Episode 256: Motorsport Network CEO Werner BrellCars & Culture with Jason Stein · Jun 19, 2026
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Topic
global lifestyle
The phrase “global lifestyle” is used to describe how motorsport has expanded beyond a weekend event into a worldwide identity and community. It frames racing as something people follow daily through media, events, and culture rather than only attending races.
This refers to how ideas, engineering solutions, and performance learnings from motorsport can influence what ends up in regular consumer cars and products. In practice, racing can accelerate development of materials, aerodynamics, electronics, and safety concepts that later trickle down to street vehicles.
They’re talking about the Monaco race weekend in Formula One. Monaco is a super famous event where the cars race on city streets, and it gets a lot of attention.
They’re referencing the Miami race weekend. It’s a big modern Formula One event that helps keep racing in the news beyond just the traditional European schedule.
Formula One is the highest level of open-wheel racing. The hosts are saying F1 has helped make racing more popular with people who weren’t traditional fans.
A year-round ecosystem describes how F1 content and engagement continue outside race weekends through media, analysis, and community activity. The idea is to keep fans participating continuously rather than only during the traditional Sunday race window.
Drive to Survive is a Netflix show about Formula One. The hosts are saying it helped convert casual viewers into people who watch races more regularly.
Netflix is the streaming service they’re talking about. They’re saying Netflix helped bring new people into racing by turning it into a show you can follow.
Team radio clips are recordings of the real-time communication between drivers and their teams during a race. They’re valuable content because they reveal strategy decisions, car issues, and how teams react moment-to-moment.
Fantasy leagues let fans pick drivers/teams and score points based on real race results. They increase engagement by giving viewers a reason to follow events even when they’re not deeply invested in the sport yet.
New York is the city where they held an event and where Toto Wolf said people recognize him now. It’s used to show how famous F1 personalities have become.
Tire management means taking care of the tires during the race so they don’t wear out too fast. If the tires go off, the car gets slower and harder to drive.
Technical regulations are the technical rules that limit what teams can do with the car. They affect how the car is designed and can change how fast it can be.
An undercut is when a team pits earlier than another car to use fresh tires. Fresh tires usually make you faster, so you can come out ahead after the other car pits.
Pit stop strategy is when and how teams plan tire changes during the race. Because pitting affects track position and tire freshness, it can decide who ends up ahead.
Aerodynamics is how the car’s shape interacts with air. In racing, it’s especially about generating grip (downforce) and reducing resistance so the car can go faster and handle better.
Topic
bronze gp story
The speaker mentions “Bronze GP” as a particular kind of racing story. It’s presented as something fans can rally around, but the transcript doesn’t explain the details of what it is.
Topic
robot weekends return to competition story
The speaker brings up “robot weekends” as a storyline about something returning to racing. They’re using it to show how motorsport can create interesting fan narratives, even without explaining the specifics here.
The Rolex 24 at Daytona is a famous race that lasts 24 hours. It’s a big deal in endurance racing, which is why it comes up when people talk about the genre growing again.
Le Mans is a famous endurance race that runs for 24 hours. It’s one of the biggest events in racing, so mentioning it signals how major endurance racing is right now.
The Nürburgring is a legendary race track in Germany. Car fans often treat it like a proving ground, so it’s a big name when endurance racing is discussed.
F1 academies are training programs tied to Formula 1. They help develop young drivers, and the speaker notes that more women are getting opportunities beyond just these programs.
This is a big survey of Formula 1 fans. The goal is to learn what they like now and what they might care about next, so the sport and partners can plan better.
Red Bull is a brand best known for its energy drinks, but it also got heavily involved in racing and media. The point here is how Red Bull uses stories and fans to build its image.
Brand building is how a company creates a strong reputation in people’s minds. Here, it’s about using racing and stories to make fans feel connected to the brand.
Fandom building means turning casual viewers into real fans who stick around. In racing, that usually happens through stories, coverage, and moments that make people feel involved.
Sebastian Vettel is a famous Formula 1 race driver. In this conversation, he’s mentioned as the driver during Red Bull Racing’s winning period.
Person
Dietrich Martisciz
Dietrich Mateschitz was one of the founders of Red Bull. The guest is talking about how he bought a Jaguar racing team, and people thought it was a crazy idea at the time.
The Jaguar team here means the Formula 1 racing team associated with Jaguar. The guest says Red Bull’s founder bought it, and people didn’t think it would work—until it did.
LIVE
The automobile is one of the most important inventions that revolutionize the modern world.
In America, the rich history of car culture runs deep.
Technology continues to shape the future of the industry.
Jason Stein is here to share the stories of people passionate about cars,
from industry leaders and innovators to car obsessed celebrities.
Buckle up as Jason takes you inside the boardroom, onto the track,
and around the bend on Cars and Culture on SiriusXM Business Radio.
Welcome into episode 256 of Cars and Culture with Jason Stein here on SiriusXM Business Channel 132.
It's wonderful to have you along with us for the ride again.
From the outside, motorsport looks like it's about racing,
but spend a few minutes with Werner Brell and you'll quickly realize it's becoming something
much bigger. Today's guest sits at the center of one of the most fascinating transformations in
sports, media, and culture. As CEO of Motorsport Network, Werner oversees a global platform that
reaches millions of enthusiasts through brands, including motorsport.com, autosport, motor1,
and inside EVs. He's helping shape how fans discover, consume, and engage with racing
at a time when motorsport has become a year-round cultural phenomena.
His journey to this role is anything but conventional. Born in Austria, Werner began
his career as a Wall Street attorney before making an unlikely leap into media with MTV
during its global expansion. From there, he helped build some of the most influential
brands in youth culture, including serving in leadership roles at Red Bull Media House
during the company's rise as a dominant force in Formula One and Global Sports Entertainment.
Today, he is focused on understanding not just where motorsport is, but where it's headed.
From the Netflix effect and the explosion of Formula One fandom to the rise of women and
Gen Z audiences, artificial intelligence, fan intelligence, and the future of sports media
itself, he has a front-row seat to some of the biggest changes happening in the industry.
So what happens when racing evolves from a weekend sport into a global lifestyle?
How do brands, teams, media companies, and fans all connect inside a rapidly changing ecosystem?
And what can the business world learn from the way motorsport has captured an entirely new generation
of enthusiasts? We'll explore all of it with Werner Brau, CEO of Motorsport Network on Cars and
Culture. My name is Werner Brau and this is Cars and Culture with Jason Stein. It is wonderful to
have him on the program. He has his hands and his feet in so many different places and really at
the epicenter of the motorsports media platform world. And so it's an honor. Werner, thank you
for being on the program. Thanks for joining Cars and Culture. Thank you for having me, Jason.
You are actually at the center of Cars and Culture, aren't you? I mean, I step back and think about it.
If we were to put a guest list together, now 255 plus strong, you're addressing culture,
you're addressing cars, you're addressing motorsports in a much larger way. It must be
interesting for you to find yourself at the epicenter of all of that.
Yeah. Look, Motorsport Network is a platform that covers both sides of the spectrum, the sporting
side with our brands Autosport and Motorsport. So it's all about racing everything from NASCAR,
WEK, IndyCar, NASCAR, Formula One, obviously, MotoGP. And then also the spectrum of car culture
with our brands Moto One, inside EVs. And having this opportunity to really
span the spectrum, talk about technology transfer from racing to consumer products
is actually a really great opportunity. And I don't think there are many
platforms or companies that have that opportunity. You have such an interesting
pass that I want to get into during the course of this conversation, but I want to start with
what attracted you to Motorsport Network. What did you see that others may have overlooked?
I don't know if others have overlooked something, but what attracted me was the opportunity provided
by obviously the rise of motorsports, racing in general over the past
678 years. And then Motorsport Network's positioning and place in the ecosystem.
I think most people viewed and saw Motorsport Network as just a publisher that owns some of
the most important and credible media brands in the sport. But this is, to me, the foundation of
actually a lot more. What attracted me was the strategic positioning. I think we are the only
truly global organization that sits at the intersection of every important stakeholder
in the sport. Rights holders, teams, OEMs, sponsors, promoters, tech companies, brands,
and obviously fans. And this positioning is incredibly powerful because the future value
of the sport isn't created by just owning content alone. I think it's created by
understanding and influencing the relationship between all those constituents that I just
mentioned. And I see us really sitting in the middle of it and connecting that value chain
with all the various products that we create. And all of those parts are really interwoven,
as you said. And it's interesting to me that one entity bringing all of those pieces together
is a little bit of a unique phenomena, but this could have happened a long time ago.
I think I'm looking into the future and I took the company, I was lucky enough to
join the company almost two years ago, and I took over a media company. And in the last
20 months of my being, they're really trying to carve out and pave that new strategy into
becoming that core player at the center of this ecosystem. And it's obviously
by far I'm saying it's done, but that's the vision of the company and where we're going.
And I also believe that the environment currently provides us with the best opportunities.
And so much of it is obviously also driven by Formula One. All racing leagues basically
draft off of that excitement and rise in fandom. And I think it's a really great
place and time to play here and create that ecosystem and be a valuable provider of connectivity.
Yeah, motorsports is having a moment. It really is. Unlike anything that I've seen before,
Formula One obviously booming. Endurance racing has a real resurgence. NASCAR is evolving,
finding its own footing. Manufacturers are investing heavily in all of these properties.
So what's driving that momentum from your seat?
I think what we are witnessing is the transformation of motorsport into a year-round,
always on entertainment platform. Motorsport is becoming culturally relevant beyond its
traditional fan base. We've all watched and seen what happened in Monaco last weekend,
or we have seen what happened in Miami at the beginning of May.
Obviously historically, fans watched a race on a Sunday. This is how I grew up.
But today, fans want and follow narratives. The race weekend and the race itself is obviously
the anchor. It's the nucleus. It's the reason for being. Without the race, nothing exists.
So it's the heart and the foundation. But everything else transpires from it,
and it's just fascinating. As you said, Formula One is driving so much of it.
I believe they solved problems that sports is struggling in general. I think it transformed
itself from, again, a calendar-driven product into a year-round ecosystem and then always on
conversation. Obviously everybody talks about Netflix and Drive to Survive,
but it's Netflix. It's YouTube creators. It's podcasts like yours. It's team radio clips.
It's engineering explainers. It's strategy explainers, social content, fantasy leagues,
gaming experiences. I think all of that truly makes the participation in the sport
a actual, I would say, lifestyle and the reason for being. And fans, as we know,
connect and engage with the sport on a daily basis, not just on weekends anymore.
Yeah, it's interesting to me just to see the surge that's going on in the F1 world.
I've been following Formula One since I was a boy in the streets of Detroit
when Americans were hard to find at some of these races, but South Americans were there
and Europeans were there. And of course along comes Netflix during COVID and everything changes.
How do you convert a casual fan who discovered racing through Netflix and the demographic that
is decidedly different now today than it ever was before? How do you convert them into someone who
wants to consume on an every week basis and maybe even multiple motorsports entities?
I think this is obviously at the heart of the question. Drive to survive was arguably,
I don't know of anything else, the most successful customer acquisition program in sports history,
I would say, correct me if I'm wrong, but obviously it was right time, right place.
But what the series did is number one, it created discovery. It created the ability to
stumble upon something and learn about something. I think millions of people obviously who
previously had zero relationships with the sport found it. But then,
discovery is one thing, creating loyalty and the habit are different things.
And probably through a lot of fan data and also I'm sure you have had conversations,
people arrived and just dropped into this. It was because of the drama between the drivers,
the team principals, the personalities, the drivers. You never see the drivers,
they're under helmets, but Drive to Survive basically showed them who they are.
When we had our event in New York last year and Toto was a guest, he said he can't go through
the streets of New York anymore because people know him. He's now a Hollywood celebrity.
So I think this is what that series has done. And I believe and I know that data also shows that
people who discovered it through Drive to Survive, they actually stayed because of the complexity
and the emotional connection that they have built to the protagonists and the complexities of the
sport. A fan starts knowing Kimi Antonelli, Luis Hamilton, Toto Wolf, Max Verstappen,
some of the engineers, Laura Müller, Tass or Hannah Schmitz or protagonists in the show.
And then they become curious. They become curious about race strategy. They become curious about
tire management, about technical regulations, about how team operates, about how the whole
circus operates, the logistical complexities. And then eventually also, and we see that on our
platform, the history of the sport. So it's a gradual, eventual discovery path and they find
themselves debating undercuts, the aerodynamics, pit stop strategies online at midnight at any day
of the week. And I think this is the point when they become emotionally invested and then a casual
fan who discovered Drive to Survive on Netflix can stop checking his or her feet at midnight and
engage in conversations with friends. And our role here is truly helping fans move along that
journey. And I think this is, again, one of the most valuable thing motorsport networks
adds and creates in the ecosystem. Stories, they became attracted to the story.
It is understanding the sport, right? So it's a very complex sport, but that's the fascination
of it. The amount of story angles that motorsport gives you is, I would say, unmatched in any
other sport. And that creates the ability for attachment and becoming and making people lifelong
fans. Well, and you had a perfect scenario. I mean, the way that the series and the teams
and the drivers and the standings occurred around the time that Netflix was doing the filming
couldn't have been more dramatic. I mean, perhaps during the Mercedes dominant years,
the, you know, seven years in a row, this may have not been as compelling. Or if I, you know,
remembering, you know, Ferrari in, you know, Michael Schumacher's dominance may not have been as
compelling. But yeah, it was a perfect storm of everything that it needed.
Yeah. I mean, you know, we, I say we are in the drama business. And, you know, I appreciate all
the action on the track in the paddock and outside of it that surrounds the sport. You know, when
certain celebrities show up and may not understand the rules of conduct in the paddock. I mean,
it's great. It's great for us. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. Let's talk about a couple of other things.
And including opportunity at the Motorsports Network. If I gave you an unlimited budget,
okay, to pursue one growth opportunity over the next five years, where would you invest it?
I will, have your number, Jason. So I will give you.
You know, it's all right to check. Can you spend it?
I think I can spend it. I think I can. I think, you know, the, it's always a good
question with the one idea. I would say, and it's, it is, of course, part of part of our
strategy. I think it's, it's the combination of narratives, storytelling combined with
fan intelligence. Because, you know, storytelling, as we've just discussed, creates the emotional
connection. Understanding the fans and the fan data creates the understanding. You know, one
tells us why fans care. The other tells us what they care about, where they're going and, and
how they are changing. So premium storytelling to me is, is at the heart of it, because premium
storytelling creates the emotional connection and creates why people care,
why we provide value to them and, and why they are fans. And then I, I, I, I actually really
believe that credible and amazing fan stories, you know, the louder story, the, the bronze gp
story, the robot weekends return to competition story, which we've done. The resurgence, as you
say, of endurance racing, you know, the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Nürburgring first up and 24 hours of
Le Mans this weekend. Yeah. The rise of female participation across the sport, but you know,
way beyond just F1 academies, obviously great search. All these stories rival anything that I
would say Hollywood can, can write. You know, I think sports writes the best stories. We saw that
last night in New York with the Knicks. Yeah.
So it is, it is really understanding why Formula One exploded globally. And it is because people
suddenly became interested in the entire ecosystem of the sport, you know, and become emotionally
connected. And if you then are able to have a platform where you can understand the data and,
you know, one big important project we, we do is the global F1 fan survey, which really tells us
not just what happened, but it's kind of a predictor of the future. You know, you, you learn,
you know, where our fans searching around the world because it was a global, it's a global
data set, what they're thinking, who the new fans are. And, and this allows us to, you know,
engage with sponsors, engage with rights holders, engage with teams. And that's basically the,
the biggest opportunity for us in the sport. It's not just creating more content. It's understanding
the fandom better than anyone else. And then creating the content experiences and the, and the
partnership around those insights. And I think this is what will drive, you know, the investment
and, and then obviously the future revenue opportunities of this business.
Since you brought it up, let's talk about that for just a moment, because I'm not sure how many
people really know the gravity behind what you did. And the survey was conducted jointly by
F1 and Motorsport Network responses more than 100,000 highly engaged fans, 186 countries,
making it truly one of the largest fan studies in sports, in my opinion. And, and here, here were
the headlines. Women are driving, I just alluded to this with a changing demographic, women are
driving the next wave of growth, women accounted for 75% of new F1 fans entering the sport,
nearly half of Gen Z respondents were women. And the survey suggests that, I mean, we have three out
of four new F1 fans are coming from a demographic that was never there before. That has to change
the way Motorsport Network thinks about content and the future, correct? Absolutely. Well, definitely.
I think, I think it drives, it drives so much of, of, of basically the new product development,
you know, how we, how we think about platforms, how we think about social, how we think about,
you know, YouTube content development. But then also how we think about engaging with,
with the stakeholders, engaging with, with brand sponsors, teams. And I think that, that
data set, which, you know, some of it is, is public. So obviously, agencies use it,
teams use it, rights holders use it. And that was obviously one of the key reasons
why doing it. But obviously, some of the data has, has, is not publicly shared.
That is, is obviously a key, a key asset for both of us for Formula One and, and, and for us. Yeah.
A couple of other things. Gen Z really consumes F1 differently.
They engage 70% engage with F1 content daily. This is what you were alluding to with the,
the midnight, you know, check-ins. They consume across social media, streaming clips,
creator content, behind the scenes storytelling. Many follow personalities before they follow
the teams. So we're really witnessing a transition from motorsports fandom to personality
fandom, probably more than anything else. Yeah. Almost, almost like the NBA,
where the athlete is now the primary brand. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's very, very fair. I think,
you know, people, people connect with therefore also with, with the
personalities in, in, in the sport. And, you know, I think what happened and, and the great
change that happened, you know, with the Liberty Takeover, what is it now, 99 years ago,
that they made the sport accessible, right? They allowed social media. The drivers can do their
social media. Teams can do their social media. So they, they really opened up access. They decided
to leverage and use the digital platforms to, to provide that access, you know, not, you know,
only a very small percentage of fans will ever be able to go to a, to a live race. So making it
accessible, lifting the veil, you know, what's going on in the paddock, what's going on in the
minds of teams, of race engineers, of race strategies. I think that, that was the incredible,
and I think led to the seismic shift of why new fans, younger fans, digital, digital first fans,
and female fans enter the space. But don't get me wrong. Also for our business, the so-called,
you know, legacy or traditional fan is extremely important for us. We, we, we, we, we focus a
great deal on, you know, your, your hardcore racing fan. We obviously want to get more
new fans to become hardcore racing fans. But we, we have to, and we are catering and engaging
both sides, the new fans, the casual fans, the new entrance, and obviously also the,
you know, the hardcore legacy fans. And we have a, you know, one of the largest fan bases in motorsports
on that front. So it's, it's very important to not lose sight of what made the sport, the sport.
Yeah, yeah, for sure. After the break, we'll continue with Werner Brell, CEO of Motorsport
Network here on Cars and Culture with Jason Stein. To see more Cars and Culture interviews,
visit the YouTube channel. Subscribe, comment, check out hundreds of conversations with the
creators, collectors, and culture makers who are driving the industry forward.
The automobile is one of the most important inventions that revolutionize the modern
world. In America, the rich history of car culture runs deep as technology continues to shape the
future of the industry. Jason Stein is here to share the stories of people passionate about cars,
from industry leaders and innovators to car obsessed celebrities. Buckle up as Jason takes
you inside the boardroom onto the track and around the bend on Cars and Culture on SiriusXM
Business Radio. Welcome back to Cars and Culture here on SiriusXM. I'm your host, Jason Stein.
Great to have you back along with us again. Now the continuation of the conversation with
Werner Brell, CEO of Motorsport Network. To see more Cars and Culture interviews,
visit the YouTube channel. Subscribe, comment, check out hundreds of conversations with the
creators, collectors, and culture makers who are driving the industry forward.
Let's talk a little bit about your own path, which as I said has been a very interesting one.
You were actually a lawyer first. I was a lawyer first, yes.
I had to earn my stripes during the fun days in the mid 90s on Wall Street,
M&A corporate finance lawyer, which was obviously excellent, amazing learnings.
I always back then I said, you have three things in life. You have work, you have sleep, and you
have kind of a life, party life back then in the young days. I always knew you can only have two.
One was always a constant, which was work, and then you had to choose between sleep and the
other thing, but sometimes work also didn't allow you to sleep. Yeah, truly, truly. Your
experience at Red Bull, so you were the chief digital officer. You were the president of Red
Bull Media House North America. What did you learn about Red Bull? And for those who don't know,
you're originally from Austria, so there was a wonderful tie in there with obviously Red Bull's
roots. Yeah, fortunately, I would have to tell you I was very lucky that after my
legal career that I was very blessed to work in environments and with companies and brands that
are basically at the heart of youth culture. It was all about passion, industries. After I left
Wall Street, I went to work at a company called MTV Music Television. I think the... Of course.
We know it. The younger might no longer know it, but I mean, that was obviously an amazing
experience. After that, with Red Bull, Red Bull really teaches you the understanding of brand
building, of fandom building around and through the vehicle of storytelling at the end of the day,
because what Red Bull is, it's a lifestyle. It's communicating an experience and the way of life,
which obviously then gives wings to people and ideas, as we said. And I think that was also
obviously a great time for me to be there, because this is when Red Bull Racing Formula
One team started to win the years of Sebastian Vettel, the days where the founder, Dietrich
Martisciz, bought the Jaguar team for a euro, and everybody thought he was crazy, but history
gave him right. And when Red Bull Racing started to win, and I was able to sit on the sidelines
in the company, I was not at Red Bull Racing, I was at Red Bull Media House, but obviously content
flew. It was a key piece for us to deliver. Yeah, those were.
Can we back up for a second? How does a lawyer on Wall Street go to MTV? That's not the usual path.
Like so much in life, it's about being at the right time in the right place and
and allowing yourself to have a conversation that might seem
very unusual. And it was a conversation I had with a search firm who gave me a call regarding
if I want to join a bank, which you got calls like that every day back in those days, if you
worked on a Wall Street law firm. But I don't know if I had a good relationship with that person.
I felt good about the conversation. And I said, you know what, even if I take myself out of
anything in your firm, this is what I want. And then she said, oh, okay, we're actually looking
for someone at MTV. And that was that. I opted for a huge pay cut. But to me, it was more important
to be part of something that built because back when I joined, we built MTV. MTV is across the
globe. And so I was part of part of that team that really put the MTV flags from Japan to Brazil
to Russia to Thailand, Indonesia. And that was my path. Given that context and given where you sit
now, the fragmentation that's occurring within traditional media, and they're all grappling
with the same issue that audiences are fragmenting, how do you now draw on that experience with MTV?
And how does Motorsport Network remain relevant in a world where attention spans are so short?
I always, this to me is a really great topic, the topic of attention span. And the notion that
you know, also young people have zero attention span. I'm not 100% sure I agree with that statement
at that positioning. I don't think attention is disappearing. What I think is happening
is expectations are rising because there is more content out there than sand on the beach.
You know, old media economy was built on distribution scarcity. The new economy that we see is
built on attention scarcity. So the challenge is, and it's easier said than done, but the challenge
is relevance. How do you create something where your audience says this has value for me? I'll
spend time on this versus 15 other things that I could spend my time on.
So I think in order to create relevance, it's obviously also necessary that you need to understand
that one piece of content or a content idea today for us is no longer just a single article.
So, you know, we were lucky to spend some time with Stefano Domenicali,
Formula One CEO in April while there were no races. And you know, what came out of it is obviously
not just one article, but many articles, a video clip, social contents, newsletter content,
and an analysis, community discussions, and then at the end of the event programming in Miami.
So I think it's all about content, the narrative, and then how you orchestrate the content that it
gets in front of the right people on the platforms that they are on. And the winners in my mind
are not those that produce the most content, but they're those who create the most value from
every single story to the audience. And that's very much the shift that we are focusing on.
And I think that's how you, that that's your best chance to capture attention of your audience.
But at the end of the day, it comes down to relevance. Yeah, yeah, well said. In audience,
in audience data, with access to a global audience of enthusiasts,
how important is that data in shaping the future of your business?
You know, it's it's it's we are and we view ourselves as a global but local company. So
obviously, we have global brands, we we play in global motorsport series, I think one of the only
true global sports leagues in the world, Moto, you know, Formula One, MotoGP, others gaining
global relevance. And and for us, having the ability to have, and I always call our
our team, it's a team of the from the United Nations, you know, we have the
Germans, we have we have the French, we have Americans, we have the English, Italians,
we have Dutch, Belgian experts in the space and and taking that what these experts do
and creating the and orchestrating, as I said before, the content delivery to making it relevant
for the German fan, for the French American fan. I think that's the that's the
superpower that we have. So it's not just one size fits all. But it really gives us the opportunity
to curate towards being locally relevant. And I'm using the word relevant a lot now,
but but I really believe it's it's it's a key to success.
Relevance is is a key to success, but it also now has some other ways to help
shape it. And everybody is talking about artificial intelligence, you can't get
away from it. What is AI doing inside Motorsport Network today?
Oh, yeah, I'm glad you asked the question.
You know, AI probably, I would say today is both overhyped, but also underestimated.
I think it's over in the immediate short term. But I also believe it's underestimated
in the long term. We use AI to improve workflow efficiencies. Obviously translation, you know,
if you have so many different languages and sites to to manage research
personalization and and also audience analysis. But clearly, I mean, those are those are practical
applications that that I mean, should be table stakes.
You know, the the more interesting question is is for company like ours, how AI changes
discovery. You know, for for for the longest time, media companies optimized for search engines.
And and now we are in an area where consumers increasingly receive answers answers rather
than than links. So that fundamentally changes how content is found, how is how it is consumed.
And to us, the most important word is how it is trusted.
The emphasis is on trust. I think one of the reasons for our success is that the industry
trusts us, trusts what we do, trusts the work product that we that we deliver.
And I think that is that is truly the strategic challenge.
But it is not whether AI writes articles. The challenge to me is
how do we maintain a direct relationship with an audience
in an AI driven discovery environment. And and and that is really what every media company should
be should be thinking about. What what part of sports media becomes more valuable, perhaps not
less valuable in an AI driven world? Sorry. So there's a lot of concern about automation and
replacing content creation, as you just alluded to. But there's probably a part in sports media
that increases in value in an AI driven with AI driven algorithms and learnings and teachings,
I guess. And so in as it as it relates to sports media, how can it drive?
I think a key a key piece of it is obviously the is is the is the area of the data mining,
data understanding, interpreting and then what what to do with with data and and
using that as a tool to, you know, you can predict the future, but you can shape it.
And I think AI helps you forge a path that is that that allows you to take
lots of data, you know, historical data input and and and tell sports media stories.
And that impact what you might do. But the human aspect in content creation, the human aspect in
delivering the authority cannot be replaced, because AI can't have a conversation with
with Kimi Antonelli, I can't have a conversation with with Stefano Dominicali. I think you need
to have the trust and you need to have that connectivity to be able to, you know, get that
scoop, get that story. And so so that human interaction and human work product will always be
at the heart of what is required for the narratives. But obviously, you can you can use
AI, you know, for, you know, the historical results for the of the last 75 years and
right, and within seconds, within seconds, understand, you know, what were the closest
championship wins in history, right? You can you can just bring it up and it helps every
journalist use more time and allows a journalist to use the time to write better and deeper
engaging stories, rather than spending hours and doing the research and going through archives
and and stuff like that. So true. That's really, I think, valuable. It's a really essential tool
for a journalist to do better work in making the sport understanding and understandable
to the audience, you know, which we talked about in the beginning that understanding the sport
is is key to becoming a fan. Just a few more questions here. When you look at the future
of motorsport network, what do you what gets you most excited about the opportunity? And if I were
to say 10 years from now, that motorsports network or even the even the media business
would transform in a certain way, what would surprise listeners that you would predict?
It's a bit of a crystal ball question.
Yeah, the crystal ball. I think 10 years from now, number one, I definitely want to say that.
I think 10 years from now, we may not even use the word sports media
in the way that we use it today anymore. I think the the it's already happening,
but the boundaries between media, commerce, community and experience are essentially
essentially disappearing. I think, again, Formula One is a primary example for this.
I think fans and it's at the end of the day, it's all about fans and fans will seamlessly,
you know, watch content attend events, participating communities, buy products,
engage with the brands. So I think the most valuable companies won't just simply distribute
content, they'll they'll own relationships. And I think that's full circle to how we started that.
I think what we're building is owning the relationships between the stakeholders,
owning a relationship with the fan and that the ambition for us is really to become
this operating system for motorsport fandom. So not just a media platform, but really being,
you know, that operating system that that that powers a fandom of the ecosystem. It's not just
a destination. It's it's a system. And I believe that's where the industry is headed. And this
this this is what excites me to figure out how does how do you shape that in in in a world
where AI is changing weekly. But how do you what steps do you take first and second in order to
become that trusted, credible player in this new world of sports ecosystems?
So 10 years, maybe a little far out. But if we're having this conversation in 2030,
and motorsport network has exceeded every expectation, what happened between now and then?
I think what happens between now and then is that, you know, let's let's let's be bold. I think we
we are probably one of the most important connectors in motorsport. It's the place where
fans discover the sport, the place where brands understand fans, the place where teams tell
stories, where rights holders find growth, where communities come together. And and ultimately,
success won't be measured by by traffic or page views, it will be measured by impact.
And I think it's very important, because it still is a growing sport that
one of the metrics is definitely did more people become motorsport fans because we existed because
of what we have done, just really creating the awareness and creating fandom. So did we help
the industry grow? Did we create value for every stakeholder in the ecosystem? Are we valuable
to the rights holders so that they can, you know, obviously, create future licensing opportunities
because of the fandom that has been created? And we are a key part of this. So if if the answer to
all of this is yes, then in my mind, we have exceeded every expectation that anyone can have.
Wonderful.
What an engaging, highly interesting and highly opportunistic conversation this is, Werner.
I appreciate you taking the time and charting a very fascinating global view of not only motorsports,
but media in general. And you are, I think, one of our first media guests and I deeply appreciate it.
Thank you so much, Jason. This was this was really fun. And let's do it again.
I'll see you at ABX New York in the fall. See you at ABX New York. Yeah, October 21st.
This would be excellent. Yeah, I will be happy to host you again.
Very good. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Big thanks again to my guest, Werner Brell, CEO of Motorsport Network,
to see more cars and culture interviews, visit the Cars and Culture YouTube channel.
Subscribe, comment, check out hundreds of conversations with the creators,
collectors and culture makers who are driving the industry forward.
That's episode 256. I'm your host, Jason Stein. We'll see you down the road.
About this episode
Werner Brell, CEO of Motorsport Network, explains how motorsport has become a year-round cultural phenomenon and how media can turn that momentum into lasting fandom. Motorsport Network positions itself as a global connector across stakeholders, using storytelling, fan intelligence, and large-scale F1 fan surveys to predict interest and create value. The conversation traces how Netflix’s Drive to Survive transformed F1 into a year-round ecosystem—then explores AI, translation, personalization, and why human authority still matters.
