Formula E Putting Reach Before Revenue, Studying UFC Model

Formula E CEO Alejandro Agag is "putting reach before revenue, and casting an envious glance" at UFC and Conor McGregor, "as he seeks to grow his electric car racing series," according to Alan Baldwin of REUTERS. The Spaniard said on Wednesday that Formula E, which will start its fourth season in Hong Kong on Dec. 2, was "ramping up the marketing spend." That means investing up to €40M ($47.1M) per year on promotion and "remaining as freely accessible as possible." Agag said, "We make some money from media rights but our priority is reach. We need to build a fan base. We've been studying a lot what happened with UFC, which is kind of the last big success new sport. That took 20 years and the TV following of UFC was quite low and quite flat for a long time, but the fan base was growing and growing. And suddenly boom! The TV grows and meets the fan base" (REUTERS, 11/15).