SME#15: "Drive to survive" rules them all
Streaming Made Easy #15
Welcome back to Streaming Made Easy. This week, we take a look at the “Drive to survive” format and question its potential as new sports get their own version.
Today at a glance:
Analysis: The potential of the “Drive to survive” format
Streamer snapshot: FAST Channel Network - SportsTribal TV
Content recommendation: French Thriller - “La nuit du 12”
💡 Analysis:
In a previous edition of Streaming Made Easy, I commented on an innovative format brought by the team behind Sportspro OTT Madrid. It’s called “This house believes”.
An Oxford-style debate whereby you make a statement and then you argue for the motion (if you are proposition) or against (if you are opposition). Amongst the topics covered at the time was: “This house believes that the sports reality show format pioneered by Drive to survive has already peaked”.
Valid arguments on both sides but at the end of the session, we were asked to vote for/against and I voted for the opposition. At the time, I didn’t believe that the format had peaked.
Fast forward to today, I’ve changed my mind a little.
Why?
In November 2022, “Break Point” and “Full Swing” hadn’t been released so I couldn’t really assess whether these new docu-series could or couldn’t match “Drive to survive”. I was excited by the prospect of more quality sports docu-series coming out.
Before I go any further, full disclaimer: I’m not a F1 fan, nor a Tennis or Golf fan meaning that when I watch these series, I strictly assess them based on whether they transport me or not. I cannot assess their accuracy in depicting the sport, nor the business around it. I also don’t have a passion for the sport which could make me more inclined to love/hate the series.
One might argue that I’m not the targeted audience then, except that the beauty of “Drive to survive” was that it drew fans and non fans. It also ultimately impacted, for the better, the appeal for F1 racing (if like me, you now watch F1 races, raise your hand 🙋🏻♀️) especially in markets like the US:
Source: Statista - May 2022
For additional KPIs numbers on the so-called “Netflix effect” on F1:
Now let’s look at the recipe behind all 3 shows 🎾⛳️ 🏎
✅ High performing athletes
✅ Strong personalities
✅ Suspense, drama, danger, mental & physical challenges
✅ $$
✅ Exceptional settings
“Drive to survive” ticked all boxes and became the playbook for the format.
Now the industry is, of course, keen to repeat the success hence the production of a series on Golf, Tennis, another one on Cycling, the list goes on (and not only on Netflix e.g. Prime has historically invested in the space with the “All or Nothing” format).
Except that the chemistry isn’t necessarily there.
As an example, “Full Swing” doesn’t match the production quality of “Drive” (despite the fact that it’s produced by the company, Box to Box Films). Even the story telling doesn’t operate at the same level. Too many shots of players’ jets and houses, not enough focus put on the sports itself.
A lot is said about the fact that beyond a certain ranking, players don’t make money at all. It’s mentioned repeatedly. If you do that, then explain in more details how one builds its own business. That is what is compelling to an audience, understanding the ins and outs of the sport.
The one piece I thought was interesting was about the competing golf league: LIV Golf. For reference, LIV is a Saudi-backed league which aims to compete against the PGA Tour. Less games and more money was offered to golfers. In response, the PGA Tour said: “It’s either us or LIV. You can’t have it both ways.” That’s drama alright.
Regarding “Break Point”, I loved the fact that they focused on younger players but the audience probably wanted to see the Djokovic and Nadal of the world too.
Anyway, enough of my opinion. Let’s look at numbers.
What did their performance look like?
Break Point:
It didn’t make the Netflix Top 10 Global but made the Top 10 in three markets in week 1 (afterwards, it left the Top 10):
IMDb ratings: 2 002 IMDb users have given a weighted average vote of 7,3 / 10.
Full Swing:
Full Swing didn’t make the Top 10 Global either but was top 10 in 12 markets in week 1 and 7 markets in week 2.
Ireland, US, Australia (and UK #5) were the most fond.
IMDb ratings: 1 552 IMDb users have given a weighted average vote of 8,2 / 10.
Drive to survive:
Netflix Top 10 numbers go back to Summer 2021 only but if you look at Season 4, it was in the top 10 of 56 markets.
For this season (5), Drive to survive made the Top 10 Global with 25.7M+ viewing hours. Note that the show was released on Feb. 24th and Netflix Top 10s cover the Feb. 20-26 period.
It didn’t make the US Top 10 in week 1 but did in 43 markets with a #3 slot in the UK and Australia.
IMDb ratings: 43 099 IMDb users have given a weighted average vote of 8,6 / 10 (across 5 seasons).
What’s next?
I have no doubt more shows will come out (the Banijay / La Liga deal is an additional indication of the interest for the space) but in order to avoid the format fatigue, extra care is needed when assessing each sport’s relevance and potential for a series development.
There’s never truly a recipe that works every time, otherwise, our industry would release smash hits every week.
On these final words, I’m off watching my next “Drive to survive” episode which is called “Pardon my French” so I’m excited already!
📺 Streamer snapshot:
I couldn't choose anything but a Sports streaming service for this week’s snapshot and SportsTribal TV immediately came to mind.
Sports Tribal is a FAST channel network dedicated to sports operating in the UK and Continental Europe. With over 50+ channels, it’s one of the most exhaustive sports offering out there, with brands like: The MLB, The Rugby Network, World Poker Tour, Motorvision.tv etc.
Their app is available across numerous devices from web, mobile to Smart TVs.
No Costs, just Sports. Go check them out 👉 SportsTribal
🎬 Content recommendation:
“La nuit du 12” by Dominique Moll is a must-watch French thriller about a cold case. You cling on your seat for 2 hours and the tension is sometimes unbearable. It’s so dark too with little music and gloomy shots of the surroundings of Grenoble.
This movie won a string of awards at the Césars last week (it’s the French equivalent to the Oscars) if you needed another push.
Enjoy 👉 La nuit du 12
That’s it folks. Enjoy your weekend and see you next Friday for another edition of Streaming Made Easy!
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Deeply interesting, as usual! Sports Tribe is a great discovery to me 👍