F1 generates nearly £128m of media coverage for Austin

14/03/2013

The city of Austin gained global media coverage worth £128m from hosting the 2012 United States Grand Prix, according to new research by Formula One industry monitor Formula Money.

This comprised £112m in exposure generated verbally and visually through television broadcasts and a further £16.3m through mentions of Austin and F1 in print and major online media.

The event also generated a high level of exposure for the other brands involved in F1. The 162 brands displayed on cars and trackside hoardings during the race gained exposure with an advertising value equivalent of £101m. This total ranks the United States GP as the best race of 2012 in terms of brand exposure, giving F1's sponsors bigger benefits than famous events such as the Monaco, British and Italian Grands Prix.

Two thirds of this exposure, £67.1m, was experienced by the sponsors of F1's teams, meaning that the race was a big benefit to the sport's competitors. Trackside advertisers benefited from exposure worth £33.3m, despite the Grand Prix having no race title sponsor to share in this coverage.

The best-exposed sponsor of the race was series tyre supplier, Pirelli, which in the absence of a race title sponsor took several prime trackside advertising slots for the event. This resulted in total exposure worth £16.4m, or 16.2% of the overall exposure value.

The top five brands in terms of exposure during the race were rounded out by Red Bull (£12.9m), LG (£9.4m), Verizon (£9.4m) and Lotus (£6.4m).
Together they drew more than half of the total exposure value. Red Bull Racing was the team which brought the best exposure for its partners, with total coverage worth £11.1m.

The United States Grand Prix also performed well in terms of spectator attendance. The race drew the second-highest race day attendance of the season, with 117,429 fans placing it second to only to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone where 127,000 people visited. In comparison, the last United States GP held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2007 attracted 84,458 spectators, with 20.2% of sales coming from the local area. Austin also scored the third-highest three-day attendance of 2012, with 265,499 fans putting it behind only Britain and Canada.