Key takeaways:
- Expanding beyond core audiences requires combining highlight-driven content with human storytelling that introduces athletes and builds emotional connections with new fans.
- Partnering with creators and tailoring content to specific markets helps sports properties move from awareness to deeper, more meaningful engagement.
- AI-powered content platforms unlock new content streams by instantly transforming live footage into platform-ready clips, enabling scalable, always-on storytelling.
Two weeks before the start of the 2026 MotoGP season, a surprising piece of news came from Dorna Sports. The company, which has been the exclusive rights holder of the world’s premier motorcycle racing championship since 1992, announced it was rebranding as MetaMotoGP Sports Entertainment Group, in a move that reflects the shift in direction under new owner Liberty Media.
The US media company, which has owned Formula 1 since 2017, completed its acquisition of MotoGP in July 2025. According to industry analysts, Liberty wants to model MotoGP after F1 by broadening its appeal beyond the traditional motorsport fan base – and Dorna’s name change is only the beginning.
“The company name change is a statement of intent,” said Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO of MotoGP Sports Entertainment Group. “MotoGP has grown far beyond just a championship; it has become a global entertainment property followed passionately around the world. We are building on years of continuous growth to accelerate innovation and global expansion, while always preserving the spirit and values that define our sport.”
The Digital Foundation
One of the major building blocks of MotoGP’s plan is its digital strategy. The strategy combines significant investment in video content production, focusing on race highlights and behind-the-scenes footage, with a wide range of partnerships, including leveraging micro-influencers to explain the sport to new fans who might not be familiar with the nuances of two-wheel racing.
This combination proved effective so far. MotoGP’s engagement rates on social media rose by 120% from Q3 of 2024 to Q3 of 2025, with video views on its accounts up 30% during that time. “There’s a more nuanced understanding of fandom now,” said Kelly Brittain, MotoGP’s managing director of global marketing. “If you have a highly engaged fanbase on social, and they just stay on social, that’s okay.”
The next challenge facing MotoGP is to raise its profile outside of Europe. While the series hosts races in 18 countries across five continents, 14 of them take place in Europe, and most of the riders reside in Italy or Spain, where the sport is particularly popular. Since Liberty Media took over, MotoGP has made growing in the US its top priority, and there have been some positive developments recently.
Fandom of MotoGP has been on the rise in the US, up 37% from Q3 2024 to Q3 2025, per data from Nielsen. Viewership increased as well, with races averaging 20% more viewers in 2025 vs. 2024. “The sport is having a bit of a moment,” said Brittain. “I still think that there is obviously so much headroom, because awareness isn’t where we want it to be.”
Broadening the Appeal
To move beyond awareness in the US, MotoGP will have to appeal to more casual fans, as opposed to motorcycle enthusiasts. According to the racing series’s executives, the best way to do that is to invest in storytelling that introduces the lives and lifestyles of their riders to new audiences, especially younger generations.
MotoGP is drawing on insights from bespoke market research conducted on its behalf in the US. The research, said the company’s top brass, revealed that tapping into the series’ potential in the US will require fueling deeper fan connections by focusing on the person under that helmet and tailoring content to the American market.
“Our focus is on the human stories and on building the characters behind the races, to show just how impressive these athletes are,” said Carlos Ezpeleta, son of Carmelo and MotoGP’s sporting director. “The action is there. All the passing maneuvers are there. The risk is there. And we’re very proud of this sport and the riders, of their skills and athletic ability. We simply have to better show who they are outside the garage.”
Moments That Travel
A tactic that has proved successful for rights holders seeking to highlight their athletes’ personalities is to focus on “mic-drop” moments. Press conferences, interviews, and studio shows are packed with emotional soundbites, raw reactions, and viral-ready storytelling. Unfortunately, these moments are often trapped in slow, manual workflows that make it nearly impossible to find, clip, and publish them at the speed and scale fans expect today.
This is where AI-powered content creation platforms become essential. By indexing spoken content – speakers, mentions, context – in real-time, these solutions enable organizations to transform on-air footage into platform-ready clips in seconds, unlock a new content stream they already own, and turn post-race chaos into storytelling that drives relevance, reach, and eventually global growth.
Actionable insights:
- Balance highlights with storytelling: complement race clips with behind-the-scenes and personality-driven content to make athletes relatable to new audiences.
- Localize your content strategy: adapt formats, narratives, and distribution to specific markets to move from awareness to meaningful fan connection.
- Capture every moment with AI: use automated tools to instantly identify, clip, and publish standout quotes and reactions across platforms.
