As the engines fire up for another incredible season of racing, the global TV coverage of the MotoGP™ World Championship is equally hitting new heights. Growing year on year, there are now more than a hundred broadcasters and OTT services who bring the best of MotoGP™ to viewers around the world - increasing from 91 to 101 for this season. 26 broadcasters in Asia, 59 in Europe, 11 in the Americas and five across Africa and Oceania reach more than 400 million people worldwide.
In addition, MotoGP™'s social media reach and following is also hitting a new crescendo. More than 22 million people keep up to date on our different platforms around the world. There are 12 million followers on Facebook, and the follower count Instagram continues to grow after recently hitting the milestone of five million. On Twitter, the Championship has a direct audience of more than two and a half million - and the overall online engagement hits the huge total of 340 million. More than a billion video views on all digital platforms - added to more than a million subscribers to MotoGP™'s YouTube channel - also show the incredible online presence of the Championship and its content.
The biggest changes for this season are in Asia. Fox Sports continue to broadcast across the region of South East Asia, Trans7 offers coverage in Indonesia and there are also several new deals. In Thailand, the home of the newest GP on the calendar, Fox Sports’ incredible in-depth coverage is complimented by new free-to-air coverage on PPTV. In Macau, free-to-air TDN join the roster offering the 52’ highlights program, and Sohu.com in China move into their second season of broadcasting in the most populous country in the world. Meanwhile in Japan, coverage on G+ and NTV is joined by Hulu.com – direct to viewer, multiscreen coverage – and Nittele.
In India, Sony Sports is the place to watch, and Setanta Sport provide coverage in the central Asian country of Kazakhstan, who are now also represented on the Moto3™ grid.
Broadcaster OSN Sports 2 and Wavo continue their coverage in the Middle East, and African partner SuperSport continues to show all races and qualifying sessions live. In North America, BeIn Sport provide their incredible coverage of the world’s fastest motorcycle racing Championship in the USA and Canada, and Latin American partners ESPN Latin, ESPN HD and ESPN2 continue to cover MotoGP™ across the continent – with Brazil watching MotoGP™ on Sport TV/Globosat, and Argentina on ESPN+.
In Europe, in-depth coverage of MotoGP™ continues from Albania to Switzerland, from France to Portugal, from the Baltics to the Balkans – with partners ranging from Eurosport, Servus TV and Sky Italy to TV3 Sport and GO Sports. GO Sports are the new broadcaster in Malta, and the newest deal in Europe. Finland also have another year signed up on the C More channels of MTV – and there’s a new three-year deal in Greece for OTE Sport. And in Spain, MotoGP™ is live exclusively on Movistar MotoGP™, and there are highlights and post-race commentary on channel #0.
Live and exclusive coverage on BT Sport has been extended till 2021 in the UK and Ireland, and they will be one of those now offering fans the chance to watch races live in 360 OnBoard in an incredible new opportunity for fans to immerse themselves in the action like never before.