Motorsports combines media, live events, sponsorship, competition, and local economic activity. The 2024 figures below show how differently major series create value: Formula 1 reported billions in revenue, MotoGP measured a broad international event ecosystem, and NASCAR’s numbers emphasized close competition and the spending power of a street race.
Contents
- Formula 1 revenue and operating scale
- Formula 1 audience and event reach
- MotoGP and Dorna event footprint
- MotoGP spectators, workforce, and content
- MotoGP digital participation
- NASCAR competition and race dynamics
- NASCAR’s Chicago economic signal
Formula 1 revenue and operating scale
Liberty Media’s 2024 Form 10-K reported Formula 1 total revenue of $3.411 billion. That total gives the championship a useful market-scale reference point, but its composition matters because the reported business combines several commercial channels.
Primary revenue was $2.757 billion, while other revenue was $654 million. Media rights revenue represented 32.8% of total Formula 1 revenue. These figures describe Formula 1’s 2024 business mix, rather than a general estimate for every motorsports property.
The same Liberty Media 2024 Form 10-K reported $2.332 billion in cost of revenue. Selling, general and administrative expenses were $288 million. Formula 1 adjusted OIBDA was $791 million. Read together, these figures show a large operation with substantial event and commercial costs alongside a sizeable operating performance measure.
| Formula 1 2024 measure | Reported figure |
|---|---|
| Total revenue | $3.411 billion |
| Primary revenue | $2.757 billion |
| Other revenue | $654 million |
| Cost of revenue | $2.332 billion |
| Selling, general and administrative expenses | $288 million |
| Adjusted OIBDA | $791 million |
| Media rights share of total revenue | 32.8% |
The relationship between these measures is especially relevant to readers who follow the business side of racing. Media rights were less than half of total revenue, while primary revenue was the largest reported category. The cost base also ran into billions, indicating that headline revenue should not be treated as an equivalent to profit.
Formula 1 audience and event reach
Formula 1 fan attendance reached 6.5 million in 2024, up 9% year over year, according to Liberty Media’s fourth-quarter 2024 results. This is an in-person attendance measure across the season and is distinct from television viewing or social following.
The same Liberty Media Q4 2024 results recorded 1.6 billion cumulative TV viewers in 2024 and 97 million social media followers. Those measures describe different kinds of reach: cumulative television viewing counts viewing exposure over the season, while social followers represent an audience attached to Formula 1’s social channels.
The championship also reported more than 40 global broadcasters airing its season launch event. That launch figure points to the distribution potential of a major motorsports property beyond race-day coverage. It is a broadcast count for the event, not a count of all Formula 1 broadcast partners during the year.
Liberty Media’s Q4 2024 results also listed several schedule agreements. The Belgian Grand Prix was renewed in a multi-year rotation. The Dutch Grand Prix was extended through 2026, while the Chinese Grand Prix was extended through 2030. The Italian Grand Prix and Monaco Grand Prix were each extended through 2031.
These dates are commercial and calendar commitments reported for specific events. They should not be read as forecasts of attendance, revenue, or audience growth. They do show that established venues remained part of Formula 1’s medium-term event planning at the time of the 2024 results.
MotoGP and Dorna event footprint
MotoGP season attendance exceeded 3 million in 2024 for the first time, according to the MotoGP 2024 ESG annual report. Dorna’s 2024 ESG Annual Report gives the precise circuit attendance figure as 3,033,255 fans.
Dorna staged 107 events across 20 countries in 2024. Its portfolio covered 10 championships, with 480 riders competing across those championships. Across the portfolio, Dorna ran 251 races. These numbers describe a multi-series operation rather than only the premier MotoGP class.
MotoGP broadcast coverage reached more than 200 territories in 2024, and the fanbase exceeded 500 million, according to the Dorna ESG Annual Report 2024. The territory count describes distribution reach; the fanbase figure is a reported audience estimate. Neither measure is directly comparable with the 3,033,255 people recorded at circuits.
| Dorna or MotoGP 2024 measure | Reported figure |
|---|---|
| Circuit fans | 3,033,255 |
| Events | 107 |
| Countries hosting events | 20 |
| Championships | 10 |
| Riders | 480 |
| Races | 251 |
| Broadcast territories | More than 200 |
| Fanbase | More than 500 million |
The breadth of the event footprint helps explain why motorsports market statistics need several lenses. A championship can be measured by ticketed attendance, the number of events and races, the countries involved, or the audience reached through media. Each metric captures a different part of the market.
MotoGP spectators, workforce, and content
Dorna estimated that 106,984 people were involved in staging the 20 Grands Prix held in 2024. The Dorna ESG Annual Report 2024 put the average event involvement at about 5,350 people. The average is presented as an estimate and relates to the 20 Grands Prix, not all 107 Dorna events.
The report also measured international composition and age-related team indicators. In 2024, 27.5% of teams were composed of members from six or more different countries. A reported 15.8% of teams contained young people under 25 years old. These percentages describe the reported team measures and are not percentages of all riders or spectators.
Host-country residents made up 71.7% of MotoGP spectators at events in 2024, while international visitors represented 28.3%. Among host-country spectators, 56.1% traveled more than 200 kilometers to reach the circuit. The figures indicate that local attendance can still involve substantial domestic travel, while nearly three in ten spectators were international visitors.
MotoGP generated 36,196 hours of content in 2024, according to the Dorna ESG Annual Report 2024. This is a content-output measure, not a direct measure of viewing time. The championship also reported 59 million social media followers, giving its media and community activity a substantial digital extension beyond the circuits.
The combination of 3,033,255 circuit fans, 106,984 estimated event participants, and 36,196 hours of content shows three distinct sides of the same market: physical demand, production requirements, and media supply. They should remain separate when assessing the scale of MotoGP.
MotoGP digital participation
The Dorna ESG Annual Report 2024 reported that 52% of MotoGP social followers were aged 18 to 34. The report also listed 16.6 million followers on one major social platform, 3.8 million followers on another major social platform, 17.5 million users in the MotoGP web and app ecosystem, and 3.2 million followers on a further major social platform.
Because the supplied report labels those platforms without naming them here, the figures are best read as separate platform totals as reported. They should not be added to create a unique-person total: people can follow the championship on more than one platform, and the web-and-app user measure is a different type of measure.
Interactive products added another layer of participation. MotoGP Fantasy, Predictor, Pick & Play, and Draft activity reached 8,240 leagues in 2024. The MotoGP game hub reached 1.8 million players. The MotoGP eSport Global Series generated 98.1 million impressions.
These numbers are useful because they move beyond passive audience counts. A league, a game-hub player, and an eSport impression represent different actions and cannot be treated as interchangeable units. Together, they show how a racing property can build participation around the calendar through games, prediction, fantasy, and competitive digital content.
NASCAR competition and race dynamics
NASCAR by the Numbers 2024 recorded 18 different race winners in the 2024 Cup Series and 23 different drivers who won a stage. Forty drivers scored a top-10 finish, while 33 drivers scored a top-five finish. Those counts indicate broad competitive participation across the season.
Martin Truex Jr. led 555 laps in 2024. Joe Gibbs Racing won 13 Busch Light Pole Awards. In the Bristol Night Race, Kyle Larson led 462 laps. These are driver and team performance measures from the 2024 Cup Series season, not market-size estimates.
The season also produced seven track lead-change records. Eight races had 30 or more lead changes, 13 races ended with NASCAR Overtime, and six races ended with a last-lap pass. Nashville Superspeedway had five overtime attempts in one 2024 race.
Several margins and race lengths illustrate how tightly contested the series could be. The Chicago Street Race was 127.6 miles, making it the shortest Cup Series race since 1992. The Kansas Speedway spring race ended with a 0.001-second margin of victory, the Atlanta spring race with a 0.003-second margin, and the Talladega fall race with a 0.006-second margin.
The NASCAR figures complement the larger commercial statistics from Formula 1 and MotoGP. They do not report revenue or audience size, but they quantify uncertainty, variety, and competitive closeness—features that help shape the spectator product and its appeal.
NASCAR’s Chicago economic signal
The 2024 Chicago Street Race provides a specific local-market example. According to the NASCAR Chicago Street Race award release, more than 80% of ticket buyers attended a NASCAR event for the first time. That is a first-time attendance measure for ticket buyers at this event, not a claim about all NASCAR spectators.
The same release reported more than $108.9 million in local economic impact from the 2024 Chicago Street Race. This is an event-specific local economic-impact figure. It should not be generalized into a national motorsports market total or combined with championship revenue without a defined methodology.
Even with those limits, the Chicago numbers show why event location can matter commercially. A street race can introduce a series to new ticket buyers while producing a measurable local impact. Alongside Formula 1’s $3.411 billion in 2024 revenue and MotoGP’s 3,033,255 circuit fans, the result is a market made up of different but connected value channels: recurring media businesses, international event networks, competitive spectacle, and city-level spending.
For Motorsport & Garage Life readers, the practical takeaway is that no single statistic captures motorsports scale. Revenue describes commercial activity, attendance describes physical demand, broadcast and social measures describe reach, and race-level figures describe the competitive product. Keeping those definitions and measurement periods explicit makes comparisons more useful.