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F1 Midweek: Fruitful Endeavor? Apple Primed To Win F1 Broadcast Rights
(Photo Florent Gooden / DPPI)

F1 Midweek: Fruitful Endeavor? Apple Primed To Win F1 Broadcast Rights

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The way U.S. fans watch Formula 1 is about to change, as Apple is poised to acquire television rights in 2026.  

Apple’s $150 million bid for United States broadcast rights feels like a bargain, and often, a bargain is what you get when there is no other competition. Disney’s ESPN currently holds US broadcast rights, but with Apple’s bid coming in at purportedly double ESPN’s $75 million deal, ESPN has already bailed on trying to maintain F1 rights. ESPN allowed a period of exclusivity to lapse earlier this year, a time during which they could have renewed their F1 contract without the sport seeking deals from suitors willing to pay more. As bidding wars go, ESPN is waving the white flag, while Apple is prominently displaying a bright green, color-of-cash flag, as well as trying to wave a checkered flag, as this deal is all but finished. 

Did Walt Disney, even in his wildest dreams, envision what started as an animated mouse becoming a corporation that would procure the rights to televise races in a sport that didn’t even exist until Disney, born in 1901, was 50 years old? He most certainly did not. And his cryogenically frozen head must be spinning right now. 

Netflix and Amazon both expressed some interest in broadcast rights earlier, but those prospects waned as Apple’s pursuit gained more momentum. 

Apple’s bid comes on the coattails of the success of Apple Studios’ “F1: The Movie,” which has already grossed over $300 million worldwide, and counting. Apple is banking that movie fans, enamored by what was presented to them in the movie, will work as a lure to watch actual F1 races. Apple is also banking on the fact that those same movie fans have no concept of the term “creative liberties.” For those who find the concept of a 50-something Sonny Hayes making an impact in F1, then your opinion of the movie and an Apple subscription is, in both cases, “I don’t buy it.” 

While diehard F1 fans are more than happy to pay to watch races, casual fans would not be so eager to shell out a monthly or yearly subscription to watch races. Yes, someone who is already a Formula 1 fan would most likely pay for an Apple subscription in order to watch races. Apple is counting on this demographic to drive subscription sales. 

You can’t discuss Apple and F1 without mentioning the core audience of the sport, which has exponentially increased due to the popularity of Netflix’s “Drive To Survive” docu-drama series, which began in 2019 and introduced many to the sport, its personalities, controversies, and rivalries. However, will the sport continue to grow as it has over the last six years, with growth primarily dependent on attracting new fans who are also willing to pay extra for the privilege of viewing? Apple is expecting it to; otherwise, they would not be pushing to enter the F1 world. 

The beauty of “Drive To Survive,” at least in ESPN’s eyes, was that Netflix laid the groundwork of turning viewers on to F1, viewers who then flocked to watch races on ESPN. In all likelihood, viewers who subscribed to Netflix also had easy access to ESPN, which is the most basic of basic channels in any TV package. So while Netflix put in the work, ESPN reaped many of the benefits.

The same situation may not work in the same manner should Apple win broadcast rights, as future viewers of “Drive To Survive” who become “glamored” by F1 likely won’t be able to just pop over to a channel to which they already have access. To ensure perspective, Netflix is estimated to have 85 million subscribers in the US, compared to Apple TV’s 45 million.      

In case you live under a rock, or still acquire your television via antenna, Apple TV is home to a surfeit of original programming, such as “Ted Lasso,” “Severance,” and “Shrinking.” Apple TV sports programming is limited to Major League Baseball games and Major League Soccer. It makes sense, financially and content-wise, for Apple to make a play for such a fast-growing sport, if for no other reason than to widen its sports content footprint. 

And what is $150 million to a multi-billion-dollar corporation like Apple? “Expendable” and “affordable” are words that come to mind. At the very least, Apple can utilize its F1 broadcast rights to promote its expanding catalog of movies, TV shows, and sports content, as well as its products. Many F1 fans are fascinated by the technology of the sport; Apple and F1 are both considered cutting-edge in technology in their respective arenas. If you can’t sell the latest iPhone to an F1 fan, then you’ve failed spectacularly. It’s easy to imagine an F1-branded iPhone 17; it’s just as easy to imagine the $8,000 price tag.     

And of course, consumers who are already Apple subscribers, who happen not to be F1 fans, could easily be drawn into the intrigue of the sport.  

Some people, like me, were introduced to F1 when they woke up early on a Sunday morning after crashing at a friend’s house, turned on the TV, flipped the channel to ESPN, discovered an F1 race, maybe the 1994 Hungarian Grand Prix, and were instantly fascinated, mainly with the enthralling screams of a V-10 or V-12 engine, and the standing start, and a driver rivalry that, at the time, featured F1 legends Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill. 

Now, if you wake up at a friend’s house on a Sunday morning, can you even expect them to have Apple TV? And there are probably at least five remotes on the coffee table in front of you. So, could you even decipher the correct combination of remotes to use to get Apple TV on the screen, and then find the F1 race amongst the many viewing options? I doubt seriously Apple has even considered these exact scenarios, but they are situations that bear contemplation. After all, the younger demographic is the key one.

Assuming you successfully tune in to the race, you’ll soon be hooked on the sport, especially since there will likely be a saga involving Max Verstappen that captures your eye. Imagine tuning into your first F1 race and seeing Verstappen intentionally taking a hard right directly into the side of an opponent, then pretending it was an accident. You can’t look away, and Apple then has you right where they want you.

Side note: NASCAR should institute a standing start at one of its road course races. If 39 cars clear the first corner cleanly after a standing start, then NASCAR drivers would certainly and officially be declared the greatest drivers in the world. 

Formula 1 is such a popular sport that it seems highly unlikely that Apple’s low-risk gambit to enter the sport could fail. The question of how much the sport would benefit is the one that is left open. Apple has the incredibly deep pockets to nourish that potential, then ride it to huge financial gains, but whether or not it also expands its reach and influence is up for debate. 

For Apple, acquiring the rights to broadcast F1 is low-hanging fruit. For fans, that’s another question.

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