MotoAmerica Reports a Bigger Audience, With Its Final Count Pending

MotoAmerica says 2026 is a record year for its audience. In a September 23, 2026 update covering the first eight events of the season, the series reported big jumps in TV viewership, household reach and social media followers, along with a projected attendance record.

These are the promoter's own numbers, and they're interim. MotoAmerica said figures from the COTA and New Jersey Motorsports Park rounds were still being finalized, and the release still did not include those final figures when we checked on October 7. Here's what the update says, what it doesn't, and how to watch.

The short version

• Viewership: 5.4 times the same point in 2025, through eight events, per MotoAmerica.
• Household reach: 10 times the 2025 figure, per MotoAmerica.
• Social media: about 5.6 million followers, up from 3.9 million at the start of 2025.
• Attendance: projected to top 290,000 for the season. That's a projection, not a final count.
• What drove it, per MotoAmerica: free streaming on Samsung TV Plus, coverage on Vice TV, every class shown live, and its Hooligans docuseries.

Viewership, in MotoAmerica's words

MotoAmerica said viewership through the first eight events was 5.4 times what it was at the same point in 2025. It also singled out three rounds:

• Mid-Ohio: 9.4 times its 2025 viewership.
• VIRginia International Raceway: 7.3 times.
• Laguna Seca: 6.3 times.

The release also describes the season total as a "540% increase." Those two ways of saying it don't quite match. A result that is 5.4 times last year's is a 440% increase, not 540%. We can't tell from the release which figure MotoAmerica meant, so we're reporting the multiplier it gave and flagging the gap. The same applies to household reach: the release says 10 times and also "1,000%," but 10 times last year's figure is a 900% increase.

What these numbers do and don't tell you

Viewership and household reach are reported as separate metrics. MotoAmerica does not define household reach in the release, so it should not be read as a count of individual viewers or time spent watching. Neither figure has been independently audited as far as the release shows, and MotoAmerica didn't publish the underlying raw numbers.

The 110 million monthly active users often mentioned alongside Samsung TV Plus is the size of Samsung's whole platform, not MotoAmerica's audience.

The social jump is easier to check. Going from 3.9 million to 5.6 million followers is roughly a 44% increase. MotoAmerica's release puts it at "41.5+%."

Why the numbers jumped, according to MotoAmerica

MotoAmerica credits a change in how races reach viewers:

• Free streaming on Samsung TV Plus, Samsung's free ad-supported streaming service.
• Vice TV coverage on cable and satellite.
• All seven classes shown live for the first time.
• The Hooligans docuseries.

MotoAmerica hasn't broken down how much of the growth came from each of these changes.

Attendance

MotoAmerica projects more than 290,000 people will attend events across the 2026 season. It's a forecast made with rounds still to be counted, so treat it as an estimate until a final number is out.

How to watch MotoAmerica

MotoAmerica keeps its current viewing options on its official How to Watch page. Check there before race weekends, since schedules and channels can change between events.

What we don't know yet

• Final 2026 season numbers, including COTA and New Jersey.
• Raw viewer counts behind the multipliers.
• Which of the release's percentages MotoAmerica intended, given the mismatch noted above.

Bottom line

MotoAmerica's interim numbers show a sharp rise in how many people are finding U.S. road racing, helped by free streaming and wider TV coverage. The multipliers are big, but they're the promoter's own, the percentage figures in the release don't line up with them, and the final count is still pending. If you've never watched a round, the free options make it easier than ever to try.