The 2025 System 1 season attracted file viewing figures for the US as ESPN concluded its eight-year run as the game’s American broadcaster.
The season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – a three-way title decider between Lando Norris, Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri – averaged 1.5 million viewers on ESPN, peaking at 1.8m, based mostly on Nielsen Large Knowledge + Panel knowledge. That marked the sixteenth occasion viewership file out of the 24 races in 2025, whereas 21 of the 24 had year-on-year will increase – solely Miami, Singapore and Brazil didn’t register a rise.
The total season common of 1.3m per race is a brand new file for F1 within the U.S., beating the earlier mark of 1.21m from the 2022 season, and marking a 135% improve on ESPN’s first season of its newest spell.
This was the ultimate season of ESPN’s eight-year run as F1’s broadcaster within the U.S., and the game noticed vital viewing determine development throughout that point. The inaugural season again on the community that first broadcast F1 – the primary race aired in America was on ABC in 1962, whereas ESPN additionally held the rights from 1984-97 – attracted a mean of 554,000 per race in 2018, rising to 672,000 the next yr.
The COVID-hit 2020 season noticed a mean of 608,000 tune in for every race, earlier than a giant soar to 948,000 in 2021 for the season-long championship battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
ESPN has averaged greater than 1,000,000 per race since that time, with the previous two years seeing a mean of 1.1m, having provided commercial-free protection for the reason that second race of its stint.
Liberty Media took over F1 in early 2017 and dedicated to a better concentrate on the U.S. market, that now boasts three races in Miami, Austin and Las Vegas. ESPN was granted the rights that had been beforehand held by NBC the yr after Liberty’s takeover, and 2025’s viewing figures mark a 142% improve on the ultimate yr of the NBC deal.
Whereas ESPN bid to retain the rights, subsequent yr the F1 broadcasts give solution to streaming on Apple TV, with Apple’s senior vice chairman of companies Eddy Cue not too long ago saying the platform has “considerably extra” than the beforehand estimated 45 million subscribers.
