TV programming has a long history of inspiring audiences to get more involved in their passions and pick up new hobbies. In some cases, TV shows have given a lucky few the opportunity to live out their dream jobs, such as Last Comic Standing winner Iliza Shlesinger and Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard.
但是，电视节目所能起到的作用不仅仅是激发人们的内在激情：尼尔森研究发现，在流媒体平台上越来越受欢迎的纪录片可以将观众转化为体育迷。
There’s no short-changing the power of sports and its influence on live TV viewing. Last year, sports accounted for 98% of the top 50 most-viewed programs through September on traditional U.S. TV. And as content creators expand the TV landscape to grow—and attract—new audiences, the world of sports is growing outside of live competition.
虽然比赛集锦和回顾视频一直为观众提供了追赶现场比赛和深入了解赛场动态的途径，但与此无关的内容，如专题片，也在观众中逐渐流行起来，并激励他们亲身参与到体育运动中来。事实上，在全球观众中，与现场赛事无关的内容的吸引力仅略低于与比赛或竞赛直接相关的内容。
To learn more about the connection between the viewership of docuseries and sports fandom, Nielsen recently analyzed viewership of Netflix’s Formula 1: Drive to Survive to see if it inspired U.S. audiences to start watching Formula 1 races. The analysis, which looked at F1 viewership during three specific periods, found that more than 360,000 viewers who didn’t view F1 in the latter part of the 2021 season, watched F1 racing in 2022 after first watching Drive to Survive.
Driven to watch: Drive to Survive inspires 2.3% more viewers to watch F1 content in 2022
Nielsen isn’t the first to highlight the impact of Drive to Survive on F1 fandom, and 尼尔森粉丝洞察 has tracked F1 fan growth of about 10% in the U.S. over the past three years. But this is the first time audiences have been analyzed to track the halo effect from the show to live action—something earlier coverage stated couldn’t be done.
为了得出这一结果，尼尔森计算了下列国家的电视收视率
- 2021 年 11 月 19 日至 2021 年 12 月 12 日期间的 F1 内容
- All seasons of Drive to Survive between Dec. 13, 2021, and March 17, 2022
- 2022 年 3 月 18 日至 2022 年 4 月 10 日期间的 F1 赛事
According to Nielsen data*, nearly 16 million people watched at least part of any of the programming listed above. Of the 16 million, 2.3% did not watch any of the last three race weekends of 2021 F1 programming, highlighting that Drive to Survive generated more than 360,000 new fans of F1 ahead of the highly anticipated Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix, which begins this Friday.
When we look at viewership of just the docuseries and the new F1 season, which kicked off in mid March, we see that 41% of Drive to Survive viewers also tuned in to the first three weeks of the new F1 season.
新球迷也为这项运动带来了不同的风貌。他们是
- 更多西班牙裔（23% 对比起观看 F1 内容而不观看专题片的 12%）。
- 更年轻（34 岁及以下的占 46%，观看 F1 内容而未观看专题片的占 16）
- 富裕阶层（69% 的人收入在 10 万美元以上，而 49% 的人只观看 F1 赛事内容，不观看专题片）
- 白领（70%，相比之下，观看 F1 内容而不观看专题片的白领占 42）
- 有孩子的家庭（49%，相比之下，21%的家庭观看了 F1 内容，而没有观看纪录片）
In addition to inspiring docuseries viewers to become F1 fans, Drive to Survive has played a significant educational role as the general population grows its interest in the sport. In fact, among the general population, Nielsen Fan Insights found that:
- 34% 在观看后成为粉丝
- 30% 的人说他们更了解这项运动
- 29% 的人认为自己更喜欢这项运动
Given the buzz to date, it should come as no surprise that the fourth season of Drive to Survive has garnered even bigger audiences. Premiere week for season 4, which dropped March 11, just ahead of F1 Round 1 in Bahrain, attracted 60% more audience than the premiere for season 3, which arrived right before last year’s F1 season.
引人入胜的故事无处不在，体育比赛之外的电视屏幕时间也越来越多。不可否认体育直播的吸引力，但现在有明确的证据表明，吸引新粉丝的关键之一可能在于引人入胜的纪录片式故事的力量。
备注
*Nielsen national TV data and 流媒体内容评级
