Netflix is emerging as the potential new home for Formula 1 in the US as a bidding process for the live broadcast rights from the 2026 season onwards is due to begin.
The streaming service already plays a key role in growing the championship, with its seventh series of the Drive to Survive documentary series airing on 7 March.
But Motorsport.com understands Netflix is now strongly considering a bid to secure live streaming rights to F1, with current holder ESPN’s exclusivity period to discuss fresh terms now expired.
As reported by Autosport Business in October, there was early mummering within ESPN that a new deal would not be struck with Liberty Media, with the 2026 deal expected to eclipse the $90million a year currently being paid.
Drive to Survive became a hit for both Netflix and F1 when the first season dropped in 2019 and only grew its audience during the lockdowns that followed the outbreak of COVID-19.
It is understood that, as things stand, the latest series – likely to drop in the coming weeks – is currently the last for which Netflix has a contract to produce, while a new docuseries based around the all-female F1 Academy will land on the service later this year.
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Camera operator and Yuki Tsunoda at Mexican GP 2021
In November, Netflix hired Kate Jackson to run their live sports output having previously led ESPN’s coverage of F1 in her role as vice president of production.
Since then, it has made moves to have live sports content available to subscribers with the Mike Tyson v Jake Paul boxing bout breaking records in November for the most-streamed sports event of all time.
That was followed up with two NFL fixtures streamed on Christmas Day before a $5billion 10-year deal to globally stream WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) programming began in January.
Added to winning the US broadcasting rights to the 2027 and 2031 Women’s World Cup, it is clear that a live sport strategy has become a key ambition for Netflix.
That could now extend to Formula 1, which has become more popular than ever in the American market, especially among the younger, female demographic.
A previous home of F1 in America, ESPN returned with a new broadcasting deal for the 2018 season – paying no traditional fee for the rights, with Liberty keen to get F1 into as many living rooms across the country as possible.
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Burke Magnus, ESPN and Stefano Domenicali at United States GP 2022
The next deal then saw ESPN pay $5 million a year between 2019-2022 before a new agreement was signed in 2022 running through 2025, with at least 16 races airing on ABC and ESPN.
Although, following the groundswell of interest from American audiences, the Disney-owned broadcaster had to pay much more for the privilege – a reported $90m annually.
ESPN had a record-setting 2022 with the most-viewed F1 championship ever broadcast on US television and from 2023 onwards screened all 23 races – 18 across ABC or ESPN and the remaining five on ESPN2.
Last year, the triple-header across the Americas was given the best-in-class treatment by ESPN, with GameDay on the ground alongside the network’s regular team in Austin, Mexico City and Sao Paulo.
Elsewhere, ESPN utilises the Sky Sports F1 coverage, but it is believed a continuation of such agreement is unlikely to continue should Netflix ultimately win the rights.
Any new deal for the US rights will not have an immediate impact in the United Kingdom, where Sky has an agreement in place until 2029.
