New research from Ampere shows that the technology sector is now the leading source of sponsorship revenue across F1 and its teams. Many F1 teams are now harnessing the additional benefits of specialist services and expertise that technology partners can provide, and there are signs that technology brands are starting to up their investment across other sports.

Total sponsorship revenue for F1 and its teams has grown 48% over the last two years, making F1 the third fastest-growing top-flight team-based sports competition in terms of sponsorship during this period, following the National Women’s Soccer League and Scottish Professional Football League.

With F1 owned by US-based Liberty Media, surging investment has been driven by brands headquartered in the US, with the number of such partnerships increasing from 101 to 138 throughout the competition in the last two years. This equates to an estimated £721m per year cash injection provided by US companies according to Ampere sponsorship data – a figure that has increased by 68% in the last two years alone. 

The technology sector is accountable for much of the sponsorship revenue growth across F1 and its teams; 24 new deals have been penned in the last two years, 18 of which are brands headquartered in the US. In fact, Ampere research places technology as the top spending sector in F1, representing 18% of sponsorship revenue generated in 2024. This is up from 13% in 2022, and means revenue from technology brands surpasses that from companies operating in the financial service and automotive sectors for the first time. 

Teams like McLaren F1, which has 14 technology sponsors at the time of publishing, have doubled down on prospecting tech brands. Dell provides IT solutions for McLaren F1’s 1400+ staff; Salesforce allows targeted marketing for fan engagement purposes; and Google Cloud visualises race data as part of a wider deal with Google encompassing Android and Google Chrome. In essence, McLaren F1 is being paid to promote an arsenal of tech solutions that enhance many facets of its operation including car performance, while other rightsholders pay significant sums to simply access software from technology brands.  

It is hard for other events to compete with the cutting-edge nature of F1, let alone a global calendar or one of the most watched sports Documentaries in the world. Netflix’s Drive to Survive is the most popular sports Documentary globally each year in the month of its release according to Ampere’s proprietary popularity metric, and continues to remain among the top 15 titles for the rest of the year.  

Teams like Haas, Williams, Aston Martin and Alpine have fewer technology sponsors compared to other F1 teams, so are an attractive target for tech brands looking for association with F1. However, with the number of technology partnerships per team growing rapidly, more technology brands are starting to also look to other sports rightsholders where fewer brands are clamouring for advertising space and attention.

Within the US, investment from the tech sector has increased for the NBA, NHL, NWSL, NASCAR  and MLB and their teams in the last two years, partly due to proximity to technological hubs like Silicon Valley. 

Outside of the US, European football could be the next target for many tech brands. While the number of deals signed across the top five European leagues as a total has remained consistent in the last two years, the likes of Real Madrid and Manchester United have grown their portfolio of technology sponsors in this time. Furthermore, the amount spent by technology sponsors per deal has increased significantly, as has deal length. 

Sports rightsholders that have a global audience and/or access to hard-to-reach markets, like the Indian Premier League, will be at an advantage when prospecting big US-based technology brands eyeing global growth. However the technology sector is crowded, growing and transient. Challenger technology brands with smaller budgets will be looking for a point of differentiation against competitors, and sport sponsorship offers a promotional channel that does just that. This makes the technology sector overall a worthwhile prospecting focus for rightsholders, especially those who can demonstrate an affinity with tech throughout their current operations and audience segments.