F1 not a “major player” in the US yet, says new Liberty CEO Derek Chang

• F1 reportedly wants up to US$180m from next US media rights deal
• Netflix and Apple interested, NBC and ESPN unlikely to submit bids
• F1 executives were surprised by Las Vegas GP’s poor sophomore season

Formula One is not a “major player” in the US yet, according to Liberty Media’s new chief executive Derek Chang.

The global motorsport series has significantly upped its presence in North America since Liberty’s takeover in 2017 and now has three US races on its calendar in Las Vegas, Miami and Austin.

That has helped Formula One grow its audience in the US, where the series now averages upwards of one million viewers per race.

However, speaking at JPMorgan’s Global Technology, Media and Communications conference in Boston, Chang acknowledged that the series still has room to grow in the country ahead of its next media rights deal.

“We’re obviously looking for a [domestic] partner that can help us continue to grow the fanbase,” Chang said. “We are, I believe, in the US still pretty early on, especially when you compare against other US domestic leagues. Which means there’s a lot of head room, and it’s up to us to go out and capitalise on it.”

Formula One reportedly wants up to US$180 million per year from its next US broadcast deal. BlackBook Motorsport understands that current broadcast partner ESPN is prepared to let the rights go, while NBCUniversal chief executive Mark Lazarus has ruled out his company making a bid.

This leaves Netflix in pole position to pick up the series’ US media rights in the US, which would align perfectly with the streaming platform’s hugely successful Drive to Survive docuseries.

Apple has also been linked with the rights, but the platform would likely only be interested in a global deal – something that would not be possible given the series’ exclusive agreements in major markets like the UK and Germany which still have several years to run.

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Formula One currently plays second fiddle to Nascar in the US. The stock car racing series is averaging 3.37 million viewers this season compared Formula One’s average of 1.23 million viewers.

In fact, Formula One’s largest audience of the season (2.2 million for the Miami Grand Prix) would be the second-lowest of the Nascar Cup Series so far, only just beating the 2.05 million that watched the Bristol race.

Chang, who replaced former chief executive Greg Maffei on 1st February, also revealed that Formula One executives were surprised by the poor performance of the Las Vegas Grand Prix in its sophomore season, which saw the event struggle with ticket sales.

“The fall-off from the first year to the second year was a bit more dramatic than anticipated, but we see the path going forward now,” Chang added.

“We see the tickets moving better this year than we did [at this time] last year, so we’re cautiously optimistic that the gameplan is playing out as we anticipated.”

Formula One has invested a huge amount of money into the Las Vegas Grand Prix – setup costs exceeded US$500 million in year one – but the full benefits are unlikely to be truly felt until years down the line.

The creation of the Grand Prix Plaza, which cost US$240 million to build, is also likely to ease concerns among executives. A new year-round programme will drive revenue outside of just the race weekend itself if Las Vegas becomes a destination for Formula One fans.