Apple is in negotiations to acquire Formula 1 broadcasting rights in the United States after the success of its championship -based film, in a movement to establish even more on live sports screening.
The iPhone manufacturer is challenging Disney’s ESPN – Formula 1 – American broadcaster, whose broadcast contract is available next year, according to two people inside the discussions.
The interest arises in the wake of the success of the movie “F1”, starring Brad Pitt, which has become the first big box office phenomenon of the company since entering the original content production business for its streaming service, Apple TV+.
Formula 1 American owners Liberty Media expect the film, along with Netflix’s documentary series “Drive to Survive”, has increased the value of their races by attracting younger, female and American audiences to the sport.
“F1” generated about $ 300 million (the equivalent of about $ 1.6 billion), becoming Apple’s biggest box office, and represented a change for conventional blockbusters after commercial disappointments with “flower moon killers” and “Napoleon”.
Apple has already made movements in live sports streaming by closing in 2022 an agreement with Major League Baseball to broadcast the games on Friday nights, as well as a broader deal with Major League Soccer from North America.
The racing series receives about $ 85 million ($ 464 million) a year from its current broadcast partner, ESPN. F1 also broadcasts live races on its own US streaming service, charging directly from fans.
Bank analysts Citi earlier estimated that the upcoming US F1 broadcast agreement could be worth $ 121 million per year, although this was before the release of the movie “F1”. Its total global media rights revenue grew almost 8%to about $ 1.1 billion ($ 6 billion) in 2024.
F1 has not yet made a decision on its future transmission agreements, and ESPN can still maintain rights, according to one person involved in the matter.
ESPN had an exclusive period to negotiate an agreement without competition from other bidders. However, this window ended without an agreement last year, opening the process for rivals. Other bidders are expected to also seek rights.
The US is a priority market for Liberty Media, which has added Miami and Las Vegas to its racing calendar in recent years, complementing its big prize in Austin, Texas.
Cadillac, an American brand supported by TWG Motorsports by billionaire financier Mark Walter and General Motors, will join the grid as the 11th team in 2026.
F1 audiences at ESPN doubled from 554,000 viewers per race in 2018 – next to Formula 1 by Liberty Media – for about 1.1 million in 2024. In the first ten events this year, F1 had an average of 1.3 million spectators, with record audiences for Australia, China, Monaco, Spain, Canada and Austria.
Apple does not discriminate Apple TV+ and its production company Apple Studios, including them in their $ 100 billion service revenue (R $ 546 billion), which covers products such as App Store, Icloud and Apple Pay.
Apple, Liberty Media and Formula 1 refused to comment.
