Mercedes Duo George Russell & Toto Wolff Spread the Word About Revolutionary $42 Million Netflix Drive to Survive Across New Sports

Netflix’s Drive to Survive has made a huge impact on the F1 community. The amount of viewership boost the docu-series has got to F1 is astonishing. Seeing the same, even other sports and leagues are looking to catch on to this trend. For the same purpose, Mercedes’ George Russell and Toto Wolff are doing some word-of-mouth for Netflix.

Rugby is looking to emulate the success Formula 1 got with Netflix’s Drive to Survive. A similar series showing the behind-the-scenes of the Six Nations series will be coming out on Netflix sometime next year. As per reports, Netflix is close to securing the deal of the series as the aim will be to popularize rugby globally.

As per the Daily Mail, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff and George Russell had virtual meetings with rugby players and coaches. Wolff and Russell have been vouching for the successful impact Drive to Survive had on F1 by revolutionizing the sport’s commercial value.

There were major discussions about the access levels for the Netflix crew while producing the docu-series. Surely the Mercedes duo might have pitched in their views.

To gauge the commercial impact, within the first two weeks of release, the Season 4 of DTS helped F1 team sponsors gain an exposure value of $42.2 million. The attractiveness of F1 teams has increased for sponsors since Netflix started with DTS.

Read More: F1 Drive to Survive Inspires Yet Another Sports Docu-Series Opening Major Debate Among Fans

The Six Nations series will potentially show the behind-the-scenes of the six teams – England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France, and Italy. The series is crucial to make rugby appealing as a sport all over the world.

How Drive to Survive increased the Sponsorship Attractiveness for Mercedes and Fellow teams

The sponsorship lists of each team have sky-rocketed since DTS was released. Owing to the increasing viewership of F1 due to DTS, brands are more interested in paying premium fees to feature on each of the F1 cars.

To take an example of the US TV audience itself, the average viewership of ESPN has risen by approx. 70%. As per the New York Times, ESPN quoted its average viewership per race increased to 928,000 in 2021 from 547,000 in 2018.

Besides the viewership numbers, it also increased the visibility for brands due to increased track attendance. The attendance figures for the US Grand Prix in 2021 and 2022 have been one of the highest in the decade.

With 3 races in the USA from next year, it is surely getting more attractive for brands to get involved as partners. The core focus is still growing the audiences’ interest in the sport, which DTS has done brilliantly in new territories like Asia, the Middle East, and Australia too.

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Rugby will also want a similar impact, especially in terms of the marketing of the sport. The boost in popularity is one of the primary focuses of their Netflix series on the Six Nations. What do you think about Drive to Survive? And can Rugby emulate what F1 has achieved with DTS?