Douyin Strategic Agreement with F1

In 2019 we launched the official F1 account on Douyin, facing significant challenges due to the lack of rights to share track footage. For over two years, from April 2019 to May 2021, we had to navigate this limitation by focusing on fan-generated content, off-track humor, and original material. 

Despite these constraints, we successfully grew the account to approximately 600,000 followers, demonstrating the power of creative content and strategic engagement.

During this period, Red Lantern played a key role in building a detailed partnership agreement and fostering trust between F1 headquarters in the UK and Douyin in China. Our persistent efforts finally paid off in May 2021 when we secured authorisation to use track footage on the platform. This strategic breakthrough allowed us to significantly enhance our content offering, resulting in remarkable growth.

By the end of 2021, the F1 Douyin account saw an 83% increase in followers to 1.15m, a 375% surge in video views to 870m, and a 202% rise in interactions to 14.07m. 

In the 2018-2024 six year period managing F1’s Chinese social media presence, we achieved over 5.2bn total views across all platforms. Since starting with just 184,000 followers in 2018, the account’s follower count has skyrocketed to 3.5m, underscoring Douyin’s importance in F1’s China strategy.

We look forward to further growth in the future.