As Formula 1 viewership continues to rise, the series is reportedly set to re-up with ESPN for a dramatically increased rights fee.
Formula 1 has agreed to a media rights extension with ESPN through 2025 and informed rival executives at NBC and Amazon that those companies’ respective bids will not be accepted, Sports Business Journal reported Friday. ESPN will increase its current F1 rights fee as much as 18-fold from $5 million per year to $75-90 million.
Amazon was reportedly willing to pay as much as $100 million per year for rights that would have included the ability to sublicense races to a broadcast network. NBC, which held F1 rights prior to ESPN, was in the same general price range as ESPN. Per the report, Netflix — home of the F1 reality series “Drive to Survive” that has been widely credited as a factor in the sport’s rising popularity — was also a bidder, but not close financially to the other contenders.
Under the new deal, ESPN will continue to carry races on its flagship network and ABC, with select races set aside exclusively for ESPN+.
The new deal comes amidst a ratings renaissance for Formula 1, which averaged a record U.S. audience last season and is poised to easily surpass that mark this year. Viewership through nine races was up 39% to 1.3 million.
Last Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix averaged a 0.55 rating and 1.72 million viewers on ABC, marking the largest audience on record for the race. The previous high was 1.5 million for the 2007 edition on FOX.
Max Verstappen’s win, which peaked with two million viewers, delivered the fourth-largest F1 audience ever on U.S. television — trailing only the 1995 Brazilian Grand Prix on ESPN (1.74M), this year’s inaugural Miami GP on ABC (2.07M), and ABC’s taped coverage of the 2002 Monaco GP (2.78M). Three of the top five races have come this season alone, with last month’s Monaco GP in the five slot (1.61M).
Largest F1 audiences ever on U.S. television
This year’s races highlighted
[News from SBJ 6.24, Nielsen estimates from ESPN PR]
