Debut of Live Races Tops ESPN a Year Ago

Apple‘s cope with Formula 1 is just one Grand Prix in, however the tech big is bullish on what it has seen thus far.

In a signal of energy for the streaming platform, Apple’s senior VP of companies Eddy Cue tells The Hollywood Reporter that viewership for final week’s Australian Grand Prix was up 12 months over 12 months in comparison with the 2025 race, which aired on ESPN.

“The 2026 Formula 1 season on AppleTV is off to a strong start, with fans responding positively and viewership up year over year for the first weekend, exceeding both F1 and Apple expectations,” Cue says.

As is typical for Apple, the corporate declined to offer any particular numbers, though final 12 months’s Australian GP averaged 1.1 million viewers for ESPN. The Australian GP is one thing of an uncommon race, given its late-night timeslot, however any rankings enchancment continues to be an encouraging signal, particularly with extra US-friendly races like Montreal and Miami developing.

F1 has turn out to be a precedence for Apple TV, including a common cadence of occasions all year long, and becoming a member of MLS and MLB in Apple’s stay sports portfolio.

Apple secured the US rights last yearwith the Australian GP marking the primary occasion underneath the deal.

The tech firm has been looking for to leverage completely different elements of its ecosystem to advertise the occasions, together with in Apple News, Apple Music and the Apple Sports app. The firm has additionally been reducing offers with third events to develop the attain of the game, most notably putting a cope with Netflix that may carry Drive to Survive to Apple TV and the Canadian Grand Prix to Netflix.

Apple has additionally leaned into know-how for its stay protection, with a number of methods to look at the races, and 4K supply (Apple executives are at all times proud to notice the standard and latency of their video streams when discussing Apple TV).

“Fans are loving the enhanced viewing experience, including Multiview, Podium View, driver cams, and the ability to watch Formula 1 in stunning 4K with Dolby Vision for the first time,” Cue says. “The AUS GP also coincides with the biggest week ever for the Apple Sports app since its launch. We’re just getting started and are incredibly excited about what lies ahead.”

Apple, of course, had a smash hit final 12 months with the Brad Pitt-led F1 film, which is among the many movies nominated for finest image at this weekend’s Academy Awards. In a note earlier this year, Cue cited the F1 film as one of the large drivers in viewership for Apple TV in December, claiming that the platform “set a new monthly record” for engagement and viewership.

And, with the Oscars on the horizon, an F1 sequel is growing increasingly likely. The Ferrari workforce driver Lewis Hamilton, who served as a producer on the movie, mentioned on the Australian GP that a script for a sequel was already within the works.

With the media rights and now a movie franchise, Apple and F1 are linked and incentivized to develop the game within the US going ahead. While ESPN helped reintroduce it to the market, there isn’t a query that it was a secondary sport for the channel, which poured extra sources into sports activities just like the NFL and NBA.

At Apple, it’s being handled as a precedence. For F1, which means hopefully constructing a sustainable fanbase that not solely streams the races on Apple TV, however exhibits up in individual and will get engaged nonetheless they will.

“F1 has always been on and off in the US, for decades,” F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali told The Hollywood Reporter last yearsimply a few hours earlier than the F1 film’s Times Square premiere. “We weren’t capable of hook the American market as a result of on the finish of the day, we have been a little bit boastful in believing that the American followers would perceive us with out being constantly talking with the American followers and American viewers. We have been coming right here for 3 days, for the weekend, after which going again.

“The strategy,” he added, “has completely changed.”