BoxBoxd has launched CoViewer, a synchronised co-watching platform for Formula 1 broadcasts, timed to this weekend’s Moet & Chandon Belgian Grand Prix.
The product lets fans watching on different platforms – Twitch, DAZN, Canal+, YouTube or any other broadcaster – stay perfectly in sync in a shared virtual room, with chat, reactions and games layered on top of their existing stream.
Beyond the co-watching function itself, CoViewer’s real pitch is aimed at sponsors and the teams selling them inventory.
Every interaction inside a watch party – the games, the questions, the sponsored moments – doubles as a measurement point, positioning the platform as a challenge to how sponsorship value has traditionally been calculated across motorsport.
The problem with “logo seconds”
BoxBoxd Founder Shaïna Salmi explained the product was built to solve a specific frustration with how sponsorship value gets measured across motorsport.
“The market gap is that billions go into the grid every year, yet the metric everyone quotes is logo seconds converted into a cash value,” she told Sector.
“Today’s solutions are technology heavy, but they can’t capture the human reaction behind the exposure.”
Salmi drew a sharp distinction between a logo simply appearing on screen and a fan actually understanding what a brand does or stands for.
“Sponsorship has never been only visibility, it is a relationship between two groups of people trying to reach other people,” she said.
“In one line, the industry measures recognition. We measure recall, attribution and confusion.”
How sponsor visibility actually works
Rather than static logo placement, sponsors appear inside CoViewer through four mechanisms: a Sponsor Recall game where fans tap logos as they spot them on screen, scripted chat questions testing which brand sponsors which team, sponsored “Moments” such as Predictions or Driver of the Day, and traditional ad breaks.
A premium tier goes further, letting a single brand sponsor an entire race within the platform, with a full measurement package attached.
Instead of saying your logo appeared for a certain number of seconds, we can say your activation created a specific percentage of sponsor recall among engaged fans.
Shaïna Salmi
“We measure prompted recall, unprompted recall, correct attribution, competitor confusion, and recall lift before and after the activation,” explained Salmi.
“Instead of saying your logo appeared for a certain number of seconds, we can say your activation created a specific percentage of sponsor recall among engaged fans, with a specific percentage of correct attribution.”
That data can be segmented by audience type, drawing on BoxBoxd’s underlying user base, while sponsors slots are deliberately capped to avoide clutter.
“Do people working in tech notice more tech logos? Do people whose favourite driver is Lando Norris notice more McLaren sponsors?” said Salmi as she gave a specific example of the kind of question the platform can answer.
“We understand not only who remembers a sponsor, but also if personal interests, backgrounds or preferences influence sponsor recall and attribution.”
Who is actually buying it
CoViewer’s first customers are not broadcasters or rights holders, but brands, agencies and sponsorship teams directly, according to Salmi.
“They already invest in sponsorship measurement through companies like Nielsen and Kantar, they understand the challenge and have the budget to solve it,” she said.
“Panel approaches are extremely biased, and brands cannot test the same person twice to understand changes in perception and recall over time. We created the product to fix that.”
Broadcasters occupy a different role in the model, positioned as distribution partners rather than the primary customer.
“Broadcasters are a strategic partner because we offer them a commercial product they can offer to their sponsors, and we get the visibility and audience in exchange,” Salmi said.
“We provide the watch party experience through an SDK with sponsor recall and engagement measurement mechanisms.
“This is a new revenue channel for rights holders. They can better demonstrate the value of their sponsorship assets, and they have a new product to sell through the sponsor slots.”
A mechanic built from her own history
Salmi’s connection to motorsport predates BoxBoxd by a generation.
Her grandfather worked as a mechanic for McLaren during Ayrton Senna’s era, before leaving the sport after Senna’s death and opening a garage in France.
The family kept a journal, writing down their emotions and analysis after every race.
“He believed writing things down was the best way to build a relationship with anything you’re passionate about,” Salmi said.
“Almost two years ago, I sold my tech company to turn that idea into a digital experience that became BoxBoxd, which unexpectedly grew very quickly, and that vision evolved into CoViewer.”
Working with broadcasters, not around them
CoViewer’s approach to broadcast rights was built specifically to avoid conflict with the platforms it sits on top of, according to Salmi.
“Everyone stays on their own broadcaster account, and we never restream or redistribute content,” she said.
“CoViewer only synchronises the viewing experience and adds interaction around the content fans already have access to. We did this to remove licensing issues and to work with broadcasters instead of against them.”
That framing extends to how the product is positioned commercially against broadcasters’ own engagement tools.
“The Grand Prix runs two hours, and the hard part for a broadcaster is holding attention across it,” Salmi said.
“People stay in the broadcast longer because there is something to do between the action, and watch time is the number broadcasters are judged on.
“The broadcaster keeps the feed, the rights and the relationship. We only add the engagement and the measurement they can monetise.”
Why Spa, and what comes next
The launch venue was chosen deliberately, using BoxBoxd’s own audience data, rather than for any calendar-driven reason.
“From our analysis of BoxBoxd data, Spa is one of the races that generates the highest levels of engagement and reaction from fans,” Salmi said.
“I’m not a big believer in timing personally. I launched an audience platform for reviewing Grands Prix right after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – timing could hardly have been worse!
“What I’ve learned is that when you’re building something for the right reason, it resonates.”
The roadmap now runs across two race weekends, with Salmi planning to convert early data into a fully commercial product during the summer break following the AWS Hungarian Grand Prix.
