It’s no secret that Formula One’s popularity in the U.S. is blooming, with the sport having more than doubled its stateside viewership since Netflix first aired its F1-based reality docudrama “Drive To Survive” in 2019. Across that time, the series has been reliably broadcast on the Disney-owned ABC family of networks, typically presented commercial-free on ESPN. With the average race drawing around 1.5 million American viewers, that is a pretty substantial haul of eyeballs. ESPN reportedly contracted to broadcast F1 for around $75 million per year, but that contract is coming to an end and the series wants more money for its increasingly popular racing product. According to reports from The Athletic, ESPN has bowed out of negotiations to keep the series on its network, as Apple reportedly offered $150-$200 million per season for the broadcast rights.
Apple has recently seen first hand what a success the F1 circus has become in America, debuting the Brad Pitt-led “F1 The Movie” last month to great hype and reasonable box office success. I’m sure there’s a boardroom out there somewhere with an Apple exec talking to someone at Formula One saying words like “synergy” and “potential.” With Apple’s much bigger bid, it looks like F1 will be moving to the Apple TV+ streaming app, with F1 hoping to cash in on a bunch more money and Apple hoping to drag a few hundred thousand F1 fans to sign up for an Apple TV+ account. Even if you don’t have an Apple TV+ subscription, this is probably a good move for the series.
What can Apple do for F1?
While ESPN has been a great partner that has seen F1 grow substantially in the last 8 years, it probably makes sense to move on. Despite ESPN being delivered to around 70 million homes in the U.S. right now, paid cable television is continuing to trend downward, particularly among younger viewers in F1’s target demographic. Streaming is the future of the sport, and the tie-in with Apple is probably about as good as they come. Apple says it has around 45 million subscribers for its streaming service probably best known as “the place where you watch Ted Lasso” which is admittedly smaller than ESPN, but gives viewers more options to watch the racing. Unlike the current deal with ESPN, Apple viewers could watch F1 on-demand, without having to pay for F1’s own F1 TV service. No more staying up until 2 a.m. to watch a race in some far-flung nation, you can sleep in on your Sunday and wake up to put the F1 on over coffee. Doesn’t that sound delightful?
More importantly for Apple, its $9.99 per month streaming service is cheaper than F1 TV’s $10.99 per month subscription fee, and would probably draw quite a few new subscribers into the fold. Apple is focusing on a strategy of delivering quality original programming to combat the Netflix strategy of dumping huge loads of quantity on its members. Netflix, with around 82 million U.S.-based subscribers, was reportedly putting in a bid for the F1 broadcast rights a few years ago when ESPN’s last contract was renewed, but sources say it is no longer interested in pushing the sport, despite its wildly successful efforts with “DTS.” Perhaps the docudrama would also move to Apple’s servers in a deal this monumental.
