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By Silvia Schweiger| Posted October 26, 2022 | In MotoGP, MotoGP
After the Global Fan survey on Formula 1 comes finally, super fresh, the research on fans of the longest-running championship in motorsport history:
MotoGP .
Again in collaboration with motorsport network and Nielsen, this is the first truly global survey of fans of the queen of two wheels. The data were presented at the San Marino MotoGP Grand Prix at the Misano Adriatico circuit.
The public response was really good: in fact, more than 109,000 fans in 179 countries around the world responded to the survey, truly remarkable global feedback.
The data collected is an important strategic tool for all those working in MotoGP, as well as for companies that invest or want to invest in sports sponsorship in this discipline.
Indeed, knowing what the public’s opinions are, how they see the sport, what they prefer, what they would like, how they behave, is essential information for knowing how to improve the product and adapt it to the needs of the fans and the passing and changing times. Knowing whether the path you are following is the correct one, possibly questioning yourself and using data constructively is critical in any business and for any product. If it is then something to do with sports and entertainment, it becomes a must: the range of offerings available to the public today is increasingly broad, and fans are looking for more and more interaction and engagement.
The live sports show alone is beginning to fall short; audiences are looking for more, they want to go deeper, they want to be more involved, they are no longer mere spectators. Sports properties must therefore understand what the behaviors and needs of their audiences are, respond and adapt if necessary.
But let us first look specifically at who participated in the MotoGP research.
Having a large, representative, and global sample is critical in order to collect correct and useful data. In this research, both the number of participants and the amount of time spent answering the many questions demonstrated the desire on the part of fans to make an active contribution to the discipline: 109,676 responses from fans analyzed in 179 countries were taken into account, taking more than 27,300 hours to answer all the questions.
The European audience accounts for 65 percent of the total number of respondents, and the top five countries in terms of number of responses are Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Spain and the United States. Then 19 percent come from Asia and 13 percent from the Americas. A quick comparison with its four-wheeled cousin: the survey done on Formula 1 fans saw a sample of more than 167,000 responses, coming from 187 countries around the world.
A predominantly young audience responded, with an average age of 36 years and 4 months. The youngest and newest fans are from Europe and Asia-Pacific, where 45% and 47% of respondents were under 35 years old. A figure that could be expected being these are the areas where MotoGP has always been strongest.
One detail to be noted with pleasure is the presence of more than 13,500 responses that came from a female fan base, representing more than 13% of the total sample. Women are more typically found in the younger age group: in fact, 56 percent of female fans are between the ages of 16 and 34, and more than a third have been following the sport for less than five years.
A generally very loyal audience, especially in Europe and Asia-Pacific, where more than 65 percent of fans have been following MotoGP for more than ten years, while more than 80 percent of fans have been following it for six years or more.
When we talk about sports, the value aspect of individual sports is crucial. It is for the property, first of all, because you have to be sure that you are perceived and seen by your fans as you have worked and are working to be.
If the strategy you are following and all the actions taken are aimed at being seen as entertaining and then the fan says you are boring, clearly there is a problem. This is important to know for teams, in this case, who when they go looking for sponsors and partners need to know how the sport they participate in is viewed.
It is important for companies that invest in sports property, or plan to invest in it, because they need to know what values they can identify with in order to create their marketing and communication activities and subsequently all sports sponsorship activations.
The top-rated adjectives representing MotoGP for fans are: exciting, competitive, fun, world class and unpredictable.
If we take the research on Formula 1, we immediately notice some differences:
Formula 1 it is also seen as exciting and fun but also technological and expensive. Two adjectives that can certainly make a difference on the type of companies that invest in one discipline versus the other. Technology, especially now with the explosion of Web3.0, is a core value for Formula 1 that constantly attracts so many companies that want to associate themselves with this very value.
Technology and development are also crucial in MotoGP, but it is clear that fans do not see it as readily as they do in Formula 1. This is probably something that Dorna and the teams should work on better in terms of perception and communication.
But back to the qualities that fans identify in MotoGP:
Fans also believe that MotoGP is doing well when it comes to:
However, 66 percent, a significant percentage of fans, believe the sport needs to do more to attract new fans.
This data is all very positive; it is clear that as it is structured, a MotoGP race is much easier to watch and understand than, say, Formula 1. And even shorter, in 40 minutes, if all goes well, the race is over. The aspect therefore to be improved is not the action on the track, or the drivers racing or the teams, or how the race is structured. The aspect to be improved is fan engagement.
The research reveals that television is still the preferred medium for following live races, while social media is the preferred source for watching non-live content. Television is followed by laptop and mobile, but remains strongly the preference both now and in the future. 82% of the sample watch more than 15 races and 90% watch the entire race. 41% of fans frequently use MotoGP’s digital and social media platforms, Instagram being the most used social media during the race weekend, followed only by Youtube.
One aspect emerges strongly that we often emphasize to the companies we interface with when we talk about investing in motorsports sponsorship. Compared to many other sports, especially compared to team sports, motorsport is less parochial and much more tribal.
What does it mean that motorsport is tribal? It means that the public is rooting for the discipline as a whole, not rooting avidly for one specific team, or one driver, and especially not rooting against it. Clearly, fans have preferences, especially if we reason territorially, but they value more than one driver and more than one team, and they love the discipline as a whole.
It’s clear that in Italy there are a lot of Ferrarista or Ducatista fans, but there are a lot of fans of other teams and other drivers, and the fan who goes to watch a race appreciates the whole spectacle and all the protagonists.
And that is exactly what the MotoGP research also shows: about 63 percent of fans root for and like different teams and riders, while 14 percent are impartial toward everyone who races. Only 17 percent of fans root for one driver, and less than 6 percent follow one team more than all others. What is even more surprising is that more than 15 percent of fans do not have a favorite team.
Ducati, Yamaha and Aprilia are the top 3 most liked teams for 48 percent of fans, with Yamaha being more liked than Ducati among younger, female fans.
Fabio Quartararo certainly is the influencer of this response, as he is also the most liked rider on the grid, ahead of Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia.
If we talk instead about races and circuits, the Dutch GP, in Assen, is the most watched race in the last five years, followed by Mugello, Misano, Barcelona and Valencia.
Interestingly, more than 60 percent of fans consider the Italian GP at Mugello to be the key and most important race on the calendar. It may be that the circuit is spectacular, the outline of the Tuscan countryside is unique, the food incredible…in short, it is the must-have destination of the championship.
This is a part of the research that, for us in sports marketing and
sponsorship in motorsport , is particularly interesting and important.
We have various research that tells us that sports fans have a positive attitude toward brands that sponsor sports and that when making a purchase they prefer that brand over a brand that does not invest in sports.
This is a very important point when we tell why sports sponsorship is an effective marketing tool; the passion that the sponsoring company shares with the fan is unique, and the emotional bond that unites them turns into a predisposition to purchase and trust that other brands do not have.
According to the Nielsen Trust in Advertising 2021 study, 81% of respondents globally there is trust of brand sponsorships at sporting events. Sports sponsorship is the third most trusted communication channel by the public, only after word of mouth and branded sites and before TV ads, online ads, social media, etc.
Another key aspect that differentiates sports from most traditional communication channels is the inclusion of the advertising message. Traditional advertising interrupts us, we pay not to watch it; sports is included in what we like, which we choose to watch week after week, for years. Sports sponsorship does not interrupt but is part of what we love.
Sponsorships, therefore, are effective because they not only provide great global visibility but also because they are well perceived by consumers. MotoGP fans appreciate the input that sponsor brands bring AND more. Fans value sponsors and prefer the products and services of MotoGP sponsors over non-sponsor brands.
Interesting and really useful data that you can find and read extensively in the full research that found at this link. There is in fact also a lot of interesting data on Egaming and fans’ relationship with esports.
If you are interested in investing in motorsport sponsorships ,
please feel free to contact us
.
Are you ready to explore the transformative power of athlete sponsorship for your brand? Click here to learn more about how sponsorship can help brands grow and thrive in the exciting world of motorsports.
Associate Director, Executive Marketing and Commercial at RTR Sports Marketing, a London-based sports marketing company specializing in motorsport for over 25 years. Without sports, life is boring
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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 sponsorship or sports marketing 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. Sports 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.
Sports 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 sports marketing and sports sponsorship agency like RTR has an objective, 360-degree picture of the scenario and can tell you what is really best for you: which sport, 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 sports 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 sports marketing project you need an agency that knows how to use sponsorship to engage the fanbase on the Web, 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 sports 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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