Kym Illman, an accredited Formula 1 photographer and content creator, reports generating 1.36 billion views across four major social media platforms in 2025, adding 626,000 followers to his combined audience. The creator shared detailed performance metrics and content strategy insights in a YouTube video breakdown.

In the video, Illman says he posted 4,234 pieces of content throughout the year: 166 long-form videos and 468 shorts on YouTube, 2,000 posts and 1,000 reels on Instagram, 600 posts on TikTok, and 3,600 posts on Facebook. The posting volume resulted in platform-specific growth rates of 48% on Instagram, 40% on YouTube, 119% on Facebook, and 18% on TikTok.

YouTube generated between three and five figures per video in revenue, according to Illman, with earnings dependent on watch time, viewer location, and advertiser rates. Facebook also provided monetization, with the creator noting that matching his Instagram audience size on Facebook “would be a very tidy earner.”

Instagram and TikTok generated no direct revenue for Illman. He attributed this to the absence of a TikTok creator fund in Australia, noting that “American content creators make a healthy whack” from the platform.

YouTube accumulated 56 million views across long-form content (26 million) and shorts (30 million), with Illman stating he “didn’t get cracking with shorts until April.” Instagram delivered 298 million views in the final three months of 2025, extrapolating to just over one billion annual views. TikTok generated 96 million views, while Facebook generated approximately 210 million views, according to Illman’s quarterly data.

Content Strategy and Audience Demographics

Illman’s three top-performing YouTube videos by viewership were “Where Every F1 Driver Lives” (1.1 million views), coverage of Liam Lawson replacing Yuki Tsunoda, and “F1 Drivers Insane Yachts.” His weakest video was a travel livestream from an airplane.

On Instagram, relationship content dominated, with the top three posts featuring Max Verstappen kissing Kelly Piquet, Lando Norris kissing girlfriend Magui Corceiro, and Carlos Sainz with girlfriend Rebecca Donaldson entering the paddock. A reel about Oscar Piastri’s family outperformed the Carlos Sainz post.

Male viewers accounted for 88% of YouTube’s audience and 66% on Instagram and TikTok, per Illman. The 25-34 age group represented the largest demographic across all platforms. The United States was Illman’s largest YouTube market, followed by the UK, Australia, Canada, and India. On TikTok, Australia led with 19% of followers, followed by the UK and the U.S. at under 9%.

Instagram added 124,000 net followers in the final three months of 2025 (160,000 gained, 36,000 lost), with 10% growth occurring in the final three weeks of the year.

Production Workflow and Technical Process

Illman operates with a distributed production team: his son Jayce accompanies him to 16 races annually, handling behind-the-scenes social media, video editor Jack assists with posting, and Alice in the UK edits short-form video and manages social media posting. Editors work remotely in Perth and London.

The photographer demonstrated a content pipeline using camera-to-phone image transfer via Wi-Fi, processing in Adobe Lightroom, and immediate Instagram posting. For captioning, Illman records voice notes directly on his camera, which are transmitted to editors worldwide.

“One of the main reasons people tend to like the stuff that I do is because they can see it seconds after this stuff happens,” Illman stated in the video.

Broader Industry Context

Illman’s growth aligns with Formula 1’s expansion into digital content. According to Onclusive Social data cited by Digimind, Formula 1 generated over one million mentions from 769,000 people between September 21 and October 21, 2025, reaching an estimated 170 million users. Sentiment remained 63% positive, with conversation spikes corresponding to major race events.

Digimind reported that Formula 1’s U.S. audience grew 53% in 2021 compared to 2020, with the sport’s global fan survey showing female fan share rising from 8% in 2017 to 18% in 2021. The average fan age dropped from 36 to 32 years old during the same period.

2026 Plans and Monetization

Illman announced plans to split travel content into a separate channel in 2026, increase overall content output, and modify his “shoes, watches, and handbags of the paddock” posts to show individuals wearing items before zooming in on details. He identified thumbnail design as “probably the most important part in getting people to watch the video.”

The creator solicited sponsorship inquiries from “F1 sponsors or somebody who wants access to an F1 mad audience” through his website contact form.

Illman described his content approach as presenting observations from the track without “agenda,” “bias,” or “over-the-top reaction,” stating he photographs and reports on what he sees at Formula 1 events. He began photographing Formula 1 in his eighth season and launched his Instagram in 2018, YouTube in 2019, TikTok later, with Facebook “dribbling along until this year, when it’s gone absolutely berserk.”

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