Formula 1 has signed a new deal with ESPN which will see it remain on the network until at least 2022.
Under the new contract, Spanish-language coverage will also be broadcast on ESPN Deportes from the 2020 F1 season.According to F1, race viewership has increased since it moved from previous home NBC to ESPN in 2018. The series claims to have an average audience of 671,000 viewers across ESPN’s channels so far this year, an increase of 24% compared to its final year on NBC in 2017.
ESPN will continue to broadcast Sky Sports UK’s live coverage of the races and will show them without adverts. Formula 2, Formula 3 and the Porsche Supercup will also be broadcast by ESPN.
The network was the first to broadcast F1 in the USA, in 1962, and showed the sport between 1984 and 1997.
“Our partnership with ESPN has delivered a 19% increase in viewership across the US and we are delighted to extend our partnership through to 2022,” said F1’s managing director Sean Bratches.
“The US is one of our key focuses for growth and ESPN know and understand the US sports audience like no one else. The combination of their dedicated coverage and Formula 1’s amazing racing spectacle is a perfect partnership for us to build on our recent success with US audiences.”
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RB (@frogmankouki)
1st November 2019, 19:01
Great to hear that it will remain commercial free. It’s made races considerably more enjoyable, and I hope it will contribute to a larger audience in the US.
BTW: You may mean 1982 rather than 1962, as ESPN wasn’t started until 1979.
MEGATRON M12 (@megatron)
1st November 2019, 19:27
ESPN is probably considered as part of ABC’s wide world of sports which could have broadcasted F1 back in 62. Or you could be correct.
@frogmankouki
Daniel Vary
1st November 2019, 19:08
Hopefully we’ll get a similar broadcast deal here in Canada when current rights agreement with TSN/RDS expires at the end of this season. Currently we have to put up with adverts (as a small concession, we do get picture in picture) during the race broadcast, but it always seems to fall at crucial moments in the race, and the ad breaks can sometimes be over 5 minutes long. I also hope we’ll get coverage of all F1 practice sessions and Formula 3 races next year.
MPH
1st November 2019, 19:19
This must be a joke, ESPN does the worst job for this Franchise. While the Sky F1 team does a good job with the commentary, ESPN screws it up every time. ESPN does not provide a good introduction for the sport, has not figured out, how to break for commercials and they end the broadcasts abruptly.The recent Mexican race was a delayed broadcast, why? ESPN does not care about this sport, they get it for free and they treat it like excess content. F1 cannot be serious about growing the market in the America’s, when they burden their fans with ESPN. The broadcast for Indy is way better than F1, maybe this is all a ploy to get us to buy an F1 subscription. Liberty Media is doing somethings right, unfortunately they are failing on this front.
schooner (@schooner)
1st November 2019, 20:00
If you are getting commercial breaks during the races, you must be watching re-broadcasts. Since ESPN took over, every qualifying session and every race has been shown live, commercial free, and in its entirety. The Mexican GP broadcast was not delayed. It too was aired live and commercial free, but it was on ABC … not ESPN. I’m pretty sure that will also be the case for the USGP on Sunday.
ykiki
1st November 2019, 20:06
Yes, it was live on ABC where I live as well – as will be the case with this week’s USGP.
nickp
1st November 2019, 21:01
Three more years of commercial-free F1 races!
frank fisher
1st November 2019, 23:07
oh POO!
i miss the 3 amigos.
im so tired of ESPN cutting out 1/2 way through the post race interviews.
we dont get all the pre race stuff either.
bring back NBC and Hobbo.