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Apple is in talks to acquire the US rights to screen Formula 1 as the tech giant chases the success of its hit movie based on the race car series and delves further into showing live sport.
The iPhone maker is challenging Disney’s ESPN — Formula 1’s current American broadcaster — when the broadcast contract becomes available next year, according to two people familiar with the discussions.
The interest comes as F1 starring Brad Pitt becomes the company’s first big box office success since moving into the business of making original content for its Apple TV+ streaming service.
Formula 1’s US owners, Liberty Media, are hoping the film, along with Netflix’s Drive to Survive documentary series, will have increased the value of the rights for its races by attracting younger, female and American audiences to the sport.
F1 has generated roughly $300mn at the box office making it Apple’s highest-grossing film, while representing a pivot into producing mainstream blockbusters after commercial disappointments with Killers of the Flower Moon and Napoleon.
Apple has previously made moves into the live sports streaming, striking a deal with Major League Baseball in 2022 to broadcast games on Friday nights, as well as a broader deal with North America’s Major League Soccer.
The race car series makes in the region of $85mn a year from its existing broadcast partner ESPN. F1 also streams live races on its own streaming service in the US, charging fans directly.
Analysts at Citi have previously estimated that F1’s next US broadcast deal could be worth $121mn a year, although that was before the release of the F1 film. Its total global media rights revenue grew almost 8 per cent to about $1.1bn in 2024.
F1 is yet to make a decision on its future broadcasting arrangements and ESPN may yet retain the rights, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
ESPN had an exclusive period of time to negotiate a deal without competition from other bidders. However, that window ended without a deal last year, opening the process to rivals. Other bidders are also expected to seek the rights.
The US is a priority market for Liberty Media, which has added Miami and Las Vegas to its race calendar in recent years, complementing its grand prix in Austin, Texas. Cadillac, the US brand backed by billionaire financier Mark Walter’s TWG Motorsports and General Motors, will join the grid as the 11th team in 2026.
F1’s audiences on ESPN have doubled from 554,000 viewers a race in 2018, the year after Liberty Media took over Formula 1, to roughly 1.1mn in 2024. In the first 10 events this year, F1 averaged 1.3mn viewers, with record viewership for Australia, China, Monaco, Spain, Canada and Austria.
Apple does not break down revenue for Apple TV+ and its production company Apple Studios, instead including them in its $100bn-a-year services revenue, which encompasses products such as the App Store, iCloud and Apple Pay.
Apple, Liberty Media and Formula 1 declined to comment.
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