Motorsport Network

Motorsport Network is an international media and technology company headquartered in Miami, FL and London, UK. The company's proprietary brands, websites and OTT operations focus on motor racing and consumer automotive content. The privately held business was founded in 2015 with the acquisition of Motorsport.com and now operates international digital, print, e-commerce & event businesses.

Motorsport Network
Privately held company
IndustryTechnology
Founded2015
Headquarters
London
,
United Kingdom
Area served
Motorsport and Automotive
Brands
Number of employees
600 (2019)
Websitemotorsportnetwork.com

History

Following the acquisition of Motorsport.com, the company established its headquarters in Miami in 2015 and in 2016, acquired its major competitor, the Haymarket Publishing portfolio of motor racing brands, including the renowned Autosport businesses that was established in 1950.

The company opened an automotive division with the creation of the Motor1.com brand that subsequently has been supplemented by the creation or acquisition of a number of other motoring platforms including FerrariChat.com, InsideEVs.com and MYEV.com.[1]

In early 2017, Motorsport Network took an undisclosed ownership interest in the electric city racing series, Formula E, with its Chairman Zak Brown stating at the CES Show in Las Vegas that there was a ‘discernible trend among our digital motorsport audiences to consume the racing content from Formula E and this has underwritten our decision to invest in the series.[2] In May 2017, Motorsport Network conducted a multi-lingual Global Fan Survey of Formula One, reputed to be the world's largest fan survey of any sport, with over 200,000 respondents.[3]

In 2018, James Allen, formerly the Financial Times' Formula 1 correspondent and network commentator with UK broadcasters ITV and BBC was appointed as the company's President.[4] In May 2018, Motorsport Network bolstered its presence in the esports market through partnerships with Codemasters, Le Mans and NASCAR. In 2019, the company attracted two new investors, Formula 1 multiple world champion, Fernando Alonso became a shareholder in the esport division and Formula E's founder, Alejandro Agag to a shareholding in the organisation's electric vehicle (EV) operation. In February 2020 Mehul Kapadia, formerly SVP Global Head of Marketing at Tata Communications, joined the company as COO. In 2020 the Motorsport Games division produced esports events for several series rights holders including NASCAR, Le Mans, Formula E and WRX (rallycross) during the Covid-19 pandemic, which shut down real motor racing. In April 2020 the company also announced a partnership with Ferrari for an official channel on the Motorsport.tv streaming platform.

Motorsport Network businesses

Motorsport Network businesses are divided into two categories of Motorsport and Automotive. The primary businesses are noted below

Motorsport businesses

Motorsport.com

Motorsport.com is Motorsport Network's flagship website operated across in 15 languages and 21 national editions.

The platform reports across all forms of international and national motorsport including Formula 1, MotoGP, NASCAR & IndyCar on a rolling 24/7 basis, powered by a multi-edition CMS that aggregates & localizes and aggregating news, video, photos and results. Founded in 1994, the platform has been the cornerstone of Motorsport Network and was acquired by the business in 2012.

Current Motorsport.com editions include: US, France, Germany, Spain, Ukraine, LatAm, Brazil, Australia, Middle East, Switzerland, China, Indonesia, Russia, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Turkey, Hungary.

Autosport.com

Autosport.com is an English language website covering international motorsport. Headquartered in Richmond, London, the website is a digital evolution of the weekly motorsport magazine, Autosport, that was founded in 1950. The website reports on a broad range of international motorsport from Formula One to two-wheeled series including MotoGP and WSB and the brand is known for its authoritative primary source journalism, with staff journalists covering the sport from trackside locations around the world.

Autosport.com formed part of Motorsport Network's acquisition of Haymarket Media Group's motorsport businesses in November 2016.

Autosport Magazine

Founded in 1950, Autosport Magazine (ISSN 0269-946X) has been in continuous weekly publication since 25 August 1950, covering all aspects of international motorsport including Formula One since the championship's inception 68 years ago. Kevin Turner is Autosport's 18th editor and has held the post since May 2016.

Autosport Awards

The Autosport Awards is an end of the season awards ceremony, that has been running for 35 years. Hosted at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, the black tie event has played host to drivers ranging from Ayrton Senna, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel to Sir Stirling Moss and John McGuinness.

Autosport International

Autosport International is a European trade and consumer motorsport show. Hosted at Birmingham's NEC since 1991, the event attracts 95,000 visitors and 600 exhibitors, focusing on trade before opening to the public with a 5,000 seat Live Action Arena.

GP Racing Magazine

The GP Racing brand (originally known as F1 Racing) has been built from a foundation of its premium monthly print title. Established in 1996 and published in 10 languages and 14 editions, GP Racing today has a growing digital footprint in addition to its international circulation of 80,000 copies per month.

Motorsport.tv

In 2016 Motorsport.com acquired French pan-european TV-station Motors TV after it went into a bankruptcy procedure.[5] In 2018 the renamed Motorsport.TV decided to stop broadcasting as a linear television station [6] and closed down the linear television operation, retaining Motorsport.tv as a digital streaming service (OTT). In April 2020 the company announced a partnership with Ferrari for an official channel on the platform.

The network's content includes live motorsport events, news, documentaries, long-format content, historical/archive programming and studio shows. Available through cable, satellite and pay TV, Motorsport.tv in 2018 also launched a custom-developed OTT platform serving multiple devices including iOS, Android and Apple TV. Motorsport.tv is headquartered in Miami, FL.

Motorsport Images

Motorsport Images is a racing and automotive photo and technical drawing archives with over 26 million assets under management.[7]

The group is made up of a portfolio of leading motorsport and automotive photo agencies, including the live photo agency LAT Images, which has contributed 14m racing and automotive photos to the group that date back to 1895 and today has the largest trackside presence of staff photographers at international motor racing events.

The group's assets also contain the archives of Sutton Images and the associated Phipps archive, the fabled Rainer Schlegelmilch archive and the world's foremost collection of race car technical drawings illustrated by Giorgio Piola.

Motorsport Games

Motorsport Games is the brand's gaming division. This division works on the e-sports side of video games for sports such as NASCAR, Le Mans, and Formula E. They also publish the video games for developer 704 Games for the NASCAR Heat Series. During the Covid 19 crisis which shut down motor racing in 2020, Motorsport Games produced esports series for NASCAR, Le Mans, Formula E and WRX (rallycross).

Motorsport Tickets

Motorsport Tickets is a dedicated global motorsport experiences provider.

Automotive businesses

Motor1.com

Motor1.com is Motorsport Network's flagship platform for its portfolio of automotive businesses. Operating in 10 languages with multiple local editions, Motor1.com delivers over 100 video-led car reviews every month produced by house journalists, alongside vehicle buying guides, car news and localized car shopping by market. Motor1.com currently has editions in the US (both English and Spanish), UK, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Turkey, Brazil and Russia.

Motor1.com is headquartered in Motorsport Network's offices in Miami.

InsideEVs

InsideEVs.com is the largest independent electric vehicle content website in the US and was acquired by Motorsport Network in February 2017.

The site provides expert news and information from the rapidly expanding electric vehicle sector for consumer audiences. Its sister site, MYEV.com, is a new and part-used electric car marketplace.

FerrariChat

FerrariChat is an online Ferrari community founded in 2000, the community site has in excess of 165,000 registered owners made up of Ferrari owners and enthusiasts who have contributed over 11m posts to the site.

FerrariChat incorporates an auction platform to enable Ferrari sales within a dedicated community environment, as well as providing classified listings, all of which operate across desktop and responsive mobile versions.

Canossa Events

Canossa Events is a young company run by a young team. The story started in 2011 with a team of 4, eight years after, in 2019, the team comprises of 130 passionate professionals. In May 2019 Canossa has joined forces with Motorsport Network to strengthen its global presence and further improve its offer and services.

Organizing charming events on classic and sports cars: from small luxury tours to big rallies or tough circuit races. The team turns the journey into an experience: There’s no Road to Happiness, Happiness is the Road.

Other Motorsport Network businesses and holdings

Formula E

Motorsport Network is a shareholder in Formula E Holdings Limited, which operates the ABB FIA Formula E Championship.[8]

Motorsport stats

Repository of motor racing results, data and analytics

Giorgio Piola

Technical motorsport drawings

Motorsport Jobs

Platform for motorsport industry recruitment

Motormarket

Motorsport industry marketplace

Major acquisitions, launches and disposals
  • 1 May 2019 Acquisition of Canossa Events (IT)
  • 10 May 2018 Acquisition of BookF1.com ticketing and travel agency (GB)
  • 11 Jan 2018 The launch of MotorMarket.com (GB)
  • 22 Aug 2017 The launch of Motorsportjobs.com (US)
  • 09 Aug 2017 Acquisition of Schlegelmilch Archive (DE)
  • 24 Jul 2017 Motor1.com launches in Hungary through acquisition (HU)
  • 12 May 2017 Motor1.com launches in Australia through acquisition (AU)
  • 07 Apr 2017 Motorsport Network acquires Sutton Images (UK)
  • 16 Mar 2017 Motor1.com launches in the UK (UK)
  • 28 Feb 2017 Motor1.com launches in Spain (ES)
  • 08 Feb 2017 Motor1.com acquires InsideEVs.com (US)
  • 07 Jan 2017 Motorsport Network acquires an interest in Formula E (UK)
  • 06 Oct 2016 Motorsport Network acquires Haymarket Media Group’s motor racing portfolio (UK)
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References
  1. "Motorsport Network France se réorganise". CB News (in French).
  2. "Motorsport Network buys stake in Formula E". F1i.com. 8 January 2017.
  3. "F1 Global Fan Survey results revealed". FOX Sports. 26 May 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  4. "James Allen nommé président EMOA de Motorsport Network". Msn.com (in French).
  5. "Motors TV placed in safeguard procedure". BroadbandTVnews.com.
  6. "Motorsport TV To Close TV Channel At End Of This Month". Dailysportscar.com.
  7. "Motorsport Images presents over 26 million snapshots of history". Autoclassics.com.
  8. "Motorsport Network to be digital media partner to the FIA World Endurance Championship 2018-2019 Super Season". FIA World Endurance Championship (in French).

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