Is Formula 1 fueling fandom for all kinds of motorsports in the US?
For MotoGP, the motorcycle racing series that’s primarily popular in European countries like Spain, Italy, and France, the appetite for racing stateside seems to extend to vehicles on two wheels. Fandom has been on the rise, up 37% in the US and 10% in the UK from Q3 2024 to Q3 2025, according to data from Nielsen, and MotoGP has been in the midst of an effort to further boost awareness in the US and UK, Kelly Brittain, MotoGP’s managing director of global marketing, told Marketing Brew. As the series’ popularity has grown, it has experienced growth in attendance, TV viewership, and social engagement this year, Brittain added—but it’s not quite F1-level popular yet.
“The sport is having a bit of a moment,” Brittain told Marketing Brew. “I still think that there is obviously so much headroom, because awareness isn’t where we want it to be. We’re not part of those top-of-mind conversations when you talk about sport in a lot of our markets yet.”
In 2026, Brittain said her team will aim to continue building the cultural relevance of MotoGP in target countries through partnerships with influencers, other sports properties, and brands from categories that aren’t yet associated with motorcycle racing.
Creating fandom
One common obstacle for racing series that hold their events around the world is that different time zones can make it difficult for some fans to tune in. Social media can help remove that barrier to fandom, and MotoGP has focused on using the channel, even if it doesn’t always translate into direct ticket sales, Brittain said.
“We talk a lot in marketing about bringing [people] down the funnel, and eventually what you want them to do is buy a ticket to a race or buy a subscription to a TV service,” she said. “There’s a more nuanced understanding of fandom now…If you have a highly engaged fanbase on social, and they just stay on social, that’s okay.”
To further support MotoGP’s growth, Brittain said the org has struck up a wide range of partnerships, including with microinfluencers and international celebrities like Daddy Yankee, who recently performed at the MotoGP Awards ceremony.
Social media content is usually easier to access than live races, and it can also help explain the sport to new fans who might not be familiar with the rules and athletes. The strategy is tried and true in motorsports like Nascar, F1, and Formula E, and MotoGP has leveraged it as well, Brittain said.
The efforts on social seem to be paying off: MotoGP’s engagement rates rose by 120% from Q3 of 2024 to Q3 of 2025, according to Brittain, with video views on its owned accounts up 30% in that time.
Breaking barriers
While creator partnerships have proved fruitful for numerous leagues, athletes remain integral to building fandom for emerging sports. Fostering those connections, however, is easier said than done in helmet sports, where the faces and expressions of the athletes are obscured while they compete.
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“We need to get [the riders] in front of people,” Brittain said. “We need to get them in front of the right kind of media. We need to make sure that we are telling their stories, not just on the racetrack. Their on-track race stories are super, super compelling, but it is one aspect to their personality.”
Telling those stories is further complicated by the fact that English isn’t many of the riders’ first language, Brittain said, although many of them are multilingual. To address it, MotoGP has been working with new riders on their English skills to help support the series’ expansion out of Spain and Italy and into countries like the US and the UK, she said.
Seeing other people
Sponsors can also play a role in growing the audience of sports leagues, and Brittain said MotoGP executives are focused on inking deals with non-endemic brands to help boost awareness and relevance among US and UK audiences.
About 65% of MotoGP sponsors are currently in the automotive industry, like incoming official tire supplier Pirelli and German Grand Prix title sponsor Liqui Moly, and Brittain said the company doesn’t expect to trim endemic partners. Instead, she noted, the goal is to expand the portfolio into categories like fintech, lifestyle, fashion, and apparel.
“The more that we can create that cross-fertilization between different cultural worlds, the better,” Brittain said. “There’s always been such cool lifestyle apparel associated with motorsport, not just motorbikes, but motorsport in general.”
Bringing in more kids’ brands, like F1 partner Lego, could also help MotoGP become more accessible to younger fans, which Brittain said is another goal for 2026. The organization has plans to roll out an animated TV series next year, with the potential to bring some of its characters to life as mascots.
“When you look around the stands in general admission, you see multigenerational families, and you see lots and lots of kids…and we want to capitalize on that,” Brittain said. “We know that fandom is established before a child reaches 14, so why not bring them in with really, really accessible touch points?”
Update 12/05/2025: This story has been updated to clarify Kelly Brittain’s interview responses.
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