How Brad Pitt Helped F1 Make a $150M Power Move

Formula 1 just signed a shiny new and ultra-lucrative deal to give Apple TV exclusive broadcast rights to races in the United States. Their next order of business? Thanking Brad Pitt.

This reported agreement is expected to be worth between $120 million and $150 million per year, with more recent estimates coming in at $140 million. That is a massive uptick from the $90 million per year ESPN apparently had on the table.

Many experts saw this windfall coming. The popularity of F1 is skyrocketing across the United States. Momentum began crescendoing during Netflix’s first season of F1: Drive to Survive. It has continued to build in the years since. Consumer ratings across F1 events are up, and sportsbooks have reported large increases in F1 bet volume over the past half-decade or so.

Still, around $150 million per year is more than even the most optimistic projections anticipated. Some saw F1 rights reaching $100 million per year. But the new deal will be worth around $750 million—three-quarters of a billion dollars—over its life. That far exceeds expectations. And at least part of that bump comes thanks to Brad Pitt’s recent movie.

F1: The Movie Played a Part in Negotiations

F1: The Movie released across the United States on June 27, 2025. On its face, the idea that F1 would wait for it to drop before continuing broadcast negotiations sounds farfetched. Yet, this is exactly what happened.

Consider this excerpt from Luke Smith of The Athletic:

“F1 was keen to wait for after the film’s release before escalating talks about the 2026 rights deal, allowing its success to make an impact on negotiations. Although ESPN remained interested in F1, it was unwilling to go beyond its existing terms of around $90 million per year. Apple, by contrast, was willing to go much higher. Sources speaking on condition of anonymity indicated to The Athletic the offer was in the region of $120-150million per year.

“That extra cash injection was always going to appeal to F1, especially given its growth and evolution in the U.S. since the last ESPN deal was struck. Fees from broadcasters are an important source of revenue for F1, around half of which then gets paid through to the teams in the form of prize money in the constructors’ championship. Going with a more lucrative offer would please not only F1’s shareholders but also the competitors.”

Waiting for the movie to debut was no doubt a risk. Especially when you consider the mixed reviews it received from critics before hitting the public. However, the risk paid off.

Pitt’s F1 movie grossed over $628 million worldwide, including around $200 million in the United States alone. Equally important, this made it Apple’s highest-grossing film of all time.

So, this wasn’t just a matter of proving that F1 held more appeal to the domestic masses. It also ended up being proof of concept to a bidder. Apple was able to see firsthand how much F1 content could resonate with its audience.

Can F1 Become More Mainstream in the United States?

While this is a huge victory for F1 and its drivers, the next half-decade will say a lot about the sport’s popularity.

A move to a streaming service theoretically acts as a guardrail to access. ESPN still has its cable-television medium. Apple TV is a pure streaming play. That to some extent subjects F1 ratings to subscribe counts and growth, which is always iffy territory.

Still, executives from F1 and Apple apparently have ambitious marketing plans in place, including an integration blueprint that will feature it across Apple News, Apple Music and all of its various other mediums.

Whether this pays off will be a matter of course. F1 certainly has more fans in the USA than it did a few years ago. But without the cache of MLB or even MLS domestically, it’ll be interesting to see if it can continue growing, or whether Apple can figure out how to disseminate content in a way that draws in new subscribers.

For now, though, the deal is a rousing success for F1. Waiting to see the fate of the F1 movie earned it an extra $50 million per year. Put another way: F1 guaranteed itself an extra $250 million over the next five years just by waiting to see how a Brad Pitt movie fared at the box office.