Apple CEO Tim Cook has to be happy after seeing the final ESPN F1 viewership numbers. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
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With the 2025 Formula 1 season in the books, the broadcast agreement with Disney-owned ESPN in the U.S. has now expired. The final viewership numbers show how much interest in the global racing series has grown, and that’s bound to make Apple happy.
In their final year, ESPN averaged 1.3 million viewers across ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC for the 24-race season in 2025. That’s an all-time high, surpassing the 1.21 million that was set on ESPN Networks in 2022.
All but three of the 24 races had year-over-year viewership growth. Australia, China, Monaco, Spain, Canada, Austria, Great Britain, Belgium, The Netherlands, Italy, Azerbaijan, USGP at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA), Mexico, Las Vegas, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi. Miami, Singapore, and Brazil were the three races that did not have year-over-year viewership increases.
Over the life of ESPN’s eight-year broadcast deal, the interest in F1 in the U.S. grew at a significant rate. From 2018, when the deal started, to the end of the 2025 season, viewership grew +135%. Comparing 2025’s numbers to the last year of the F1 on NBC in 2017, growth was +142% (538,000 average viewers in 2017 compared to 1.3 million in 2025).
How Apple TV Benefits From The ESPN Numbers
After being flat in 2023 and 2024, ESPN saw a record audience for Formula 1 broadcasts in its final year of the broadcast deal. For Apple TV, which will begin airing all races, qualifying, and practice sessions in 2026, the bump should be a positive.
A key factor in the increased interest in 2025 was the competitive Drivers’ Championship, which saw Lando Norris crowned world champion in the season’s final race at Abu Dhabi. Going into the race, he, Max Verstappen, and Oscar Piastri all had a shot at the title. That race saw an average if 1.5 million viewers on ESPN, peaking at 1.8 million, based on Nielsen Big Data + Panel data. That kept interest high after the prior two seasons, which were dominated by Verstappen and his Oracle Red Bull team.
While data is not publicly available, Apple reportedly had 45 million subscribers in 2024. That’s likely grown with programming hits such as Severance, and the newly added Vince Gilligan smash hit, Pluribus. The big tie-in with Formula 1 was the Apple-produced F1: The Movie starring Brad Pitt, which grossed more than $600 million at the box office, making it the highest-grossing sports movie of all time, and has just been released for streaming on Apple TV.
In 2026, Formula 1 will roll out new car regulations that, in theory, should create racing parity. Apple TV is going to seize on it all, and based on early looks at how they will produce and package the series, there’s much to be excited about.