Apple TV’s Formula 1 coverage has reportedly seen sharp year-over-year viewership declines since May, although the available data does not provide a complete picture of how many people are actually watching races through Apple’s platforms.
USA Today, citing data from Samba TV, reported that household viewership fell 68% for the Miami Grand Prix, 66% for Monaco, and 23% for Canada compared with 2025, while several other races also recorded double-digit declines.
Those comparisons come with an important limitation because Miami, Monaco, and Canada aired on ABC last year, giving the races access to a much larger traditional TV audience that Samba could track more easily. ESPN averaged about 1.3 million viewers per Formula 1 race across ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC during 2025.
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Samba cannot track every Apple TV viewer
Samba collects viewing data mainly through supported internet-connected smart TVs, which means it has limited visibility into people watching Formula 1 through iPhones, Macs, Apple TV hardware, or some versions of the Apple TV app.
That gap helps explain why Apple previously said the 2026 Australian Grand Prix exceeded ESPN’s earlier viewership figures, while Samba’s data showed a 4% year-over-year decline for the same race.
The 2026 calendar also faced disruptions after several races were canceled because of instability linked to the US-Iran conflict, creating a long break before Miami and potentially affecting casual interest.
Samba’s figures still show a decline among the households it can measure, but they do not represent Apple’s full streaming audience. Apple and Formula 1 have not released complete season-wide figures, so a clearer picture will require official data from either company.
Apple holds US Formula 1 streaming rights through 2030.
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