Netflix, ESPN, NBCU, Amazon Racing To Win US Formula 1 Rights

US media rights for Formula 1 are up for grabs and Netflix is among the suitors, according to Business Insider citing three people familiar with talks. 

Netflix has been holding talks for months, the sources told Insider, along with Disney-owned ESPN, which has held US Formula 1 rights since 2017. One person told Insider that Comcast's NBCUniversal, which held the rights for the previous five years, is in the mix, as previously reported by Sports Business Journal. That person and a fourth source said Amazon is also a bidder. ESPN submitted an opening bid in the region of $70 million, one of those people said, noting that figure is well below the $100 million that Liberty Media's Formula 1 is now targeting.

ESPN confirmed its talks in a statement from John Suchenski, director, Programming & Acquisitions. "We are aggressively pursuing a renewal — we feel that we have a distribution package and event presentation that can't be matched in the industry and the viewership and exposure growth they have received since returning to ESPN platforms in 2018 is reflective of what we can do for them," he said. "It has been a mutually beneficial relationship."

"Understandably, they are looking at other options," Suchenski continued. "We had very good meetings with them in Miami recently and are in constant communication." Sports Business Journal previously reported on the Miami talks.

"Based on the success of 'Drive to Survive,' it would seem obvious that Netflix would be an interested participant and that Formula 1 would feel similarly," said Sean Bratches, the former managing director of commercial operations at Formula 1, who was previously ESPN's EVP sales and marketing.

Bratches, who joined Formula 1 when it was acquired by Liberty Media in 2017, made the deal to land the documentary series after recording market research interviews with fans from Beijing to Barcelona who felt they couldn't get close to the cars or the drivers. "Drive to Survive" delivered what they asked for. 

Formula 1, which boasts a global fan base and a bite-sized rights fee compared with major US sports, would be a fit for Netflix for other reasons. A new streaming license would begin in 2023 — ESPN's rights expire at the end of this year — and could provide a lift-off for Netflix's new advertising-supported subscription tier, currently slated to launch at the end of 2022. 

ESPN said its May 29 telecast of the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix averaged 1.4 million viewers, up 43 percent over the 2021 edition of the race. The next race is set for June 12 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

If Netflix does win the rights, it would be yet another significant pivot for the company, which has long shied away from live programming, advertising, and sports, only to reverse itself after suffering a 200,000 subscriber decline in the first quarter that wiped $50 billion off its market value. Netflix engineers have been working on building live programming capabilities for the streamer.

With Apple recently making a deal to stream Major League Baseball and bidding on NFL's "Sunday Ticket," Amazon prepping to launch exclusive streaming of NFL's "Thursday Night Football," and Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery already armed with a range of sports content on their streaming services, it's easy to see how Netflix could get left behind if it sits out of sports rights bidding.