From theaters to TVs: Apple bets its F1 movie buzz can drive viewers to the races on Apple TV
Apple succeeded when it brought Formula 1 to the big screen last year.
It hopes many of those viewers will watch on their televisions and mobile devices when the season begins this weekend with the Australian Grand Prix, as Apple TV begin its stint as F1’s U.S. broadcast partner.
Apple reached a five-year deal with the global motorsports series last fall, averaging $150 million per year. ESPN, which had carried F1 races since 2018, paid nearly $90 million during a three-year extension signed in 2022.
“We certainly think that over the next five years, we have a great opportunity for Formula One and Apple TV to grow the sport significantly. In the U.S., it’s grown quite a bit, but at the same time it’s still relatively small to the size of the fan base,” Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, said during a briefing last week. “We would go into theaters when we were testing the (F1) movie, and we would ask people to raise their hand if they’d ever watched a race, and very few hands went up. But after they watched the movie, if you ask them, do you want to go see a race or you want to see a race, basically, all the hands went up.”
“F1: The Movie” grossed $189.6 million in the U.S. and $633.3 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing sports film of all time. It received four nominations for the March 15 Academy Awards, including best picture.
Ian Holmes, Formula 1’s chief media rights and broadcast officer, said the potential Apple brings beyond just showing the races was another important factor.
“I’d say we are probably the only sport in the world whose audience is getting younger and more female-skewed, and that couldn’t be more represented than currently in the U.S.,” he said. “The way that Apple is able to offer its content as the most forward-looking approach that we could pursue. We felt that this was incredibly important about being relevant and always available to our audience and to potential new fans.”
Apple will show races in 4K Dolby Vision with immersive 5.1 surround sound. This is available to Apple TV subscribers, with some races for non-subscribers.
Viewers can watch up to four live feeds at once during practices, qualifying and races via multi-view displays. In addition to in-car cameras, there will be timing and scoring channels.
Viewers can also choose either the commentary team from F1 TV or Sky Sports. ESPN used the Sky Sports feed when it aired the races.
In addition to content in its sports app, Apple will also offer detailed circuit layouts in its Maps app, driver-curated playlists in Apple Music, and content in Apple News and podcasts.
“We’re excited about the relationship that we built with Formula One, and we got a lot closer together and appreciated each other and our abilities to innovate together, come up with new ideas,” Cue said.
Apple TV is also showing the latest season of “Drive to Survive” as part of a collaboration with Netflix. The series, in its eighth season, has also been credited with increasing F1’s popularity.
Netflix will also carry Apple TV’s feed of the Canadian Grand Prix for U.S. viewers from May 22-24.
The biggest question is whether viewers will follow F1 to Apple TV. That did not happen immediately when Major League Soccer moved to Apple in 2023.
F1 went from averaging 550,000 viewers in its first year in 2018 on ESPN to 1.3 million last season.
Apple is not part of Nielsen’s ratings system, and the company has closely guarded viewer numbers during its relationship with MLS.
Besides a thrilling title race between Lando Norris, Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri, there are new car regulations and Cadillac joins the grid.
“We think there’s a huge opportunity for growth, and we’re going to take everything that Apple has available. We think there’s a huge opportunity to grow the sport significantly,” Cue said.
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