How one Netflix show changed a 500 billion dollar industry
(and no, I'm not talking about the streaming wars)
You give up on new ideas too soon.
Not necessarily you specifically, but probably you. On average we all do. Taking risks and championing something untested is difficult and scary.
This post is about Formula 1 racing, but it’s real topic is creativity, constraints, and why most of us give up too early on risky ideas.
Drive to Survive, the Netflix documentary series about F1 racing, is a case study that’s envied, imitated, and will be studied for decades to come. It’s why you see dozens of sports docuseries on all the streaming platforms today.
The above chart shows US interest in F1 racing before and after Drive to Survive launched. Google search interest doubled in the first season and is up six times in 2024 (compared to 2017 numbers).
US viewership for F1 has doubled since the show's launch (a staggering rise for a non-American sport). F1 has also added two US races (in Miami and Las Vegas). In 2024, the US is the only country in the world with three F1 Grand Prix races.
The investment in Drive to Survive paid off. But, it almost didn’t happen.
Before 2017, F1 had no marketing team, no PR team, and routinely demanded their star driver stop sharing race videos on social media to tens of millions of followers.
If you wanted something from the CEO, you famously had to fax him. They were cultivating a luxury sport that was out of reach.
When a US media company took over in 2017, they changed leadership and brought in Sean Bratches, a big player at ESPN, to run commercial operations (aka marketing and media). Bratches came up with Drive to Survive and his whole pitch relied on producing a docuseries that would have unparalleled access to what was a very closed-off sport.
In other words, F1 would have to give up creative control. There was one major problem. The top two teams in F1, Mercedes and Ferarri, said no to giving access.
It’s a pretty big leap to produce a TV show that won’t have access to the likely winners of that season.
Instead of focusing on the likely champions, Drive to Survive had to find human-interest stories. They built up characters with rich backstories, including the unfiltered Haas manager Guenther Steiner and the emotive driver Daniel Ricciardo, who’s still a crowd favorite.
It’s a substantial creative constraint for F1 to have their two biggest teams opt-out, and yet they built a show that has changed their industry and how we think about sports entertainment.
A few big ideas here…
Know When To Champion New Ideas
And know when to shelve them. I wrote a whole post on this, but it boils down to three key questions: Are your insights unique? Can they have a significant impact? And will this new idea bring you joy to work on? Bratches knew sports entertainment and believed in this unique idea.Invest In Creators
Giving up creative control is tough. But increasingly, the people who understand how to promote your brand or project are creators. On the highest level that looks like Netflix, Disney, or Mr. Beast. On a smaller but still significant scale, it’s creators, influencers, agencies, and creatives inside and outside of a brand. Or you yourself as a solo creator. These are the tastemakers and risk-takers — tapped into trends, audience preferences, and authentic messaging.
Invest In Worldbuilding
Ferrari and Mercedes said no in Season 1, so F1 invested more in narrative, lore, characters, and the setting of F1. Less competitive teams became central storylines. They built a richer world.Embrace Constraints As Your Canvas
Every project has constraints. The key is to reposition the constraints as your canvas. You should question the canvas you are given, but not all constraints are negotiable. At some point, you have to color in between the lines, but no one said you have to use crayons.
The 500 billion dollar sports industry is no longer just about what happens live during a game, match, or race. Documenting the people behind a sport, and their stories, is becoming an essential ingredient.
Drive to Survive has proven that change, but it wouldn't have happened if they had given up when faced with major creative constraints.
Invest in the ideas you believe in, even when someone puts a giant wall in your way.