55. Ian Holmes

Ian Holmes has worked in the sports media rights business for over 25 years. For the last 20 years, he has worked primarily within Media Rights at Formula One. Following Liberty Media’s acquisition of the company, he was subsequently appointed Director of Media Rights where he manages the licensing of the Group’s Worldwide rights.

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More recently Ian assumed responsibility for overseeing F1’s digital content production and the commercialization of Formula One’s own digital product including F1 TV. Ian is also an Executive Producer for the popular Netflix series; ‘Drive to Survive’.

Prior to Formula One, Ian Holmes worked at Kirch Sport, Prisma and ISL Marketing during which time he has worked with many of the World’s top sporting Championships, Events, Leagues and their respective Federations including FIFA Football World Cups, IAAF Athletics World Championships, the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and La Liga to name but a few.

Ian Holmes recently commented on making a switch to pay-TV:

It goes without saying that an FTA broadcaster is going to generate a larger audience than a pay-TV channel. That said, it is a bit of an oversimplification. Firstly, there are always commercial elements to be considered but equally as important, is to look at who the viewers are, what the demographics are, and therefore who you’re addressing.

Furthermore, pay-TV often provides far more in-depth coverage and I think it would be fair to say that in the likes of Sky and Canal+ they have and continue to strive to improve the overall standard of F1 coverage, bringing to the fan far more than ever existed in the past – and they do a fantastic job. Then there are those people who are consuming F1 content on the different digital and social channels of our broadcast partners and our own F1 owned and operated platforms and channels.