Kayo Sports, the sports streaming platform of Australian pay-TV broadcaster Foxtel, has announced record viewership figures for motor racing’s 2025 Formula 1 (F1) season.
The recently ended F1 season has become the most-streamed campaign on the platform so far, with viewers streaming 898 million minutes across the season, representing a 26% increase year-on-year.
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The 2025 campaign ended on Sunday (December 7) with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which saw McLaren’s Lando Norris win the driver's title in a tight three-way race alongside Australia’s Oscar Piastri (McLaren) and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
The platform said this year’s Spanish, Belgian, Miami (US), British, and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix drew the strongest audiences on Kayo.
Parent company Foxtel said the season was also the most watched across its broader platforms, including Foxtel's linear channel, Foxtel GO, and Foxtel Now, with viewership increasing 23% from the previous season.
Adam Howarth, Foxtel Group’s executive director of commercial, sport, said: “What a ripper of a season with no clear champion until the final round.
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By GlobalData“We loved bringing every heart-stopping moment to Australians, and it’s clear they loved it too, flocking to our platforms across the season to follow every twist and turn and, of course, support homegrown hero Oscar Piastri.”
“We can’t wait to do it all again in 2026, where the stakes are higher with new drivers, new rules, a new track in Madrid – all delivered in 4K and ad-break free during racing.”
Foxtel holds near-exclusive rights to F1 in Australia as part of a four-year deal covering the 2023 to 2026 seasons, with the broadcaster providing live coverage of every session of the season split across its Foxtel platforms and Kayo.
It shares rights to the Australian Grand Prix with a free-to-air provider under the country’s anti-siphoning laws, with Paramount-owned Network Ten currently holding those rights through the 2026 season.
With Foxtel’s current rights deal with F1 coming to an end next year, negotiations have begun for the 2027 season onwards, with rival sports broadcaster Stan Sport interested in snapping up the rights.
Earlier this year, Matt Stanton, chief executive of Stan’s parent company Nine Network, told reporters that the broadcaster was “definitely” interested in bidding for the rights for the next cycle.
However, Foxtel is keen on retaining the rights, having recently been acquired for $2.2 billion by sports streaming platform DAZN, which holds F1 rights in Japan, Portugal and Spain.
Paramount and Network Ten are also reportedly interested in bidding for the full F1 rights, having settled for one race per season for the 2023 to 2026 cycle.
The 2026 F1 season kicks off with the Australian GP on the weekend of March 6 to 8 next year.
