By Riccardo Tafà| Posted February 14, 2024 | In Sponsorizzazioni Sportive, Sport Sponsorship, Sports Marketing
By Riccardo Tafà| Posted February 14, 2024 | In Sponsorizzazioni Sportive, Sport Sponsorship, Sports Marketing
Formula 1 and MotoGP represent the best of motorsport on two and four wheels. With 24 and 22 race weekends respectively in 2025, the two championships are a traveling promotional platform that over the course of 10 months touch some of the world’s most important markets.
Formula 1 boasts a massive cumulative worldwide audience of ~1.5 billion viewers annually, with an average of 70 million viewers per race and 6.3 million tickets sold across the 2023 season. MotoGP, on the other hand, has seen a 20% year-on-year growth in TV viewership and welcomed over 3 million fans at circuits in 2023. These numbers place both series at the pinnacle of global sports properties.
There are no other leagues comparable in geographical impact and frequency of events. Only the Olympics and World Cup enjoy a similar prestige, but are held every four years, while the UEFA Champions League remains geographically limited to Europe.
The two championships are profoundly different, offering experiences at the antipodes in terms of vehicle nature, races duration, and complexity.
The 45-minute format of MotoGP is ideal for keeping audiences engaged. The high number and quality of overtakes ensure tension at each event. The addition of Saturday Sprint Races has made weekends even more content-rich and captivating.
Formula 1, conversely, is more complex. Strategy around tire degradation and pit stops is difficult for casual fans to grasp. The ever-present mention of Pirelli often draws criticism, raising neuromarketing concerns about brand perception. While F1 sees a high number of overtakes, fans prefer wheel-to-wheel action during braking rather than DRS-assisted passes on straights. Race length, car size, and narrow street circuits can dampen spectacle.
The popularity of the two championships mirrors the size of their respective industries. The global automotive market was valued at $2.86 trillion in 2021 and continues to grow, while the two-wheeler industry is projected to reach $145.5 billion in 2024.
Two-wheelers are dominant in India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand, making these regions strongholds for MotoGP. F1, on the other hand, is more popular in Europe, the Americas, UAE, Australia, China, and Japan. Africa, with historical circuits like Kyalami, is eyeing a return to the calendar.
Formula 1 teams excel at brand communication. Whether factory teams or independent entries, they prioritize consistent branding and visibility of commercial partners. MotoGP, however, has often leaned on rider charisma, which creates volatility.
Drivers retire, teams stay. When Schumacher left Ferrari, or Hamilton exits Mercedes, the teams’ brand equity remained intact. In contrast, Valentino Rossi’s retirement led to a notable dip in MotoGP interest. Talent with both speed and global charisma is rare, making star-dependent branding risky.
MotoGP teams must emphasize their identity and value as brands to reduce dependence on individual riders and stabilize audience engagement over time.
Entry into F1 is financially steeper: 5 to 10 times higher than MotoGP. Some MotoGP liveries—even factory teams—are cluttered with sponsors, indicating smaller deal sizes. Sponsorship is often localized in Southern Europe and Southeast Asia.
MotoGP has ambitions to penetrate the U.S. market, a move supported by the 2023 hiring of Dan Rossomondo (ex-NBA SVP) as Chief Commercial Officer of Dorna, and the 2024 debut of an American team.
F1 has already succeeded commercially in the U.S. and globally, thanks to the popularity of 4-wheelers and savvy content strategies like Drive to Survive.
Are we sure we need aerodynamics in MotoGP or tire changes in F1?
F1 has grown too complex. Fans at the track often miss key developments due to lack of live information. Simplification could help.
In MotoGP, ultra-high speeds don’t necessarily enhance the show—they increase danger. More manageable bikes could mean safer and more engaging racing.
For F1:
For MotoGP:
Spectacle is rooted in duels, not top speed. Tracks must remain safe and escape routes adequate.
This comparative look reveals that while both series stand tall in motorsport, their future success may depend on different strategies, consistency vs charisma, simplification vs sophistication, and industrial might vs agility.
Experience the power and put your brand in front of millions with motorsport sponsorship. Whether it's Formula 1, MotoGP, NASCAR, IndyCar, or WEC, RTR Sports give your brand the opportunity to appear on television at the most prestigious race tracks in the world.
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Managing Director for RTR Sports, Riccardo graduated in law at the University of Bologna. He began his career in London in PR, then started working in two and four-wheelers. A brief move to Monaco followed before returning to Italy. There he founded RTR, first a consulting firm and then a sports marketing company which, eventually, he moved back to London.
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By doing so, we are convinced that we are shortening the value chain, saving time and money. However, these DYI methods are anything but risk-free and what initially appears to be a competitive advantage soon turns into a problem that is difficult to resolve. That’s why there are agencies. And this is why you should rely on us for your sponsorships.
When first approaching a motorsport sponsorship project, it is difficult to know immediately which stakeholders are correct, what the decision flow is, and what the right timelines are for each process. Motorsport is a very specialized field of action, and fitting effectively into its paths can take a lot of time and therefore money. We, on the other hand, know referents and spheres of action and know who to talk to, when and how. So you are also more effective.
Motorsport is an immense passion, and for our heart colors we would be willing to do anything. But business is a different business, and it is important to make the best possible strategic decisions based on independent research, statistics and reliable data. A motorsport sponsorship agency like RTR has an objective, 360-degree picture of the scenario and can tell you what is really best for you: which racing series, which athlete, which team. This is because we possess a great deal of data and information on ratings, segmentation and attitudes. Because the numbers don’t lie. Never.
Activations are the real heart of motorsport sponsorship. Without them, there remains only a blank sticker on a motorcycle, car or uniform and no contact with the public, no emotional connection, no impact on the bottom line. Then how do you do it? It certainly won’t be the teams or the athletes who will help you leverage sponsorship and enjoy the many marketing rights you have paid for. To bring out the best in a motorsport marketing project, you need an agency that knows how to use sponsorship to engage the fanbase online, to reach out to Shopping Centers, to organize hospitality, to develop B2B and B2C opportunities, and to get “your” athletes in front of millions of potential consumers.
Would you ever go to the dealer who sold you the car and ask if the competitor’s car is better? No, of course. So, how do you expect to get firm measurements of the effectiveness of your sponsorship if you do not rely on someone super partes? At RTR, we have always worked with independent third-party agencies that allow us to know the return on any exposure of your brand on TV and in the media. In addition, we believe in calculating ROI as the ultimate measure of your success-so we can tell you for every penny you spend how much you are making.
We have been involved in motorsport sponsorship and sports marketing for more than 15 years. We are consultants in the sense that our goal is to maximize your investment, but we are also an agency that manages the project from start to finish. We have been doing this since 1995 with passion and professionalism, following three principles that have become cornerstones of our business: independence, verticality and transparency.
I would like to highlight the fact that one of the qualities of RTR is its great ability to approach the sponsorship scenario strategically, together with its passionate attitude, its amazing enthusiasm for solving problems, and its high level of professionalism.
Gianluca Degliesposti
Executive Director Server&Storage EMEA
Eurosport is truly delighted with its business relationship with Riccardo Tafà, who has become extremely popular, thanks to his detailed knowledge of the sports marketing sector and his highly diligent attitude to work.
Francois Ribeiro
Commercial Director
Passion and Expertise are the features that I have found in RTR since the very beginning. Serious and reliable professionals but also very helpful, nice and open-mind people, willing to listen and compare different ideas. All the values in which RTR believes make this agency a partner, not just a supplier, a partner with whom we have had the opportunity to achieve significant commercial results in term of success and image.
Luca Pacitto
Head of Communication
We have been working with RTR Sports Marketing for over 10 years. The objectives and the programmes of collaboration continue to be renewed and to grow with mutual satisfaction. I believe RTR is a team of great professionals led by Riccardo Tafà, who I consider a manager of exceptional skills and with a great passion for his work.
Lucio Cecchinello
Team Principal
I have known and worked with Riccardo Tafà since 1995 when we collaborated for the first time on a project for the Williams Formula 1 team. Several clients followed. After leaving Williams to work for Gerhard Berger then owner of the Toro Rosso F1 Team, I turned again to Riccardo to seek his help in finding a tool supplier for the team and Riccardo duly obliged with an introduction to USAG, a partnership with Toro Rosso which endured for five years. I recently started a new role as Group Commercial Director for the renowned Andretti Autosport organisation and I find myself working with Riccardo once again on a number of interesting projects. Why has this relationship with Riccardo endured ? He’s smart, knows the commercial side of sport inside out and back to front and he’s honest and trustworthy. Riccardo Tafà is a “doer” not a “talker”: in over 20 years I have never had a dispute either with him or with a company that he has introduced and each partnership introduced by Riccardo has delivered quantifiable ROI to rights holder and sponsor alike. I can think of no better testimonial of Riccardo’s diligence, knowledge, contact base and hard work than that.
Jim Wright
Group Commercial Director
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