Below is a chart and brief excerpt from today's Early Look written by Communications analyst Andrew Freedman.
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One of our more recent ideas (May 2021) is Liberty Media Formula One (FWONK), which also fits into the “transformation/turnaround” bucket. F1 is one of the most popular premium sports globally and is considered the pinnacle in motorsport. Ten teams and 20 drivers fight to claim the most prestigious motorsport accolade, an F1 World Championship. F1 has a large and growing worldwide audience that is under-monetized; in 2020, F1 averaged 87.4m viewers per race and had a global cumulative audience of 1.5B. The 2020 season consisted of 17 races in 12 countries (COVID impact), and this year's season will consist of 23 races in 20 different countries spanning five contents. Looking ahead, we have another round of major broadcast renewals coming up in 2022 – 2024 that should be positive catalysts, including negotiations for U.S. linear broadcast rights currently held by ESPN. There is also the potential for F1 to sign rights deals with streaming services (e.g., Amazon, ESPN+, Peacock, Paramount+), many of which have been actively bidding on sports rights to drive further engagement and subscriber growth. As long as the positive momentum we are seeing in the business today continues (we will be tracking it closely), F1 is well-positioned heading into the next round of negotiations. |
