Hopes were high for Apple TV and F1 streaming in early 2026, but a recent set of data suggests that things fell off sharply in May and viewership has been down double digits since. Statistical analysis of viewership numbers is a tricky game on its own, especially when dealing with viewership numbers on Apple platforms. Samba is an analytics company that thrives on data obtained, often without the user's knowledge, thanks to being embedded in smart TV software.

Apple, however, is a company that offers the Apple TV set-top box and the Apple TV app, sans Samba. Given that, a report from USA Today on data obtained from Samba is an interesting peek into Apple's deal with F1. The primary focus of the report is on two events being down over 60% in viewership numbers: Miami in May down 68% and Monaco in June down 66%.

The Canadian Grand Prix at the end of May was down 23%. We're supposed to take this data, and the remaining races being down double digits, as some kind of terrible outcome for Apple's partnership. However, the worst of the numbers may fall into 'tough compare' territory.

The report notes a rather important piece of information about midway through — Miami's, Monaco's, and Canada's races were broadcast on ABC in 2025, which drove two million or more viewers for those races. Note that broadcasting these races on a network like ABC is an advantage for Samba's tracking systems. Samba's data shows a decline, but it could also be a decline in Samba's visibility.

Image source: Samba and USA Today ESPN helped F1 see its biggest viewership numbers in 2025 with about 1.3 million viewers per race across ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC. However, Apple itself confirmed that F1's 2026 debut race in Australia beat ESPN's viewership numbers. Samba's chart shows that race viewership is down 4%.

Obviously, these are two contradictory datapoints, but that doesn't mean either is wrong. Let's get into these numbers and why they may not represent what Apple and F1 are seeing. Samba has limited insight.

One of Apple's most prideful positions is on privacy-preserving hardware and software. Anyone that watched F1 on an iPhone, Mac, Apple TV, or via the Apple TV app on Android smartphones didn't get their viewership numbers recorded by Samba. Samba will see if a viewer watched an F1 race if it is being watched on a smart TV that is connected to the internet, running Samba at the base OS level, and is showing content on the screen.

Only then will it get viewership data through direct access to data shown in a streaming app on the TV or through pixel-peeping content. For example, if you've got an Apple TV and your smart TV isn't connected to Wi-Fi, Samba won't track it.