Liberty Media CEO Derek Chang says that initial results of Formula 1’s switch to Apple TV as its U.S. broadcast partner have been “promising”—and he says there’s been no “outlash” from fans who might be resistant to changing where they watch the sport.
Apple took over American TV duties from ESPN starting this year, with a promise to give more access to fans and use its multiple platforms and massive pockets to help to promote the sport. Last weekend’s Miami Grand Prix was the first race in America since the deal began, following three races in Australia and Asia that didn’t land at a favorable time slot for Apple’s U.S. viewers.
“The initial results have been promising,” Chang said on Thursday in a call with Wall Street analysts. “Our partnership with Apple and its tech-forward platform is already delivering early innovative enhancements to our F1 product, with multi-view, data feeds and onboard features, creating a more engaging viewing experience for our fans. Viewership increased through the first three races of the year. Fan engagement is up.”
Chang noted that Apple’s wide reach is already showing benefits and attracting new fans. “We’re attracting a younger and more female audience, and we’re seeing expanded reach across the vast Apple ecosystem,” he said. “Alongside Apple, we rolled out a series of dedicated marketing activations that significantly amplified the Miami race across both the city and the country, including nationwide Apple store retail pit stops, Apple Maps integration, and the launch of new original F1 programming over the race weekend.”
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Apple senior vice president of Services Eddie Cue and president and CEO of Formula 1 Stefano Domenicali at the Apple TV Press Day on February 03, 2026.
He insisted there’s been a good reaction to the new arrangement from existing F1 fans in the U.S. “I think that what we see now is the viewing across all segments of sort of the race weekend has been very strong. I think that Apple has done a great job of bringing people to the ecosystem,” Chang said. “On the risk mitigation side, I think probably anytime you change broadcast partners, you always run the risk of having a lot of fan outlash—that they can’t find it, or things like that, or it’s not as good. And we haven’t had any of that. In fact, it’s been to the positive in terms of how consumers have been interacting with the product, with the viewing—and the commentary out there has been it’s been a good experience for them.”
With a sample of just four races thus, far F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali stressed that the relationship with Cupertino is a long-term deal that he believes will gather momentum. “We don’t have to forget two things,” said the Italian: “Our fan base is younger, and there are a lot of females—around forty percent in the U.S.—and that’s why we do believe that Apple will guarantee to them a much more suitable way to live that experience.”
“We don’t have to forget that the other positive effect of what is a journey that just happened, that we just did only four races; and of course, it will be a long deal. So every weekend, there is something that we learn, and [we] will improve. There is the possibility, as it has happened, for Apple, to use different platforms—IMAX, stores, and other activations that have been done—which will generate more interest and more followers. And I would say it’s a more dynamic way to live our sport.”
Dom Gibbons – Formula 1//Getty Images
He added, “There is a tremendous effort on Apple also to deliver some new technical content. And this is a long-term journey, that so far has been very, very successful, because we are just at the beginning of a new journey—where I would say, of top of the four races, the first three were not really let’s say, time-friendly, for the U.S. market.”
He stressed that the deal has the full backing of Apple’s top management. “We do believe that this is just the beginning of something that will create even more attention for the future—and which I can confirm, because Eddy Cue [senior VP of services] was present in Miami—Apple is full on board. Full on board, confirmed by Eddy Cue; but also the future CEO of Apple [John Ternus], who is a racing fan.”
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