Eddy Cue, the Vice President of Services for Apple, was speaking at the Autosport Business Exchange (ABX) in New York City on Wednesday, focusing on the growing interest in Formula 1 stateside as the event celebrates the rise of racing in America.
“The athletes, they’re incredible athletes,” remarked Cue. “What they can do, very few other athletes can do… you have those incredible brands and I love Cadillac coming onboard. So you have all these brands, and cars that are involved in it.
“It’s much more than just driving now. There’s a whole social component, culture component, with the athletes themselves. Even the team principals have become movie stars or TV stars now.
“We [Cue and Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff] were having dinner last night in Soho and he gets stopped all the time for photos. Everybody’s like, go way back, like five years ago, nobody would know who Toto was as he was walking down Soho. Not everyone, but tonnes of people do know. So I think there’s a huge potential for the sport in the US, specifically.”
A lot more room for growth
Toto Wolff, Mercedes
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Apple is considering purchasing the broadcast rights to F1 in the United States for upwards of $150million. Just over a decade ago, NBC bought those same rights for just $4million per year. Cue also noted that there is so much room for growth. While F1 has seen a notable increase in US viewership, it’s still only about one million people on ESPN.
“I think in the US everyone talks about how big Formula 1 is,” said Cue. “And the reality is, [this] is because it was nowhere. And so if you’re nowhere, it’s gotten huge.
“But the truth is it’s not huge. It’s only about a million people or so watch a given race. And so when you compare it from a sports point of view, that’s pretty tiny. So there’s a huge potential for the sport, and when you look at it, it’s a sport that’s global, it’s the only sport in the world that I can recall it where the actual events take place everywhere in the world – not in a single place.”
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