Formula 1, the global car racing series controlled by Liberty Media, has long struggled to crack the US.
That was until the pandemic struck, nobody knew what to watch, and we all tuned into Drive to Survive, Netflix’s fly-on-the-wall documentary on the sport. No longer hidden behind their helmets, the drivers shone through like never before.
F1 now races in Miami. More than 440,000 people showed up at the US grand prix in Austin, Texas last weekend, the highest turnout at an F1 race this season. The inaugural Las Vegas event is set for next year.
But it wasn’t always so easy. Burke Magnus, president of programming and original content at Disney’s ESPN, recalled the early days of the broadcaster’s relationship with F1.
“It was so big globally yet so obscure in the US market we knew there had to be an opportunity there,” he said.
From screening races in the US for pennies to renewing the rights for around $85mn a year, Magnus says the sport is “red hot right now”.
But the sport has a long way to go to cut through like English football. The Premier League scored around $450mn a year when it renewed its US broadcast rights with Comcast’s NBC, as TV companies scrap for the rights to showcase elite live sport.
So what would help F1 catch up? “If ever a top-notch US driver gets involved at a team level that’s unrealised upside for them,” says Magnus.