In an exclusive interview with Campaign Asia, the boss of Formula One™, Bernie Ecclestone, stated that the younger generation is not important to Formula One™. He also found it necessary to dismiss the use of social media to engage fans, but this is a completely different ongoing debate. Ecclestone has been known for his controversial decisions and opinions in the past and has now outraged an entire branch of racing fans. As a younger fan myself, his comments hit very close to home and I find it offensive to have the leader of the sport saying that we are not important to the fan base.
When asked if there was any value to reaching the younger audience, Ecclestone explained that the younger generation has no money to spend on buying products or services from the Formula One™ sponsors like Rolex or UBS. He stated that he would rather target an older person with money than a younger person without money.
Ecclestone has been too focused on the pure money making aspect of the sport and he has forgotten about the bigger picture. If you attract the young people while they are young, they will most likely continue to watch the sport when they get older. While they are still young they may also introduce their older family members to the sport. The majority of young people may be more social than the average adult and could potentially draw in friends to become fans.
The other aspect that Ecclestone has forgotten about is that the young people will soon be the older fans of the future. It will be far easier to attract a fan that is younger because they have more free time. With work and other life activities in their way, it may harder to get an older fan to take time out of their life to give Formula One™ a chance.
In addition, older fans do not necessarily mean that the sponsors will make more business. If a 70 year old viewer already has an account with another banking company, seeing that a company like UBS is sponsoring Formula One™ will most likely not persuade them to close their existing account and switch to UBS. On the other hand, although the 15 year old viewer doesn’t have money now, they will in the future. By exposing them to a brand at a younger age, it may cause them to go to UBS first instead of another bank.
There is no denying that the young fans are important to the sport’s fan base. The bottom line is that the young generation will eventually become the older generation. If you don’t respect and adapt to attract the fans that are young, there won’t be any fans in 40 to 50 years.
