Web Services for its cloud computing software, making this deal a strong possibility as well.
On the other hand, Amazon has been aggressive in its sports content acquisition strategy globally, having secured deals in Tennis’ US Open and Laver Cup competitions and football’s Premier League as well. The company had also recently pursued Eurosport, the TV channel successfully to showcase its feed on Prime Video in a majority of the European continent. This would enable audiences to choose the channels they wish to view and pay for them itself accordingly.
“We want to be one of the smarter channels on the Amazon Prime platform,” Barnett added.
“[F1 TV] is part of how we’re building a direct relationship with our fans because that’s always been something that’s run through our promoters or TV partners….We see F1 TV as an independent revenue stream outside of the relationship with our TV partners.”
“The sports sponsorship model is changing to a point where there’s an increased focus on delivering against a brand’s specific objectives. We’re taking much longer to work with partners through proposals in order to develop bespoke deals. We’re no longer giving them a menu of what rights they can buy and for what price.”
