The new F1 season (almost) kicks off with pre season testing in Barcelona, and we’ve had a quick look at the fans reaction on Twitter over the past few days. Surprisingly, according to sheer reaction from Blurrt Insights, Manor were sitting pretty at the top. We rank by Blurrt Score – a metric using volume and sentiment. Unsurprisingly, considering the far from ideal start after a torrid season last year, McLaren are rooted to the bottom of the standings.
We had to investigate the surprising Manor data and very quickly identified the main culprit:
A lot of retweets! Again, it was very simple to find out why:
Curiously the most influential contributors (with the most audience who will traditionally retweet) to the conversation aren’t necessarily verified users, but still very influential in Indonesia, where new driver Rio Haryanto hails from. And here is the biggest retweet:
The 2016 #F1 line-up is complete! Indonesian driver Rio Haryanto joins @ManorRacing >> https://t.co/WcXwfJpk7d pic.twitter.com/eCg0F5VXik
— Formula 1 (@F1) February 18, 2016
More audience brings more potential advertising revenue, and in the marketing machines of F1 teams, which have been suffering ever since the departure of Tobacco advertising, social media could become the new battleground off the track. And the first thing they need to do is start measuring efficiently!