By Riccardo Tafà| Posted May 5, 2025 | In Sport Sponsorship, Sports Marketing
By Riccardo Tafà| Posted May 5, 2025 | In Sport Sponsorship, Sports Marketing
In an era where audiences are bombarded with digital content and multitasking across platforms, motorsport sponsorship offers brands an unparalleled fusion of speed, precision, and global enthusiasm. Backed by robust market growth, explosive fan engagement, and cutting-edge analytics, motorsport remains a high-impact, measurable investment.
The Global Motorsport Sponsorship Market is expected to expand from USD 3.38 billion in 2023 to USD 7.6 billion by 2033, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.2 percent. This outpaces many traditional sports, driven by motorsport’s technological innovation and widespread media rights.
Formula 1 sponsorship spend alone is projected to reach USD 2.9 billion in 2025—a 10 percent year-over-year increase, underscoring brands’ voracious appetite for F1 exposure
Beyond sponsorship, the broader global motorsport industry was valued at USD 9.5 billion in 2024 and is forecast to grow at an 8.1 percent CAGR through 2034, reaching approximately USD 20.1 billion.
This holistic growth, spanning events, media rights, and merchandise, highlights motorsport’s escalating commercial appeal as an entertainment and marketing platform.
Regional leadership: North America accounted for roughly 38.9 percent of sponsorship spend in recent years, fueled by NASCAR, IndyCar, and the U.S. Grand Prix. Europe remains the primary hub, commanding about 42 percent of investments, anchored by storied races like the Monaco Grand Prix and 24 Hours of Le Mans. Asian markets are gaining momentum, particularly in Singapore, Japan, and emerging China circuits.
Innovation hubs: Electric racing serie, sucha as Formula E and MotoE, are attracting sponsors focused on sustainability and green technology, broadening the sponsorship pool beyond traditional automotive brands.
Formula 1’s global fanbase surged to 826.5 million in 2024, a 12 percent increase over the previous year, driven by new markets in China (+39 percent), Canada (+31.5 percent), and the United States (+10.5 percent). Attendance records also shattered expectations, with over 6.5 million spectators attending F1 races in 2024, and record turnouts at the Australian and U.S. Grands Prix.
The shift to digital platforms has fundamentally reshaped fan interactions, with over 50 percent of motorsport enthusiasts now consuming content via streaming services and social media channels such as YouTube, Twitch, TikTok, and Instagram. This digital pivot enables sponsors to engage audiences through real-time polls, AR filters, and influencer partnerships, offering immediate performance metrics and heightened brand visibility.
Netflix’s hit series “Drive to Survive” has humanized F1, delivering behind-the-scenes narratives that resonate with younger and more diverse audiences. This docuseries is credited with boosting primary F1 revenue (media rights, sponsorship, and race fees) by nearly 86 percent between 2017 and 2024, demonstrating the power of immersive storytelling in driving commercial growth.
Influencers and content creators are amplifying motorsport’s digital footprint. Figures like Lissie Mackintosh on Instagram and Toni Cowan-Brown on TikTok or our Silvia Schweiger on Linkedin collectively reach hundreds of thousands of fans, translating social metrics into sponsorship value. Brands leverage these creators to produce co-branded content, live Q\&A sessions, and interactive giveaways, boosting engagement rates up to 30 percent compared to traditional digital ads.
Virtual racing leagues such as F1 Esports and MotoGP Virtual bring motorsport to the gaming sphere, connecting with a tech-savvy demographic and offering new branding opportunities. These platforms generate over 200 million annual streams and facilitate data-driven insights into viewer preferences, further enhancing sponsors’ ability to tailor campaigns.
In October 2024, LVMH secured a landmark 10-year, USD 1 billion partnership with Formula 1, replacing Rolex as the sport’s luxury partner. This multi-brand agreement integrates Louis Vuitton, Moët Hennessy, and TAG Heuer across VIP hospitality, digital activations, and global content series—aligning F1’s high-performance ethos with LVMH’s luxury craftsmanship.
ABB’s title sponsorship of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, valued at USD 15 million per season, underscores its commitment to electrification and sustainability. Formula E’s annual revenue reached €219.9 million for the 2022/23 cycle—a 21.2 percent increase year-over-year—driven largely by sponsorship and hosting fees. ABB’s data-driven activations achieved a 12 percent lift in targeted fan engagement at urban race events.
Relo Metrics’ AI-powered analytics platform leverages computer vision and multi-modal AI to track sponsorship exposures across live broadcasts, social media, and streaming channels—providing brands with real-time ROI insights. This capability enables sponsors to optimize asset placements mid-event, adjust activation strategies, and quantify media value with unprecedented precision.
Independent metrics from Nielsen Sports and SportsPro validate F1’s combined team and series sponsorship revenues at USD 2.9 billion for 2025, with teams contributing 72 percent of the total. Marketers rely on such data to benchmark performance and justify incremental investments across properties.
The industry’s pivot toward electric and hybrid powertrains—epitomized by Formula E and WEC prototypes—positions motorsport as a testbed for green technologies. Sponsors aligned with these series benefit from authentic ESG narratives and association with zero-emission innovations.
Advances in first-party data and geolocation targeting allow hyper-personalized sponsor activations. Brands deliver tailored offers—hospitality upgrades and exclusive digital collectibles—to high-value fans, boosting conversion rates up to 30 percent.
Series expansion into new markets—Africa, South America, and Asia-Pacific—is opening fresh sponsorship opportunities. F1’s triumphant return to Las Vegas, which drew over 10,000 general-admission spectators and featured a free daytime festival, exemplifies how motorsport can blend mass-market appeal with premium experiences.
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.
Sponsor a motorsport team today
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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Read MoreIn an era where it is possible to get anywhere with a click, there is a strong temptation to approach teams and properties directly for sponsorship projects.
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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