Two years ago, IBM realized there was one glaring omission in its roster of sports partnerships: Formula One. The company has now filled that gap with a major partnership with Scuderia Ferrari HP, focusing on AI-powered fan engagement.
Formula One has become one of the world’s most popular sports, especially in the U.S., where Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” turned F1 drivers into mainstream celebrities. The tech-centric sport has also become a hot ticket for tech companies like AWS, Oracle, and Anthropic, which partner with teams for sponsorship visibility and to provide data analytics and AI tools that can deliver a competitive edge.
Why IBM chose Ferrari for its F1 debut
“They’re the winningest team in history,” Kameryn Stanhouse, IBM’s Vice President of Sports and Entertainment Partnerships, told TechCrunch.
At the heart of this partnership is access to more sophisticated tech solutions that help teams make the most of artificial intelligence. Stanhouse said one of the best parts of sports is how much data is available and can be used to help people get comfortable with AI.
“They actually see how it serves them,” she said of how AI is used in sports storytelling.
Transforming fan engagement through personalized experiences
The IBM-Ferrari partnership centers on storytelling, enhancing fan engagement by overhauling the technology powering the Ferrari fan app. To help with this, Ferrari hired Stefano Pallard in the newly titled role “head of fan development.”
Pallard said the challenge the team wanted to tackle was not just reaching fans, but “making each of them feel like we know them.”
“That starts with taking the data we get from the track and turning it into content that is easy to follow and engaging,” he told TechCrunch.
Teams process millions of data points per second during each race, capturing every movement of the driver and the car. Turning this into content that fans can engage with is just one way that enterprise AI can help businesses better interact with their consumers.
Ferrari’s standalone app strategy sets it apart
Among the 11 teams, Ferrari is one of the few (alongside McLaren and Williams) to have a standalone fan app strategy rather than lean on social media or the official F1 platforms instead. This shows how the sport is slowly starting to capitalize on its growing global fandom.
Some changes to the Ferrari app were surprisingly basic. Even though Ferrari is an Italian company and many of its fans are Italian, their fan app was not available in Italian until the IBM partnership began.
Stanhouse said the old Ferrari fan app was a place where people went to find race details and then leave. The new app includes:
- Games where fans can play with others in the app
- AI-written race summaries
- More behind-the-scenes stories about the team and drivers
- A place to make predictions
- An AI companion for fans to ask questions
“There are two drivers, but did you know it takes 24 people working simultaneously in two seconds to change a tire?” Stanhouse said, adding that storytelling helps fans feel closer to the team.
Data shows strong engagement growth
Unlike other sports apps IBM has built, the Ferrari app’s main focus is storytelling because it wants fans to stay engaged all year long, rather than for a few weeks a year like tournaments such as the Masters.
Engagement data for the app has been trending upward since IBM came into the picture. Stanhouse cited a 62% increase in engagement over race weekends as an example.
Pallard said the team uses AI to analyze engagement signals in the app, such as which content people like to read and the sentiment of the messages fans send.
“That helps us understand what resonates most with the Tifosi [the fan nickname for Ferrari] and it directly informs how we shape our storytelling and how we deliver content,” he said.
Adapting to F1’s changing fanbase
The app developers also considered Ferrari’s fanbase, which is much more diverse than it was even five years ago. F1 released stats last year showing that 75% of new fans were women, many of whom were Gen Z. A particular draw for women is the F1 Academy, an all-female racing series that aims to develop the next generation of women drivers.
But these new fans, much like the old, want more data, more insight, and more features.
“With IBM, the vision for the next five years is to make every fan feel like the experience was built for them, whether they have been with us for 30 years or 30 days,” Pallard said. “That is how you build loyalty that lasts.”
This partnership reflects a broader trend in sports where teams are using AI and data analytics not just for competitive advantage, but to create deeper connections with fans in an increasingly crowded entertainment landscape.
