07/06/2022
NEWS STORY
On the back of the success of its Drive to Survive series, Netflix is understood to be lining up a $100m a year bid for rights to live coverage of F1 in the US.
The rights are currently held by (Disney-owned) ESPN but the agreement comes to an end this year, and in the wake of the so-called boom that has followed Drive to Survive potential broadcasters are said to be lining up.
Such a move would be a first for Netflix which has previously avoided live coverage of sport.
In the first quarter of 2022, the streaming giant lost subscribers for the first time in almost a decade, nonetheless this still left it with 221.6 million subscribers globally, including 74.6 million in the U.S. and Canada.
It's believed that Liberty is seeking in the region of $100m a year and other than Netflix and ESPN, NBC Universal and Amazon are also said to be lining up bids.
While much has been made of the fact that ESPN's viewing figures are currently breaking all previous records, with the Miami event drawing an average 2.6 million viewers on ABC - the highest-ever figure for a US F1 broadcast, one has to ask if the rumoured $100m fee is feasible.
Indeed, while ESPN is understood to be offering $70m a year, it currently pays in the region of just $6m.
"We obviously would love to continue to partner with F1 long term on this," said John Suchenski, ESPN's director of programming and acquisitions, according to SportsProMedia.com, " and continue to grow the sport here and their property in the US.
"So we're hopeful," he added. "We have nothing obviously to announce at this time on that front. We still have the rest of the season to get through as well as next season. But we're definitely hopeful that we can continue our great partnership with them.
"They're obviously very pleased, as are we. It's a great mutual partnership and something that we hope can continue for many years into the future."
With Las Vegas joining the schedule next season, Suchenski says ESPN wants to play a part in F1's continuing popularity in the US.
"We have regular dialogue on (how ESPN can help)," he said. "They're very transparent with us on what they are planning this year. We partner with them on what they did in LA and Miami earlier this year, we're looking to partner again with them in Austin, so we use our outlets to help push their messaging and stuff. So that's one way. Obviously, they're very good at what they do on their own as well, too.
"I think they can reach the core fans more so maybe than even we can, and them continuing to do that is great. And I think what they've been doing thus far has been really good and I certainly think it's helped contribute to what we've seen with the growth for this year and everything."