Formula 1’s return from an unplanned month long hiatus is not only a time to see how rules tweaks will work, it offers an opportunity for Apple TV to have a second launch in its first year as F1’s U.S. broadcast partner.
Add into it that this weekend’s race is in Miami — traditionally one of the most-viewed of the season not only in the U.S. but worldwide — and hopes are high that casual viewers of the sport will be able to increase audiences.
“I think it’s a relaunch in a way. We’re treating it and we were treating it in a huge way anyway, and we’ve kind of probably even done a little more, but we’ve got a lot of things coming up for the race, so we’re very excited about it,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services.
Apple reached a five-year deal with the global motorsports series last fall, averaging $150 million per year. ESPN, which had carried F1 races since 2018, paid nearly $90 million during a three-year extension signed in 2022.
Miami is the first race since the Japanese Grand Prix on March 29. The Iran war forced F1 to call off April’s races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Apple is showing the races in 4K Dolby Vision with immersive 5.1 surround sound. Viewers can watch up to four live feeds at once during practices, qualifying and races via multi-view displays. In addition to in-car cameras, there are timing and scoring channels.
Viewers can also choose either the commentary team from F1 TV or Sky Sports. ESPN used the Sky Sports feed when it aired the races.
“I think the first feedback that we’ve gotten in general is how good the video quality is because we do Dolby Atmos and we do 4K and we really don’t compress at the levels that all of the others do. The first time you watch a race, you’re like, ‘Wow, this looks amazing.’ The video and sound quality is just really, really good,” Cue said. “We’ve had almost a third of the people that are watching the race are taking advantage of multiview, because we’ve made it easy to do that where you can watch the key feed and watch your favorite cars.”
Apple TV is also adding two shows before and after race weekends.
“Circuits in Focus” debuted on Thursday and features 2016 F1 champion Nico Rosberg and creator Emelia Hartford previewing the circuit where the race will be run heading into the weekend, including strategy and key areas of the track that could define the race. Rosberg and Hartford will use the EA Sports F1 25 video game to take viewers into the driver’s seat to show where there will be chances for drivers to overtake or defend their position.
“POV” will take place after races. It features former Red Bull Racing senior technician Calum Nicholas as well as content creator and engineer Christina Roki as they react and analyze key points from the weekend from a technical point of view.
Apple is also adding an on-demand, 10-minute recap of qualifying to join its race reviews.
In addition to content in its sports app, Apple also offers detailed circuit layouts in its Maps app, driver-curated playlists in Apple Music, and content in Apple News and podcasts.
Besides the content on Apple, Sunday’s race will be shown nationwide from 50 IMAX locations. The race will also be shown in Times Square in New York.
The Tubi streaming “The Fast Lane: Miami” altcast features YouTube influencers Michelle Khare and Jeremiah Burton along with F1 expert Scott Mansell.
Apple is not part of Nielsen’s ratings system, and the company has not released ratings on the first three races. Cue said they have been pleased with viewer figures.
“I think fans have in some ways been surprised by how good everything’s turned out. We haven’t released any numbers yet or anything. We’ve been very happy with it and you’ll soon see more about that,” Cue said.
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
