In January 2025, LVMH \u2014 the world’s largest luxury group, owner of Louis Vuitton, Mo\u00ebt Hennessy and TAG Heuer \u2014 signed a ten-year deal with Formula 1, estimated at around one billion dollars. This is not an ordinary sponsorship agreement: it is a strategic alliance between two systems that share the same DNA. Luxury meets the sport that, more than any other, has become a space of meaning for global brands.<\/p>\n
What is striking is not the size of the deal. It is the fact that it arrives now, nearly a decade after Bernie Ecclestone called young F1 viewers “too poor to buy a Rolex.” LVMH clearly disagrees. And the numbers prove them right.<\/p>\n
In 2024, Formula 1 teams collectively generated $2.05 billion in sponsorship revenue. Three hundred and forty deals, 319 different brands, for an average of $250 million per team per year \u2014 a figure that grew by 20% compared to the previous season. The entire F1 sponsorship ecosystem, combining the championship and its teams, exceeded $2.9 billion in total.<\/p>\n
The leading sectors are technology ($543 million, 26% of team sponsorship totals) and financial services ($379 million), followed by a crypto sector in strong recovery that has already reached $565 million across the championship and teams. The geography of money has shifted: in 2025, 34% of new sponsorships come from US companies, a direct reflection of the three American grands prix on the calendar (Miami, Austin, Las Vegas) and 52 million US fans, up 10.5% year-on-year.<\/p>\n
Formula 1’s global fanbase reached 826.5 million people in 2024, growing 12% year-on-year according to Nielsen Sports. The fastest-growing regions are the Middle East \u2014 Saudi Arabia (+11%), United Arab Emirates (+6%) \u2014 and China, where growth reached 39%. These are numbers that explain why brands across every sector, from Silicon Valley tech players to European luxury conglomerates, are actively seeking a position in the F1 ecosystem.<\/p>\n
This audience is young, global, with high spending power, and engages with motorsport through channels that simply did not exist a decade ago: Netflix productions, the championship’s own social content, grands prix as full-scale entertainment events. It is no coincidence that the 233 million YouTube views Formula 1 generated in 2024 came primarily from the US, UK and India \u2014 three markets that were marginal for F1 just ten years ago.<\/p>\n
Liberty Media’s acquisition in 2017 was not just a change of ownership: it was a radical redefinition of the product. Formula 1’s total revenue grew from around $1.8 billion in 2017 to $3.65 billion in 2024, reaching $3.87 billion in 2025. Growth of over two billion dollars in eight years, driven by commercial expansion, the addition of new grands prix in premium markets, and a content strategy that multiplied the F1 brand’s exposure well beyond the race weekend itself.<\/p>\n
For sponsors, this has meant a step change in the environment in which they operate. Being associated with Formula 1 today does not mean appearing on a car for twenty-two Sundays a year: it means entering a media ecosystem that produces content year-round, in every language, on every platform. It is an exposure structure that few other sports in the world can offer.<\/p>\n