ESPN is on pace to register record Formula 1 viewership figures for the 2025 season, in what looks set to be its final year as the sport’s host broadcaster in the United States.
The Italian Grand Prix at Monza drew an average of 1.2 million viewers on ESPN2 on Sunday, with a peak audience of 1.4m as Max Verstappen dominated and McLaren instigated team orders to nullify a slow pit stop for Lando Norris. That marks the 10th event record of the season, with all but one of the races this year also registering year-on-year gains.
Miami is the only event not to exceed last year’s viewership figures, while the Italian Grand Prix now joins the races in Australia, China, Monaco, Spain, Canada, Austria, Great Britain, Belgium and The Netherlands in setting a new record U.S. audience for each event.
The 2025 season is currently tracking at an average of 1.4m viewers per race across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, up on the 2022 record average of 1.21m. With eight races to go, the title fight between the two McLaren drivers will come to a head, while there are also two races in the United States – Austin and Las Vegas – and the Mexico City Grand Prix still to run.
Entering the final third of the season, there is still no confirmation of the next holder of the broadcast rights in the United States, but sources have indicated that Apple TV is well-placed to take over from ESPN, following a year-long negotiation period. The two emerged as the main bidders earlier this year, following interest from other streaming giants Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
“I think it’s been pretty well documented in terms of the negotiations,” Liberty Media CEO Derek Chang said during an appearance at the Goldman Sachs Communcacopia & Technology Conference this week. “We are pretty far along and we’re pretty happy and comfortable with where we’re going to end up. Hopefully we’ll have something to talk about relatively soon.
“The more substantive question is what we are looking for and what we’ve been looking for? I think it’s a good time to talk about the media landscape and not to go do a history lesson, but as everyone knows, in the past it was like, you do a deal with a media partner and it’s like, ‘OK, there’s many games or there’s many events that you got and the events are two hours or an hour and a half and that’s the focus and that’s what you’re selling.’
“Now it’s much more – and this isn’t just Formula 1, but I think across the board – is your media partner even just a media partner? Are they also a sponsor? Do they have other ways that they’re going to monetize and commercialize sort of the relationship? On the flip side, how are they helping you sort of do that same thing?
“In the U.S., we’ve been on a pretty nice growth path with Austin and then Miami and now Vegas, which we’re very proud of and very happy with how that’s going. I think bringing in a partner who amplifies a lot of that for us on an overall holistic basis and driving that engagement with fans is what’s important.”
ESPN has held the rights in the U.S. since 2018, having taken over from NBC Sports early in Liberty Media’s ownership of F1.
