"F1 The Movie" is a masterclass in content marketing from Apple

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Like many of you, I jumped at the chance to see F1 The Movie during opening weekend. 

The movie had a $144 million box office debut and has become both Brad Pitt's biggest career opening and Apple's most successful theatrical release to date.

Apple pulled out all the stops for this film, from product placement and driver cameos to building a custom camera rig and a star-studded soundtrack. 

But there’s an ulterior motive. 

Liberty Media is actively seeking $150-180 million annually for new U.S. broadcasting rights for F1, nearly double the current value of ESPN's deal, which is approximately $90 million per year. ESPN declined to renew, opening the door for negotiations with other media partners, such as NBC, Netflix, among others—including Apple.

So what does F1 The Movie currently have to do with it? 

Apple could have just made a movie, like they did with their other originals, like Killers of the Flower Moon, Napoleon, and Fly Me to the Moon. While those movies were good, they didn’t compare to the caliber and effort that went into F1 The Movie. 

F1 The Movie isn’t just a movie, but rather a piece of content marketing for Apple to leverage in its pursuit of the U.S. streaming rights for F1 next season. 

At its core, content marketing exists to create organic brand awareness and drive conversion for a product or service. The success of content marketing initiatives is typically measured by metrics such as social impressions and engagements, pipeline attribution, content downloads, and leads generated. 

From a content marketing perspective, the goal of this movie was to establish cultural relevance for F1 and increase American market penetration, a goal Liberty Media has been pursuing since the release of another F1 content marketing piece, Drive to Survive, in 2019. 

How are Liberty Media and Apple measuring the success of this film in achieving those two goals? 

Spoiler: it’s not box office success.

Liberty Media is after something else: race viewership. 

The pressure is on to determine whether the cultural relevance and Hollywood treatment of sports are enough to attract race viewership for the rest of the season. 

F1 race viewership averages around 1.1 million viewers per race, which is significantly less than that of other U.S. sports. The 2025 Miami Grand Prix drew 2.17 million viewers, a 29% decrease from the previous year's 3.07 million. 

According to Nielsen, F1 viewership grew 10% when Drive to Survive first aired. It’s no surprise that Liberty Media is banking on F1 The Movie to boost viewership.

In theory, if the movie achieves its intended purpose—creating more cultural relevance for the sport in the U.S. and increasing viewership—Liberty Media has the ammunition it needs to justify the premium broadcast pricing. 

And position Apple as a contender to win the rights. 

All in all, the entire movie is a masterclass in effective content marketing from Apple. Moreover, it’s charting new territory for media rights negotiations in sports leagues, relying less on traditional metrics like viewership and focusing more on creating moments of cultural relevance, as measured by social media engagement, brand partnerships, and content collaborations.

Liberty Media has until the end of this year to select a new home for U.S. F1 broadcasting rights for the 2026 season. 

Will the success of the movie successfully position Apple as the frontrunner to win the streaming rights? Only time will tell.

Alexa Phillips is a writer, brand strategist, and multi-passionate creative. She is the founder of Bright Eyes Creative, a Seattle-based brand consultancy and media company that helps founder-led brands and creatives design content-driven brand experiences and media.

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