Motorsport audiences are large, international, and changing in composition. Recent fan surveys show younger and more female participation in Formula 1, long-standing loyalty among MotoGP and INDYCAR followers, and distinct regional profiles across series. The figures below describe separate, self-selected fan surveys rather than all motorsport spectators.
Contents
- Formula 1 audience profile in 2025
- Formula 1 age, gender, and tenure in 2021
- MotoGP spectator demographics in 2022
- INDYCAR spectator demographics in 2022
- Attendance, viewing, and digital engagement
- WEC endurance-racing audience in 2017
Formula 1 audience profile in 2025
The 2025 Global F1 Fan Survey collected more than 100,000 responses from self-identified, highly engaged fans in 186 countries. Because the survey focused on highly engaged respondents, its percentages describe that surveyed fan base, not a probability estimate for everyone who watches Formula 1.
Women represented three in four new fans in the 2025 survey. Nearly one in two Gen Z respondents were women. Two in three respondents said they felt personally inspired by F1 drivers or teams, while 90% said they were emotionally invested in race outcomes.
The survey also points to strong continuing interest. Ninety-four percent of surveyed fans intended to follow Formula 1 five years later, and 86% watched at least 16 races per season. Among U.S. Gen Z respondents, 70% engaged with F1 content daily.
The audience extended beyond the main championship. Overall, 23% followed F1 Academy, rising to 42% among women. Among U.S.-based participants, 40% followed a driver first rather than a team or the sport itself. These measures suggest that identity, personalities, and related series are important parts of how newer fans connect with Formula 1.
Formula 1 age, gender, and tenure in 2021
The 2021 Global F1 Fan Survey received feedback from 167,000 fans in 187 countries. The average age was 32 years, four years younger than in 2017. Female participation was 18.3%, compared with 10% in 2017, and students accounted for 26% of responses, up from 18% in 2017.
The Global F1 Fan Survey 2021 audience report provides a more detailed age breakdown:
| Age group | Share of 2021 F1 sample |
|---|---|
| 16–24 | About 34.5% |
| 25–34 | About 28.5% |
| 35–44 | About 18% |
| 45 and over | About 19% |
People aged 16–34 therefore made up 62.9% of the sample. The age figures are reported as approximately rounded shares in the audience report, so they should not be treated as a more precise count of the underlying respondents.
Audience tenure also changed between the two survey periods. Fans who had followed F1 for five years or less reached 34% in 2021, compared with 11.7% in 2017. The result describes a larger recent-fan segment in the 2021 survey, alongside the lower average age and higher female participation reported by Motorsport Network.
MotoGP spectator demographics in 2022
The 2022 Global MotoGP Fan Survey collected 109,676 responses from fans in 179 countries. More than 82% of respondents had followed MotoGP for over six years, indicating a strongly established audience in the overall sample.
Age patterns differed by gender. Female respondents aged 16–34 accounted for 56% of women in the survey, compared with 40% of male respondents. At the same time, one in three female respondents had followed the sport for less than five years. These are separate measures: the first describes age distribution among women and men, while the second describes the length of women’s fandom.
Geography was concentrated in Europe but still international:
| Region | Share of 2022 MotoGP responses |
|---|---|
| Europe | 65% |
| Asia | 19% |
| Americas | 13% |
In Europe and Asia-Pacific, more than 65% of respondents had followed MotoGP for over 10 years. Rider preference was also measurable. Fabio Quartararo was the favorite rider of 21.8% of all respondents and appeared in the top three for 49% of all respondents and 56% of female respondents. Marc Marquez was the outright favorite of 19.8%, while Francesco Bagnaia was the favorite of 11%.
INDYCAR spectator demographics in 2022
The 2022 Global INDYCAR Fan Survey received more than 53,000 responses from fans in 147 countries. The United States accounted for 56% of responses, giving the survey a strongly U.S.-weighted geographic profile. Respondents under 35 made up 37%, and female respondents represented 12.2%.
The Global INDYCAR Fan Survey 2022 audience report reported an average respondent age of 42 years and three months. North American respondents were older than some regional groups: 47% were aged 45 or older. In both South/Central America and Europe, 54% were aged 35 or under.
Tenure was high overall. Eighty-two percent of INDYCAR fans had followed the sport for at least six years. Regional and gender-specific measures show newer pockets within that established audience: in Europe, 53% had followed the series for less than five years, and more than 16% of female respondents had followed it for less than 12 months.
Attendance, viewing, and digital engagement
Surveyed fans were not only remote viewers. More than 40% of 2022 MotoGP respondents had attended a live race in the previous five years, and 24% had traveled to attend a non-domestic race. Attendance was especially high among Dutch MotoGP fans: nearly three in four had attended a race in the previous five years. The same 2022 MotoGP survey found that 90% preferred television for watching live races.
Digital behavior varied by audience and region. Forty-one percent of MotoGP respondents used the official MotoGP app worldwide, rising to 57% in the Americas. Instagram usage during race weekends reached 75% among female respondents and among respondents aged 16–24. These percentages describe usage within the specified groups, not the entire motorsport audience.
The measures also capture different kinds of involvement. A live-race attendance percentage reflects at least one in-person event during a five-year window, while television preference describes the chosen way to watch live races. App usage indicates an official digital relationship, and Instagram activity measures race-weekend behavior. They should therefore be read as complementary indicators rather than interchangeable measures of audience size. The geography matters as well: the Americas’ higher app-use figure and the Dutch attendance result are subgroup findings, not global averages.
The 2022 INDYCAR survey reported that 48% of fans had attended a race in the previous five years. A cross-series result reported by Motorsport Network in 2023, based on the 2022 survey results, put the MotoGP figure at 41%. The two attendance figures are presented separately because they refer to different series, even though they use the same five-year measurement window.
Taken together, the attendance figures show that live events are a substantial part of fan participation, while television remains the preferred live-race viewing method for most surveyed MotoGP respondents. The app and Instagram figures add digital touchpoints without replacing the distinction between attending in person and following coverage remotely.
WEC endurance-racing audience in 2017
The 2017 WEC Global Fan Survey received 54,510 responses from fans in 179 countries. The average age was 38 years, and 43% of respondents were under 35. Nearly 80% followed both the LMP and GTE categories, indicating broad interest across the championship’s categories at the time of measurement.
The FIA World Endurance Championship also reported that the survey closed with about 55,000 responses from 170 countries in October 2017 in its survey-closing announcement. The two WEC releases use slightly different rounded descriptions of the response and country totals; both refer to the 2017 survey period, and neither should be read as a current audience estimate.
The 2017 WEC results identified six core global venues: Le Mans, Spa, Nürburgring, Silverstone, Sebring, and Fuji. That venue list is descriptive of the survey’s reported fan interests, not a ranking of attendance or a forecast of future demand.
These series should be compared cautiously. Formula 1’s 2025 release covers highly engaged fans, the 2021 F1 survey is a separate sample, MotoGP and INDYCAR use separate 2022 surveys, and WEC’s figures are from 2017. The statistics are useful for understanding different audience profiles, but they are not pooled estimates of all motorsport spectators.