Momentum Continues for F1 on ESPN: Spanish GP Earns Highest Viewership on Record

Barcelona

ESPN2’s live telecast of the Formula 1 Emirates Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday, May 12, attracted the largest U.S. television audience on record for the event and continued the positive momentum for the championship on ESPN networks this season.

Of the five races run so far this season, four have seen year-over-year viewership increases on ESPN networks and three have attracted the largest U.S. television audience ever for the event.

The Spanish Grand Prix, which started at 9:05 a.m. ET, earned an average audience of 645,000 viewers, up 27 percent from last year’s race telecast on ESPN2 (507,000) and up 16 percent from the audience of 558,000 on NBCSN in 2017. In addition to being the largest U.S. TV audience for the event on record, it also is the sixth most-viewed F1 race to air on a cable network on record.

Through five races this season, Formula 1 telecasts are averaging 564,000 viewers on ESPN networks, up 28 percent from the first five ESPN telecasts last season (442,000 average) and up 44 percent from NBC networks’ first five races in 2017 (393,000 average). ESPN’s audience for the first five races is also up 107 percent over last year in the Adults ages 18-34 demographic.

The next race on the Formula 1 schedule is the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday, May 26. The race airs live on ESPN at 9:05 a.m. with an encore presentation on ABC at 3:30 p.m.