Last Updated on February 7 2025, 2:30 am

Formula One is on the move, since Liberty Media acquired the commercial rights for the sport in 2016. The USA contribution to sponsorship in the sport has more doubled in less than a decade which is visible from a quick glance at a team like Williams. Now every inch of the Grove based teams F1 cars have more partner logos than they do blank paint space when compared to the bland white and blue Martini liveried cars of ten years ago.

Last summer Williams announced they had closed the books on new sponsorship deals given their focus was to add significant value to the partners already on board.

Bernie Ecclestone, once the F1 supremo, took F1 racing from the muddy fields of Europe to become a global sport with more annual eyeballs than any other annual sporting series on planet earth. In the years when the soccer world cup or the Olympics are in town, only then does F1 play second fiddle to these global national team style sports, yet other than that it is unchallenged in the TV ratings.

 

 

 

US TV audiences explode

In the USA TV audiences have doubled in the last five years, although admittedly this was from a fairly small base. Yet TV broadcasting income revenue for live F1 racing is still a large part of the total revenues it receives.

At the home of F1 in England, where soon nine of the eleven teams will base a significant part of their operations, Sky F1 is the TV broadcaster of choice for the sport and their standard F1 weekend includes more than twelve hours of broadcasting time. The broadcaster will remain their exclusively live home for F1, together  with their Irish neighbours across the small straight of water which separates the old world nations.

Sky currently have a deal to broadcast live F1 until the eve of the turn of the decade in 2029 having taken over the UK broadcasting responsibilities from the BBC back in 2012. Their latest deal in 2019 has seen Sky grow the TV viewership by some 60% and now hits 1.7m viewers on each of the 24 race weekends throughout the season.

Since the deal began just six years ago, there are 4.3m million new viewers who have switched on to Sky F1, with 1.7 million ne women watching what was traditionally a male dominated sport. Sky dominates the European broadcasting schedules, with Sky Italia seeing a rise of viewership in less than five years rising some 20% to an average of 1.5m eye balls.

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Sky F1 deal to 2029

Sky Germany saw its most successful season last year with a 24% increase in viewers tuning in with half of their audience under the age of 35 and with 40% being women, deemed so at birth. “We are incredibly proud of our long-term partnership with Sky, and we are delighted to announce that we will continue working together until 2029, a very important commitment from Sky,” said Stefano Domenicali, president and chief executive of Formula One when the deal was announced.

“Since the beginning of our relationship in 2012 we have both strived to bring the excitement, emotion, and drama of Formula One to our traditional fans while engaging new and more diverse audiences.

“Formula One has seen huge growth in recent years, and I can’t think of a better partner to continue to reach our fans with dedicated, expert and in-depth coverage.

“Sky not only brings fans live coverage but a range of behind-the-scenes access and content that brings Formula One to life. We are hugely excited about the future of the partnership and the journey of Formula One.”

F1 to become English based sport with the exception of Ferrari

 

 

 

New kids on the F1 block with streaming options

Stephen van Rooyen, executive vice president and chief executive of Sky UK & Europe, added: “Formula One continues to break records on Sky, with millions more watching than ever before across our markets, driven by new younger and female fans which is fantastic for the sport.

“More than 80 countries will continue to enjoy our world class analysis and content of one of the most exhilarating sports in the world.”

But now theres a new kid on the block as streaming has become the de facto way in which people consume their home entertainment. Netflix is expanding its sports portfolio with big money deals to broadcast the most popular soccer league in the world, the English Premier League.

With USA TV audiences growing year on year, Netflix have announced they are considering a bid for the US-based rights to Formula One as they seek to capitalise on their hit F1 series, “Drive to Survive.” The fly-on-the-wall documentary series has been immensely popular ever since it burst onto screens in 2019 and continues to be credited as responsible for the growth of the sport, not just in the USA but as a whole.

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US traditional broadcasters dither

ESPN who have the current rights to the US F1 broadcasting market have been dithering as the North American rights are soon to expire, but as yet have failed to renegotiated a new deal with the sport.

Netflix are believed to be ready to make their move for the US F1 TV rights when the bidding for the 2026 season and beyond gets underway in the next few months. Much of the reason for the Netflix interest is due to its ever increasing appetite to stream more kinds of programming than just movies and TV box set series.

Amazon Prime beat Netflix to the deadline in the recent bi=dding to show UK premier league football. To this end they believe by capturing the US F1 TV market, they will be positioned well to challenge Sky F1 TV in Europe, when the rights come up for renewal a year before the turn of the decade.

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A fresh look at F1 programming

Sport is the latest fad for the TV streaming companies and the recent Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul fight returned huge numbers for Netflix, with the fight believed to have been the most-streamed sporting event of all time. While the expectations is that the UK’s relationship with F1 through Sky sports is not presently in jeopardy, the next five years is a very long time and a successful Netflix offering in the US could well change all that.

Should Netflix get a foot in the door in the world’s most watched annual sporting series, this will strike fear into the hearts of the Sky F1 executives across the UK, Italy and Germany alike. The US based company will need to deliver innovative coverage of the F1 racing to prove they are the next generation of broadcasters worthy of the sport and not just regurgitate the same US formula which applies to much of its sports coverage.

 

 

 

 

Russell reveals why Mercedes are dark horses for 2025

Formula One has in recent years become somewhat predictable although there have been bright spots of high drama. The climax to the 2021 season was one of the most epic in living memory as Max Verstappen had to deny off a resurgent Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes.

The seven ties champion won against the odds the three Grand Prix prior to the season finale in Abu Dhabi, to set up what proved to be a cliff hanger finish to the year as the drivers title was decided on the last lap of the last race of the year.

2024 also delivered its fair share of excitement as Red Bull and Verstappen suffered a ten consecutive F1 weekend drought of wins whilst Lando Norris and McLaren were closing in to challenge for the championships…. READ MORE