The future of engagement: What the betting industry can learn from Formula 1

Engagement in the next generation of betting is going to be all about content, a narrative and providing an incentive to bet. Being from the tech side of the industry, I can tell you first hand that if you get that trifecta correct, then your future as an operator is going to be bright.What do I mean by this? Take Liberty Media Corporation (LMC) and the fantastic work it has done over the last few years to revive Formula 1.To see what LMC has achieved, we need to wind the clock back to the 2010s. At the time, Formula 1 had lost close to half of its entire audience in as little as eight years from its heyday in the late 2000s.Of course, insiders can point to the downgrade in engines from V8s to V6s, as well as the dominance of Lewis Hamilton in taking the fun out of betting on the favourite, but it was more than that.Social media really exploded in popularity around 2010. Yet between 2008 and 2016, Formula 1 did next to nothing to jump on the new platforms of engagement and as a result, lost a viewership numbering in the hundreds of millions.Enter LMC, which seized the opportunity to revive a flagging asset by acquiring Formula 1 in 2017 for close to $10bn. Fast forward to today, and LMC’s approach in delivering a next-gen, interactive Bloomberg-style viewing experience, is putting the pedal back to the metal for Formula 1 once again.In this case study of success, we have seen anything up to 100% in annual growth in engagement. LMC has achieved this by transforming itself from a sports company into an entertainment company – a bit like if you gave Netflix the chance to take over the Premier League.This mindset should be adopted by any organisation in our industry. To transform engagement, LMC introduced multiple innovations to make the sport more exciting – including multiple interactive cameras which audiences can cycle through to position themselves around the race.The Drag Reduction System (DRS) is a great example of this, with cars now able to drive closer to each other. This has greatly boosted overtaking manoeuvres and therefore elevated the action.DRS enables the driver to open a flap in their rear wing to reduce drag levels, which means they gain top speed when running within a second of a car in front. The fact that you can quite literally watch that happen as if you’re in the car’s driving seat is the definition of high-octane entertainment.The events and schedule have also been transformed. On Sunday you have the Grand Prix, as well as practice sessions on Friday, with sprint races on Saturday – all of which set starting numbers for the Sunday.This interconnected narrative is fantastic, and it’s been a key engagement driver. In effect, LMC has created an entwined and interconnected story, from one part to the next. As well as that, you have the wider season throughout, which creates an entire story (just like the Premier League) across close to a full year’s competition.Last but not least is the transformation in the quality of broadcast. The media team producing this fantastic narrative is absolutely top notch, producing shows on-site and streaming everything from each location worldwide.Of course, you have that with football – but this is where it gets really interesting. Thanks to an exclusive deal with an underwater cable company, Formula 1’s lag time is just five seconds. To put this into context, the Premier League’s best is a measly 12 seconds.
Time to revive
So, to summarise, what can the wider world of betting learn from Formula 1?We have seen a next-gen entertainment company take a flagging sport and absolutely transform it in a variety of ways in order to make it more compelling both in the short-term, across a race weekend, and over the course of a full season. All this is about providing an incentive to bet.The way the story plays out each weekend has been revolutionised. Throughout each event, a one-of-a-kind dynamic interactive user experience has been created. Viewers have interviews on demand, camera angles, interactive activity and tracker analytics, available at their fingertips and on a screen of their choosing.Of course, all this is powered by data feeds and the ability to put the viewer in the driving seat. There’s no reason why the likes of rugby – where the foundations are already in place with ref cams – can build out a similar interactive viewing experience.Team a broadcaster together with a betting operator that can supply interactive analytics like Formula 1 and you’ve got a real incentive to bet. The use-case is clear and it’s simply a numbers game. You have X number of millions watching a game, with around 20% of them thinking about placing a bet on the action.For argument’s sake, let’s say between two and five percent follow through with that intention. If you’re providing a whole new interactive dimension to a game on TV, then in the case of a rugby match, ref cam means you are literally putting the viewer on the field to become part of the story. In marketing terms, it means you have the potential to see your conversion rate skyrocket.With the spectre of bans on shirt sponsorships hanging over football, a similar way of thinking could be opened up, given how effective it has been as a marketing channel.Get the data revolution for sports betting right and you’ve got a whole new level of engagement on your hands. Just like LMC’s revival of Formula 1, all that is needed is to delve a little deeper to tell stories that excite and engage.Alex Kornilov is the CEO and founder of Betegy. Betegy provides global betting operators and media outlets with analytics and data visualisation by generating instant, high-quality personalised content using machine learning. Betegy’s clients include the likes of ESPN, Yahoo Sports, bwin, Parimatch, Tipico and Sportsbet.io.