Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has stated publicly that Apple TV's exclusive U.S. broadcasting rights for the sport will deliver greater reach than ESPN achieved during its eight-year tenure ending in 2025. The declaration — made on February 23, 2026, during preparations for the 2026 season opener at Melbourne's Albert Park Circuit on March 7 — signals F1's leadership is fully committed to the streaming-first future, even as it means leaving behind a cable network that grew the sport's U.S. audience substantially over the past decade.

Apple secured exclusive U.S. Formula 1 media rights starting with the 2026 season through a reported multi-year deal valued at approximately $85 million per year — replacing ESPN's previous package, which had been valued at approximately $90 million annually when it was agreed. Coverage includes all 24 races in the 2026 calendar, practice sessions, qualifying, and ancillary programming, available exclusively through the Apple TV app and Apple TV+ subscription tier.

Apple's deal includes no blackout restrictions for U.S. viewers and integrates Formula 1 content into Apple's broader sports ecosystem — which already features MLS Season Pass and MLB Friday Night Baseball.

ESPN's Eight-Year U.S. Tenure: What Was Built

ESPN held exclusive U.S. Formula 1 rights from 2018 through 2025 — a period that coincided with the sport's remarkable American resurgence. Over that span, driven in part by the Netflix series Formula 1: Drive to Survive, average race viewership grew from 554,000 in 2018 to 1.1 million in 2024. Total U.S. viewership for the 2024 season reached approximately 45 million unique viewers across ESPN platforms, including linear TV and streaming.

That growth gave ESPN and F1 significant leverage — but it also exposed the structural limitations of the cable model. U.S. cable and satellite households declined from 83 million in 2018 to 62 million in 2025, a 25% collapse driven by accelerating cord-cutting. Every ESPN subscriber lost was a potential F1 viewer removed from the accessible audience pool, regardless of the sport's growing cultural resonance.

U.S. cable/satellite households dropped from 83M → 62M during ESPN's F1 tenure (2018–2025) — a loss of 21 million potential viewers from the accessible pool, purely due to cord-cutting trends.

The Apple TV Deal: Structure and Scale

Apple's agreement with Formula 1 places all U.S. coverage behind the Apple TV+ subscription tier and within the Apple TV app, available across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV (set-top box), and supported smart TVs. It follows the template Apple established with MLS Season Pass — exclusive streaming rights that remove the sport entirely from linear television.

Apple TV+ reported over 100 million subscribers worldwide as of late 2025, with significant growth in the U.S. market. Critically, the Apple TV app itself is available on a far wider base of devices than the subscriber figure implies — including non-Apple smart TVs, Amazon Fire TV, and Roku — meaning the total accessible audience is substantially larger than the subscriber count alone.

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Why Domenicali Believes Apple Wins on Reach

Speaking ahead of the Melbourne opener, Domenicali cited four structural differences he expects to drive higher reach than ESPN managed:

Streaming-first model. Eliminating the cable subscription barrier means any Apple device user — or any owner of a compatible smart TV — can access Formula 1 without an existing pay-TV subscription. That removes the single largest structural access constraint ESPN faced.
On-demand availability. Full race replays and highlights accessible immediately after events — essential for U.S. audiences dealing with time zone differences for European and Asian race weekends. An audience that couldn't watch live can still watch within hours.
Integrated ecosystem. Push notifications, Siri integration, and cross-promotion across Apple services — including App Store placement and potential bundling with Apple One — give F1 distribution channels ESPN never had access to.
Global platform scale. Apple's 2.2 billion active devices worldwide provide an addressable audience pool that ESPN's linear TV footprint cannot match. Domenicali highlighted this global reach as a key advantage in his public comments.

Apple's global subscriber base and distribution reach are structural advantages over ESPN's cable-heavy model. We are confident that this partnership will reach more U.S. fans, and more global fans, than any previous broadcast arrangement.
— Stefano Domenicali, February 23, 2026

U.S. F1 Viewership: The Numbers Apple Needs to Beat

Formula 1's U.S. audience grew steadily throughout the ESPN era, accelerated by the cultural impact of Drive to Survive and the arrival of American driver Logan Sargeant and the subsequently expanded U.S. race calendar. Average race viewership increased from 554,000 in 2018 to 1.1 million in 2024 — a near-doubling — while unique season viewership reached approximately 45 million across ESPN's platforms.

Apple's streaming model is expected to capture both traditional viewers and younger demographics who prefer on-demand and mobile viewing. 68% of U.S. adults aged 18–34 reported preference for streaming over linear TV in 2025 surveys — precisely the demographic Formula 1 has been cultivating most aggressively since the Netflix era began.

68% of U.S. adults aged 18–34 prefer streaming over linear TV (2025 survey data) — the exact demographic F1 has been building since Drive to Survive launched on Netflix.

The Risk: Subscriber Barriers and Discovery

Not everyone shares Domenicali's confidence. The central counterargument is that ESPN — for all its cable decline — remained a default destination. A cable subscriber scrolling through channels on race day might stumble across Formula 1. An Apple TV+ subscriber has to actively open the app, navigate to sports, and find the race. Passive discovery on cable has historically driven meaningful casual viewership that streaming platforms struggle to replicate.

MLS Season Pass — Apple's first major exclusive sports deal — reported a mixed first season in 2023, with viewership figures that disappointed some club executives who had expected Apple's distribution scale to translate immediately into mass audiences. F1's existing and more deeply engaged U.S. fanbase arguably provides a stronger foundation — but the migration risk is real.

Apple is reportedly working with Everpass Media to bring Formula 1 coverage to bars, hotels, and commercial venues — the out-of-home viewing segment that has been essential to building sports audiences and that Apple's direct-to-consumer model would otherwise miss entirely.

The 2026 Season: Apple's Debut Stage

The 2026 Formula 1 season begins on March 7 at Albert Park, Melbourne — the Australian Grand Prix. Apple's exclusive U.S. coverage starts with this opener, marking the first complete season under the new rights agreement. The 24-race calendar spans five continents and retains traditional venues while introducing updated technical regulations (new power unit architecture, active aerodynamics) and revised sprint race formats.

The year-end viewership data for 2026 will be the first true test of Domenicali's assertion. If Apple can grow average race audiences beyond ESPN's 1.1 million peak — ideally toward 1.5 million or higher — the transition will be regarded as a decisive strategic win for both F1 and Apple Sports. If viewership stagnates or declines, the critics who warned that streaming exclusivity sacrifices casual reach for subscriber economics will be vindicated.

Timeline: F1 U.S. Rights from ESPN to Apple

When a tech giant with 2.2 billion devices steps into the broadcast booth, even the grid might need to recalibrate its audience expectations.