In a world filled with social media and streaming platforms, there lies a great expectation from household viewers for streaming services to keep us entertained. After all, there are only so many movies the likes of Netflix and Disney+ can add to their websites. From Drive to Survive to Welcome to Wrexham, the impact these inside-perspective shows have on sports, with increasing viewer rating and revenues is important to the future of sport.  

However, it was Netflix that started the sport docu-series trend with Formula One: Drive to Survive. Now five seasons in, with season six now airing on, the show is marked as one of the most successful sport docu-series’ to date. It’s most popular in the US, where last year, 570,000 Netflix viewers tuned in during the first week of the season five premiere. With ever-increasing viewer ratings, bosses on the other side of the pond saw this as an opportunity to bring fans from all over the world to the US for tow new circuits. In 2018, a proposal was made by Stephen M.Ross for the Miami Grand Prix. Seen as a lucrative deal, construction began, making its debut onto the F1 calendar for 2022. With 242,955 fans in attendance, the grand prix was a media haven filled with social media influencers, all ready to promote the luxurious hospitality Miami had to offer. The catch? It was free for them and $10,000 for fans. A perfect depiction of how the other half lives.  

This year, another circuit was added in Las Vegas. With Carsten Tilke leading the project that had the street circuit finalised for the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix, F1 bosses had hopes that these circuits will pay off in the future, only adding to their increasing revenues. It was calculated that in 2020, the US made a total of $1.15 billion. By 2021, the revenue had increased to $2.14bn, increasing by 86%. The United States is now home to three grand prix for the next eight years. Since Drive to Survive, the Texas Grand Prix has shown the impact Us fans have had on the sport. In 2018, attendance numbers were at 264,000, increasing to 400,000 in 2021. By 2023, attendance was reported at a record-breaking 432,000. However it has not just been race attendees, but racing viewers. Currently, per race weekend, races average 70 million viewers. It was the 2021 season finale in Abu Dhabi that brought in an astonishing 108.7 million viewers to watch Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen battle for the World Championship. As a result, Netflix’s hot take on a sport not for the faint-hearted, has ensured that it remains far from a dying sport. 

With the help of celebrity influence, Hollywood actors, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney were part of a group of investors, purchasing a 24% stake in the French Formula One team, Alpine. The deal totalled to £171m, which has seen both Reynolds and McElhenney at several races across the season, particularly with drivers, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly. Alpine’s CEO, Laurent Rossi spoke out after the investment, stating: “This association is an important step to enhance our performance at all levels.” He added that it will “boost” the team’s media profile, supporting Alpine’s “performance over the long term.” Both Reynolds and McElhenney allow for a wider reach to fans, with a combined total of 51.1 million followers on Instagram. Since the announcement, Reynolds’ Instagram following has increased from 38 to 50 million followers, showing a 31% increase. Whilst it’s safe to say that his investment in Alpine is not the predominant cause of this, it is most definitely part of it.  

Formula One is not the only pie Reynolds and McElhenney seem to have got their fingers into. The pair’s association comes from their hit docu-series Welcome to Wrexham, released in August 2022. The show gives viewers an inside perspective into the actor’s purchase of the depleting, welsh-based football team, Wrexham FC. The pair acquired the club in November 2020 for £2m. Since, both have invested countless time and money into rejuvenating the club’s historic Racecourse Ground and adding club-record player signings to the portfolio, after signing Paul Mullin and Ollie Palmer. With the former costing £850k and the latter £300k, it is rather the impact fans have had due to the show which has seen the rising success of this club. After the investment, season ticket sales for the 2021/22 season had doubled from the previous years 2,609. By February of 2022, shirt sales had gone from 3,896 to over 14,000. Wrexham’s own Instagram page has amassed a following of over a million, sharing their success as they score their way to professional football in League Two. Welcome to Wrexham has once again impacted American fans the most. It was reported that viewership for the FA Cup in 2023 was up 858% over the past year on ESPN’s live coverage, which was seen as a direct result of Wrexham FC. With viewers turning their interest to teams overseas, it is the help of Wrexham’s owners and their thriving docu-series that is preventing any chance of a derelict club anytime soon.  

With Netflix thriving on the success of Drive to Survive, producers decided to delve deeper into the behind-the-scenes of other sports. They started with tennis, creating Break Point. Whilst it was hoped it would live up to the fan base its sister series acquired, it instead became a grand slop. The show focused on tennis stars that created the drama instead of the wins, with the first two episodes concentrating on Australian, Nick Kyrgios. For tennis fans, this show shies away from the beauty of tennis, but rather coins a sense of hyperbolic scenarios. Although the Netflix generation evidently takes pleasure in watching the drama that Drive to Survive unfolds, it is perhaps the intensity of speed, risk and driving that pulls viewers in. Tennis is an alternative that at times requires you to watch a five-hour Wimbledon final between Djokovic and Alcaraz, not a 45-minute episode of Nick Kyrgios shouting at umpires. It could be said that the rising fan base of tennis is not a result of Netflix, but the game itself. After all, the sequel is never as good as the original. 

Netflix’s third attempt at a docu-series came with Full Swing. Allowing viewers to discover more about golf, the series released in February of 2023 has already shown a significant impact on the PGA Tour. Following the two months after Full Swing’s debut, 68% of viewers tuned in to watch the PGA Tour coverage. Statistics had shown that in the six months prior to the docu-series’ release, 11% of viewers had not watched the PGA Tour but had after watching the show. The show reached Top.10 worldwide on Netflix, featuring at no.2 in the US and UK and no.1 in Ireland. The Golf Channel reported that viewership had increased by 5% internationally and that 42% of Full Swing viewers have been watching more golf. Full Swing has been renewed for a second season, with filming currently underway and likely to aim for a March 2024 release.  

As streaming platforms continue to provide viewers with these sport docu-series’, its wise to note that more is not always better. Although the impacts of viewership have been key to keeping these sports alive and relevant in an ever-changing society, it is the beauty of the sport in which garners the fans, not the drama. The humanity of the sportspeople in these shows is what viewers thrive off, not a sense of fabrication and dramatics. Should viewers look for the latter, I suggest to watch a Ryan Reynolds film… 

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