One Subscribing Factor That Is Killing Off New Motorsport Fans

This article relates to mostly English streaming platforms. Feel free to add any comments relating to your experience for any non-UK readers.

Comparing Subscription Bases

Let's start with Formula One.

In 2021, it was mandatory to buy SkyTV for £24 a month and then add a SkySports package for an extra £22 a month which also included Cricket and the Premier League. Compared to 2024, where the Netflix series has become more popular, this has dipped in price although it's important to note that this £18 extra a month only includes Formula One and is fixed with an 18-month contract (racefans.net). This would mean that when you use this subscription base for Formula One, depending on when you buy it, the average viewer would be missing out on 2 to 4 months of racing. This adds up to around £168 potentially lost throughout this term. If you're using NowTV, this is even more expensive at £34.99 per month (nowtv.com).

MotoGP will continue to be played on BT Sport for 2024 as well as Formula E, however it will be renamed 'TNT Sports'. In the UK, this subscription is included amongst Discovery+ which starts at £30.99 a month. This is the only way to watch the electric series in the UK however as of 2019, MotoGP had launched their own 'MotoGP VideoPass' at €19.99 a month which allows fans to watch historic races but also live races through their app. As of 2024, this price has once again risen to €29.99 a month although there is an option to buy the yearly pass, lasting until the first race of 2025, with timings for €209.99 (motogp.com), saving yourself around $150. Similarly to Formula One, there is a winter period of limited racing however this time can be filled by watching the exclusive documentaries that the app contains.

It's important to note that being in an age where practically anything can be streamed on the internet, fans will easily be able to get away without paying any of these additional fees. In a personal-conducted survey, I asked how fans watched the races that interested them. 50% expressed that they had used illegal streaming sites in the past to ensure they could watch races live. This implies that the rising cost of streaming sites is proving too much for each categories fanbase, and the same gradual rise applies towards visiting tracks to watch races.

Prices Of Ticket Admission

It's no doubt that the rise of popular motorsport-related series' like Formula One's 'Drive To Survive' and MotoGP's newly-founded 'There Can Be Only One' series on YouTube has attributed to the rise for riches in these categories. Not only around subscription-based prices rising, but also the on-track tickets for avid fans.

By revising Formula One archives, Sunday grandstand tickets like Copse would cost you £190 (enterf1.com) for one adult back in 2015 which was long before the Netflix cameras entered the paddock. For the 2024 season in the same area, it would cost you at least £309 (f1destinations.com) including dynamic ticket pricing which gradually raised the expense for the single race day every 90 seconds from release.

Again with MotoGP, although these figures showed a less drastic scale there was still a 64% rise in Silverstone tickets from £55 for Sunday general admission in 2018 that has now risen to £90 in 2024 (silverstone.co.uk). However, these mid-range tickets could show that attending one racing event a year could still be affordable.

So What Can We, As Fans, Do To Keep Enjoying Motorsport?

The answer is almost simple. I'd personally recommend visiting and supporting local tracks for a start. Lots of tracks, for example, in the UK offer a variety of races and shows that can be affordable for a fellow motorsport enthusiast. The likes of Brands Hatch, Donnington Park and Oulton Park which all have a rich history in the making of motorsport will sell tickets for their events for as little as £45 for weekend admission (brandshatch.msv.com).

Similarly the Nürburgring will regularly run events throughout the year at an average of €55, excluding booking fees (nuerburgring.de). For a track as historical as this, and if you're as much a 'track-nerd' as I am, it seems there is no excuse not to visit such a vital part of motorsport culture like this.

Another idea would be to sacrifice the anticipation of watching a race live, and instead turn to the TV channels to watch highlights. For Formula One, this will include Channel 4 or for non-UK fans, the F1 YouTube channel provides short clips of the most exciting parts of the races. The same applies to MotoGP as highlights are played on ITV4 on Mondays after that specific race weekend as well as on their personal YouTube channel. Although, would this provide the same entertainment since it can be difficult to avoid race results due to social media?

Additionally, let's bring ourselves back to 2020 when some of the anticipation of racing was put on pause due to COVID-19. Lots of races were being placed, free to watch, online and are still active now because of the reduced calendar. For a matter of fact, MotoGP still re-release races even now like the 2020 Valencia Grand Prix and 2019 Australian Grand Prix on YouTube.

To Note: Some Fans Will Still Attend Races

Oppositely to this argument, the attendees and viewers of a motorsport race every week certainly haven't been dying down in this case just yet. In 2015, it was estimated that 350,000 people joined the British Formula One Grand Prix but this figure had risen to 480,000 spectators in 2023. MotoGP have also expressed that since 2020, their spectator turnout has climbed by around 60% depending on the circuit (motogp.com) with a record attendance of 240,000 people at Le Mans in 2022. Perhaps for some fans, the cost of entertainment is never too high.

There is no doubt that the excitement of motor racing is soaring amongst new fans every single day but it could be entirely possible that the love for the sport would slow due to a steady increase in charges throughout the next few years. The important factor is what these categories will choose to do to avoid this from occurring, but still have the capacity to provide an exclusive feel to attending a race and something that feels different compared to watching from a TV screen.