Dates to Know About
The UBS Chinese Grand Prix is the third race of the 2012 Formula One Grand Prix season and takes place at the Shanghai International Circuit on Sunday 15 April, while the Bahrain Grand Prix is next on the agenda a week later on 22April, with the Monaco Grand Prix on 27 May.
The first two races of the 2012 season have seen very different results, but the McLaren duo of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button have looked strong in qualifying in both the Australian and Malaysian Grand Prix.
But it’s Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso who heads the Drivers’ Championship on 35 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton on 30 points and Jenson Button on 25 points after the first two races, following his win in Malaysia and his fifth place in Melbourne.
What Affiliates Need To Know
Formula One is a global sport watched across the World involving teams and drivers from around the planet competing in twenty different countries from March to November.
Over 527 million people will watch this year’s Championship through it’s ‘World Feed’ in widescreen, a television service produced by Formula One management, and this year, for the first time in the United Kingdom, award-winning sports broadcaster Sky Sports will be showing coverage all races and qualifying sessions without any advertising – which can only benefit the sport and possibly entice even more to bet on the events.
This constant high media intensity is only matched by the incredible action packed experiences that occur on the track itself.
And those who like to bet on the sport of motor racing can be given plenty of opportunities, so retention marketing is especially important in Formula One.
Firstly, there is a calendar of Formula One events throughout the year – with most occurring at the same point of the year. We know when each Grand Prix is going to be, we have results for most of these races going back many years, and we know the people driving the cars.
This all helps affiliates market Grand Prix racing. We can inform a segmented group of sports bettors (those who like to bet on motor racing) that a certain Grand Prix is about to happen, and a good tip for affiliates is to run an update on the Friday and Saturday evenings after the drivers and teams have been through qualifying. By showing how the odds for a certain driver has fallen/changed over the two practice days will demonstrate (a) that he (the driver) or they (the team) is/are going well and must not be missed (b) get on the back of the substantial media speculation. These two points will make players more likely to bet as it will entice them into the event.
The fact that the Grand Prix have been raced at the same venues means that we can also use tables of how certain drivers have performed on those tracks over the years, which again will highlight the event to those interested.
Markets to Promote Formula 1
At present, this season there are six former World Champions competing in this year’s Formula One Drivers Championship. This gives us plenty of opportunity to geo-target our messages to promote odds and prices around particular drivers and teams.
For instance, in Germany you can promote odds and write content on Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull racing team; in Spain it will be all about Ferrari and Fernando Alonso; in Finland it will be about Kimi Raikkonen and Lotus while in England you can highlight odds news and car news around Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton and the McLaren team.
You can also highlight particular betting markets, perhaps looking at some amazing results and odds around previous Grand Prix and well known Formula One personalities. For example, each week a tutorial at a different betting market in Formula One and how best to play it could be written or sold in for opening an account that week. The article could be written by a trader, or even by an ex racing driver/well known media figure from that country (if not too costly).
The standard market is who will win the Grand Prix – but you can also bet on drivers to finish in the top five, or even the top ten. Betting on a podium finish is also popular. You can also obtain prices on drivers to get pole position and to win the Grand Prix – a sort of special double price. All of this could be analysed week by week by a specialist writer.