How Motorsport Tickets has come to dominate the ticketing industry

Ticketing platform Motorsport Tickets has spent the last 16 years establishing itself as a leader in the industry, serving fans of Formula One, MotoGP, Nascar, Formula E and many more. The BlackBook spoke to Dale Ballentine, former chief executive of Motorsport Tickets to learn its secret to success.

An important but often forgotten part of the operation of motorsport circuits is ticketing. Part of international media and technology company Motorsport Network, Motorsport Tickets has spent over 16 years building a reputation as one of the go-to ticket sellers for motorsport events and experiences.

“We are essentially a ticketing agent for motorsport events all over the world – our biggest being Formula One, not surprisingly,” says Dale Ballentine, former chief executive of Motorsport Tickets. “Our biggest revenues come from Formula One, but we’re at the moment working on
diversifying that as much as possible.

“So, essentially, our business is we work with circuits, promoters, teams, series to market their tickets.”

Despite Formula One being the most profitable championship for Motorsport Tickets, the company also sells tickets for MotoGP, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the World Endurance Championship (WEC), the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM), the Isle of Man TT, Superbikes, the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) and Formula E.

Although Motorsport Tickets’ main market is the UK, the business has grown in popularity elsewhere, with Formula One’s recent popularity surge in the US driving ticket sales. Additionally, other prominent markets in Europe that engage heavily with motorsport make up the bulk of the remaining customer base.

“The nature of the business means that we’re primarily UK – 65 to 70 per cent of our business is in the UK,” says Ballentine. “Then, 20-odd per cent is the Netherlands. And then after that, Germany, France, Italy, the US and Australia are our next biggest markets.”

Motorsport Tickets has expanded into valuable markets, such as the US

As expected, Formula One may be the series for which most tickets are sold, but global motorcycling series MotoGP is gaining in popularity. However, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic posed a difficult challenge for Motorsport Tickets, as many series cancelled events or opted
to run races behind closed doors, not allowing any spectators to attend.

“MotoGP is the second biggest that we have,” explains Ballentine. “Unfortunately, coronavirus has had a bigger effect on MotoGP. Formula One, at least we managed to get some fans to events, but with MotoGP, we’re just not selling anything at the moment, there aren’t any events. But
in a normal year, MotoGP is a big chunk of what we do. Then, Le Mans and the WEC series is kind of the third biggest after that.

“Looking to next year, I wouldn’t really expect anything to change. I think Formula One is always going to be the biggest, then MotoGP. But I think there’s definitely been a growing interest in MotoGP, there’s definitely been a lot more interest around it and the Isle of Man TT as well. Unfortunately it’s been cancelled for two years, but we would expect that next year it will be quite a big year for the TT.”

In addition, motorsport’s broader attempts to diversify it audience has seen Motorsport Tickets’ consumer base change. As younger people and
more female fans begin to engage with motorsport on a greater scale, this is being reflected in who making purchases on the Motorsport Tickets platform.

“A couple of years ago, our average consumer was a 40-year-old man,” explains Ballentine. “We’ve definitely seen that now shift towards mid-30s as our average age now, and we definitely see more women buying tickets as well, most definitely.

“Almost 20 per cent of our purchasers are women, which is great. Going back a few years, women would hardly register on our Google Analytics. But now we’re definitely seeing a younger audience and a more female audience.”

Motorsport Tickets has been able to reach a wide demographic of fans, bringing them to the heart of motorsport events

As Motorsport Tickets looks to expand in the future, the company has ambitious plans. Firstly, Ballentine and his colleagues aim to expand the number of series they sell tickets for. For the first time, for example, the platform is selling tickets to DTM and Nascar events.

“We’re bringing on more series, we’re working with a lot more series,” says Ballentine. “So, this year, we’ve got Nascar tickets on sale for the first time. DTM as well, this is the first time where we’re selling DTM. And there’s a range of smaller events out there.”

In addition, Motorsport Tickets has plans to expand its scope to be the one-stop destination for any motorsport related experience.

“We’re very much now positioned as a ticketing partner, so we have technology that we can put into a circuit,” says Ballentine. “So, really, our new focus is two ways. We want to be the destination for anything motorsport-related. So, if you want to go and see any race, in any country, then our ambition is to be the place people come to for all of that.”

Almost 20 per cent of our purchasers are women, which is great. Going back a few years, women would hardly register on our Google Analytics. But now we’re definitely seeing a younger audience and a more female audience.

On top of that, Motorsport Tickets wants to make sure that its partners are benefitting from exposure to its parent company’s network of 56 million visitors per month.

“Secondly, we want to work with circuits and put our technology in there, but then support them with marketing. So, Motorsport Network has 56 million visitors, and in the past year, we’ve been working really hard to make sure that every one of those 56 million people get to see a tickets button or get to see an advert for one of our partners to buy tickets.”

Despite the impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the industry, Motorsport Tickets is confident that fans will continue to return to events

Motorsport Tickets will no doubt be looking forward to returning to some form of normality as motorsport events begin to welcome back spectators and hospitality guests. The company has recently agreed to acquire rally sport hospitality provider European Sport Communication, following its acquisition last year of Travel Destinations, a tour operator for sports car and historic motorsport events.

Moving forward, Ballentine says Motorsport Tickets is focused on “bringing all these businesses together” to enhance its offering.

“A focus for the next 12 months is to make sure that we have the best offering out there for customers, circuits and promoters,” he says. “If you run a track day somewhere, there’s something that we can offer everyone to just help them sell more tickets, essentially.”


This feature was originally published in BlackBook Motorsport’s special report on venue operations, titled Places for Races, in September 2021. Access the report here.

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