Räikkönen,Häkkinen, Kovalainen, Rosberg… No wonder MTV3, the leading commercial tv-station in Finland, has held on to their exclusive rights to broadcast Formula 1 for nearly two decades. After renewing the contract in 2010, MTV3 wanted to build on the previous commercial success and offer fans the “best way to enjoy Formula 1 in the world”.

As part of the Gyllene Skor team, Passi and Ripatti worked with MTV3 to create an experience that would attract both early adopters that have already abandoned traditional TV for online video services and for the larger audience that still enjoys watching Formula 1 on their big screens in the comfort of their own living room.

We knew that hard-core Formula 1 fans were very likely to use the service, but wanted also to serve a larger audience that wouldn’t be as active during the season as the core group.

With these viewing and activity habits as our design guidelines we focused on creating an experience that would work as a stand alone online service or as a social TV extension when watching the live broadcast via pay-TV channel MTV3 MAX.

The service is designed in such a way that online viewers can watch the live stream, interact with other fans and follow the drivers data and track-position on one screen. TV+online viewers can focus watching the live stream from their TV and use the online service for additional content that is only available online, like the in-car camera.

In addition to the race viewing experience we wanted to keep the fans engaged throughout the season and even the off-season. Race weekends were used as a base for a content calendar that provides fans with content before, during and after the races and news and exclusive material between races and during the off-season.

Even a great service can fail if you can’t reach your audience and convince them that you have something of value to offer. As the core of the service concept was being finalized we continued working on the service marketing side. The service was designed in such a way that potential customers had multiple possibilities to engage with the content and could effortlessly sign-up or become a member if they wished to do so. Engagement agency Toinen Helsinki and advertising agency TBWA\PHS have worked with MTV3 for a long time and they were brought in to do the campaign also this time around. Several sessions with all teams attending were held to make sure that the service and marketing were in tune with each other.

MTV3 Katsomo Formula 1 is not just a souped-up online video service. It’s a multichannel service built around the fantastic content that MTV3 and Formula 1 have to offer.

Since launching the service Bonnier owned MTV3 and telecommunications company Elisa have expanded the service to Elisa Viihde IPTV-platform.

Personal comments:
Passi: “I’ve always loved to follow Formula 1. It’s a world wide phenomenon that for some reason resonates especially with us Finns. How could any project be better than delivering a new viewing experience to fans F1? A great project with a great result. I’m really looking forward to working on the next version.”