Liberty Media quizzed about recreating Netflix’s Drive To Survive for MotoGP
The most talked-about success that Liberty Media has had with Formula 1 is the creation of its own Netflix show.
Drive To Survive, which focused on personalities and storylines from within the paddock, is credited with helping to grow interest in F1 by engaging a different type of fan.
Liberty now own 86% of Dorna Sports and MotoGP and will try to positively impact the popularity of the world’s top two-wheel series, too.
But could MotoGP be given its own version of Netflix’s Drive To Survive?
“I don’t know about that,” Liberty CEO Greg Maffei responded to CNBC.
The Liberty boss was told that Drive To Survive was a game changer for the growth of F1.
He responded: “It was, but it wasn’t the only game changer.
“The real game changer was changing the focus from being about the car, to being about the stories of F1.
“We had to reach out and touch fans where they existed.
“Some fans want to know the exact difference between the RB20 and the RB19, or different tyre strategies…
“Other fans think that this driver is cute, or that driver is exciting and glamorous!
“Our goal is to reach all of those fans, where they are, with what excites them.
“That opportunity exists in MotoGP as well.”
Maffei pledged to “take some of the learnings, some of the successes that we’ve had with F1, some of the ideas, and some excitement and passion which is in the fan-base and extending it”.
Next week’s third round of the 2024 MotoGP season at the Circuit of the Americas is the only race in the USA.
F1, since Liberty Media took over, had added eye-catching grands prix in Las Vegas and Miami.
Maffei said about MotoGP: “Currently, they have one race in the United States.
“When we took over F1, they also had one race in the United States.
“I’m not suggesting that we’ll get to three. But the opportunity to grow in the US…
“The opportunity to grow in other markets, new geographies.”
However, he added that Liberty would “probably not increase the total race number, but to extend it to new geographies”.
The Liberty boss was asked if he plans to replicate how he has grown interest in F1.
“I’m not sure it’s the playbook,” he said. “But I’d like to think that some of the things we’ve done to help the world see the value and power of F1, we can bring to MotoGP.
“Let’s call it pattern recognition.
“MotoGP is a thrilling sport, enormously exciting. I don’t think we need to change that, at all. We don’t want to.
“We want to show the world how exciting the sport is.
“Our goal is to show the rest of the world how exciting this sport is.”
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
