As he reportedly mulls which Formula One job to accept, motorsports marketer Zak Brown already knows one of his next gigs: budding media executive.
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Brown, who’s scheduled to leave his role as CEO of CSM Sport & Entertainment at the end of the year, has taken an aggressive approach with Motorsport Network, a racing media and technology company, since joining it earlier this year as nonexecutive chairman. Brought on by site owner and American entrepreneur Mike Zoi, Brown has been tasked with turning an outlet once known for press releases and race photos into a global motorsport lifestyle destination that features print and digital news coverage, merchandise, gaming, analytics and a just-announced over-the-top network.
“I joined because I liked [Zoi’s] mission and the people he had involved; he started with world-class journalism to produce the best content, and I think he’s achieved that early on,” Brown said. “So it’s kind of, ‘Build the product and then now let’s build the business’ — my entry being a part of that plan.”
In the last year, the company has hired veteran journalists as it seeks to bolster credibility and build traffic. It has made numerous acquisitions, including venerable F1 news outlet Autosport as well as publications in non-English-speaking countries. As a result, Brown said, Miami-based Motorsport Network now has 22 editions in 16 languages and close to 1,000 people working for it.
“To date, scale and quality of content was kind of the only priority,” Brown said. Revenue “has not been a big focus, and now it is,” he added, pointing to increased advertising, subscriptions and events like the Autosport Awards, held annually in London.
Brown, who was linked last week to separate job offers from F1 team McLaren and incoming F1 owner Liberty Media, said the immediate priorities are increasing the company’s presence in the U.S., developing new content delivery in the form of virtual reality, and building out its new OTT network. The company just acquired Motors TV, a formerly linear broadcaster that airs 700 live events annually and will become the backbone of the new Motorsport.tv.
