Apple eyes US F1 rights

Apple Inc is understood to be on the verge of making a $150m a year bid for the streaming rights for F1 in the US.

Coverage of F1 in the US is currently provided by ESPN, a division of Walt Disney Co, and it is unlikely that it will seek to match Apple’s offer.

As with much of the rest of the world, Drive to Survive brought many new American fans on board during the pandemic, and Liberty has steadily built on this, to the extent that the US now hosts three races, including Las Vegas, the first time that F1 has actually been the promoter of an event.

The F1 Movie is also having an impact, and it is understood that it is the success of the movie that has led Apple to make its bid.

ESPN took over broadcast rights of F1 in the US from NBC in 2018, when it suddenly backed out of its (then) $4m deal. Desperate to continue pushing F1 in its own back yard Liberty Media allowed ESPN to pick up the rights for free.

However, as the sport’s success in the US snowballed the broadcaster agreed a $5m a year deal in 2020, increasing to an $85m a year deal in 2023.

With Liberty forever focussed on the money – and no doubt fully aware that at some point the bubble will burst – Apple’s potential doubling of the current asking price is too much of a temptation.

According to a study by CivicScience, and reported by Blackbook Motorsport, “one-quarter of US adults now follow Formula One somewhat closely”.

While all such surveys should be taken with a pinch of salt, this one appears to require the Utah Salt Flats for it is based on 1,949 responses around the time of the Canadian Grand Prix.

Last weekend, ESPN2’s live coverage of the British Grand Prix averaged 1.5 million viewers, 19% up on last year, and according to the broadcaster, the largest audience ever for the event on US television. The audience peaked at 1.8 million between 11:30-11:45.

Eleven of the twelve races held so far have had year-on-year growth, and, according to ESPN, seven of the races have set viewership records. Seemingly this year’s race averaged 629,000 viewers in the 18-49 demographic.

Overall, ESPN reported an average of 1.2 million viewers for each race in 2022 and while this dropped to 1.1 million in 2023 it returned to 1.2 million last year.

In 2019, the year before the pandemic, ESPN was averaging 651k, so while it has doubled we are not exactly talking earth shattering figures here, especially as the population of the US is around 340 million.

At present, neither F1 nor Apple are saying anything, but if successful the rights would make a good addition to an already impressive portfolio that includes Major League Soccer and Major League Baseball.

If successful, the new deal would mark a revolution in F1 broadcasting, as fans are forced to move from the traditional means on to the streaming ecosystem.