Do drone racers make money

CNN With a flash of lights, the whirr of propellers and the odd crash, the race is over in the blink of an eye. Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what’s happening in the world as it unfolds. More Videos These are machines that travel from miles per hour in under a second, their pilots requiring laser-sharp focus and rapid reflexes to navigate complex courses. Follow cnnsport. That title currently belongs to Jordan «Jet» Temkin, winner of the first two editions held in and One of the racing drones flown at the grand finale in Saudi Arabia. That is easier said than done with the added pressure of 3, screaming fans packed into the arena in the King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia for the Drone Racing League grand finale. The DRL estimate they reached more than 50 million global broadcast viewers in their first two seasons, but it’s online where the league is really taking off.

#1. Earn money selling aerial photos and footage

If you’re a tech-minded individual with fast reflexes, the Drone Racing League is hoping you’ll consider a career in professional drone racing. Amateur drone racing started out five years ago in Australia. DRL co-founder and CEO Nick Horbaczewski had previously been the chief revenue officer at Tough Mudder, and was looking for an opportunity to get in on a sport that was on its way up. And while the sport hasn’t reached a critical mass of popularity, the DRL is starting to make headway. The second season broadcasts in 75 countries including on Sky Sports in the U. The company has also had to invent new cameras to capture the high speed flying devices, which provides the league with an additional revenue stream. About Qualifying for the DRL isn’t as easy as it seems, however. It only accepted 16 pilots this season.

Drone Training

Pilots mostly hail from North America and Europe, but Asian countries are starting to pick up the sport, Horbaczewski said. He noted that Japan, China and Korea have more restrictive rules against flying drones, which he thinks has limited the growth of professional pilots. In addition, pilots are only allowed to fly DRL’s drones, which lack stabilization technology, hover abilities and other things that make it easier to fly them. However, taking out those features also makes DRL’s version faster and more agile than traditional models on the market. DRL drones are not available for public purchase, although the league is releasing a toy version later this year. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox. Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. All Rights Reserved. Data also provided by. Skip Navigation. Markets Pre-Markets U.

Just to mention a couple, construction and insurance companies use drones very regularly. This way, the particular resort hotel will be more attractive for the visitors and potential customers. Commentators will call the race live and there will be pre- and post-race interviews with racers, but there will also be first-person camera views from the drones. UAV technology is quite developed these days, and as a result of this, there is a broad range of great drones on the market. Moreover, the trips by ground vehicles could be too expensive sometimes, or difficult due to logistics in some areas. Read My Review. If you want to do special tricks, stunts or combat, make sure you have enough programmable buttons to support them. On the other hand, drones have the ability to notice missing people, or whatever you are searching for, from the air with ease.

Who Employs Drone Pilots?

This weekend, pilots will gather to race in front of the Manhattan skyline at speeds of more than 60 miles an hour. National Drone Racing Championships. For drone racers, organizers and enthusiasts, Disney-owned DIS, Drone-racing leagues have been springing up around the country for the past few years, with more appearing just in the past few months.

There are dozens of small or regional leagues that organize small events. Then there are the contenders, a handful do drone racers make money bigger leagues—like Drone Sports Association, the Drone Racing League and the International Drone Racing Association—that are all vying to become the Nascar of flying robots. Among these bigger players, no one league has yet to emerge as the heavyweight: some leagues have secured significant investment, while others are taking the lead in major sponsorship deals or broadcast contracts.

Another league, the Aerial Sports League, is going to open a full-scale, drone racing entertainment complex in San Francisco this month. Also this month, a racing series called DR1 will be the first drone race to stream on popular social gaming platform Twitch. GPRO, The ESPN broadcast will combine features of a traditional sports broadcast with elements that have grown out of the popularity of professional videogame events, dubbed eSports.

Commentators will call the race live and there will be pre- and post-race interviews with racers, but there will also be first-person camera views from the drones. Some 3D Fun while filming with the RotorRiot crew! Plus all the cool footage from the Canyon, Dam, and Mall! Still trying to figure out what to do with all of it hahaha. For many sponsors, the similarities between drone racing and eSports, as well as other new technologies, are the main draw.

No other sport comes closer to capitalizing on. Despite the appeal for sponsors, many in the drone racing community wonder if there is enough support for so many leagues to survive. Zoe Stumbaugh, a drone pilot who is competing momey weekend, said she thinks consolidation must happen for the sport to make money.

If raders did happen, it would follow a similar pattern set by other sports in the past. The biggest pro eSports players can pull in millions. No drone racer is making anything remotely close to that type of money right now, but Barati says he could see that happening as the drone-racing industry erone and more companies come in wanting to sponsor pilots. One of those drone racers is Luke Bannister, a year-old from the U.

Her experience as a pilot has led her to an assortment of odd jobs, like setting up feeds for streaming sites focused on drones. Until very recently, drone racers had to be tinkerers. That all changed two years ago, when Horizon Hobby introduced the Blade Nano QX drone, a ready-to-fly racing drone that cost only a few hundred dollars.

Horizon Hobby is known for making RC cars, airplanes and helicopters, but Blade brand manager Steve Petrotto says drones continue to grow, especially as more people are exposed to drone racing—whether on ESPN this weekend or in another race. The frame to build a newer, popular drone called the Tiny Whoop, which is small enough to fly around living rooms, sold out on Horizon Hobby after a famous drone pilot posted a video on Miney of him flying it in April.

Our supply for the rest of the year burned up in a week. But the company this month is opening a drone-flying facility in South Koreawhich includes areas to race drones. INTC, AirVuz, one of the more popular websites for racers to post videos, had drobe, visitors in July, CEO Mike Israel said, four times more than in June and about 20 times more than May.

Sally French is a former racera media editor at MarketWatch. Economic Calendar Tax Withholding Calculator. Retirement Planner. Sign Up Log In. By Sally French. Comment icon. Text Resize Print icon. But can this new mone sport attract enough attention—and money—to go mainstream? Bloomberg News.

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Is it really possible to make a living as a professional drone racer? Jordan Temkin is living proof that you. Temkin, aka «Jet,» was the original Drone Racing League world champion, after winning do drone racers make money inaugural season in Mnoey he will racres to defend his title — a pursuit that beings in the opening round of the DRL Playoffs in Munich, airing Tuesday, July 18 at 8 p. The year-old Seattle native still can hardly believe he’s supporting himself by flying drones or that it led him all the way to Europe for the first time in his life. So I took up drone racing just for a minute, and to have that become the reason I’m in Europe traveling for two weeks, it’s a dream come true. Temkin first discovered drones, and drone racing, three and a half dl ago.

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He eventually built his own drone, and it was love at first sight. He’d been working three jobs — in a photography dark room, at a sandwich shop and at a library. Two years ago, with enough money saved up to live off of for drine year, he quit all three jobs to dedicate himself to drone racing full-time.