MotoGP hits 30 million social media followers through engaging fans with social video

MotoGP races and transmits broadcasts at high speed

MotoGP reached a milestone of over 30 million social media followers in September 2020. During races, MotoGP now publishes highlight clips to its social channels in real time which has driven a significant uptake in viewers.
To achieve this, MotoGP used Grabyo Studio, a live clipping, video editing and cloud production platform that enables digital teams to deliver instant highlights and live clips to social, mobile and online platforms.

With some races cancelled in 2020 with the pandemic and fans restricted from accessing the events, MotoGP bolstered its live broadcasting efforts during 2020. The team began broadcasting live, social shows to Facebook and YouTube before and after every race, taking audiences through the paddocks and interviewing drivers, commentators and members of the racing teams.

Manel Arroyo, managing director at MotoGP, commented: “It has been a challenge to continue our content output while our environment has been unpredictable. Our number one priority has been to serve our fans the best we can, and we are delighted to have built a community of over 30 million fans. This year has forced us to get creative and find solutions that enable us to maintain the quality and quantity that our fans expect.

“Taking advantage of the scale and flexibility of cloud technologies has enabled this for our team. Using Grabyo allows us to react quickly and continue to deliver high quality productions regardless of where individuals are located,” Arroyo concluded.

To provide more engaging insights into the sport, MotoGP makes use of on-board cameras, fitted to each rider’s motorcycle, to give a rider’s perspective from the track. These clips are distributed when the race is live, putting fans on the track to experience the action first-hand.

The additional perspectives make the sport more accessible, enabling viewers to appreciate the aesthetics, speed and incredible race action on the circuits. The clips are also well suited to mobile and social viewing with fans encouraged to share the most compelling action with friends and other motorsports fans.

MotoGP’s digital team ensured it utilised important moments from a race to bring the entire experience online, from a mix of crashes, light hearted moments or exhilarating overtakes. Its team uses Grabyo technology to capture and package every moment for social audiences. Using Grabyo, all of MotoGP’s clips are also branded to ensure maximum visibility and drive social account growth.

With no live sport taking place this summer, MotoGP had to switch its content focus in order to keep fans engaged. Like many others, it took the opportunity to expand coverage of esports.
To capture a broader cross section of racing and gaming fans, MotoGP used real riders from the championship in its esports events. Alongside its established MotoGP eSports Championship, MotoGP took physical races online too. It replaced the postponed Spanish Grand Prix in May with a virtual race, dubbed the #StayAtHomeGP, which also drove social media views.

MotoGP was able to capitalise on the growth of esports and the reach of its talent to create an engaging, digital event for fans to watch while at home. It was also able to promote sales of the MotoGP 2020 video game across Xbox, PS4 and PC.

Outside of race days, MotoGP allows fans to engage with the sport 24/7, on any platform or device. The MotoGP content strategy caters for varying levels of access, from casual fans watching crashes, to die-hard fans taking deep-dives behind the technology and tactics of motorcycle racing.

For the die-hard fans, or those wanting to learn more about MotoGP, the content team publishes regular social-first segments such as #TechTalk, which explores the mechanics and technology of MotoGP.

Fans are also able to discover or relive past races with archive and ‘rewind’ content, some of which contain previously unseen footage.

The 2020 MotoGP eSport Championship Global Series is broadcast to all of MotoGP eSports social channels using Grabyo Producer, a cloud production platform that enables it to deliver broadcast-quality live streams to multiple destinations simultaneously.

Also, using Grabyo Producer, MotoGP’s production team can produce live broadcasts remotely from anywhere in the world, using a web-browser on a laptop with an internet connection.

Grabyo’s 2020 At Home Video Trends Report found that 66% of UK sports fans watch video regularly on social media platforms.

Gareth Capon, CEO at Grabyo, said: “MotoGP is a leading example of how to deliver a meaningful content strategy for modern sports fans. We talk a lot about being truly multi-platform, but MotoGP has been able to take this to the next level and give racing fans exactly what they are looking for. Building on eSports and moving to remote production for digital and broadcast was delivered seamlessly. We look forward to continuing to work with the team to drive greater innovation and give the fans what they want.”