Formula One racing is suddenly the hottest sports property in the television world, with Netflix, ESPN, NBCUniversal, Apple, and Amazon all vying for the broadcasting rights.

This interest stemmed from Netflix’s popular Drive To Survive behind-the-scenes docuseries. The streamer renewed the show last month for two further seasons, and that interest has bolstered the sport’s audience in Australia, where Foxtel hold the rights.

Foxtel extended its rights deal with Formula 1 at the end of March, in a three-year deal believed to be in the range of $45 million a year.

The deal gives Foxtel and Kayo the live broadcast rights to every race, qualifier, and practice.

“There’s no doubt Formula One’s one of the biggest sports in the world. And it’s growing fast, especially for us,” Foxtel Group chief executive Patrick Delany said at the time.

“Across our 2.4 million sports subscribers, it’s up 31 per cent year-on-year. It’s surfacing a new era of champions, rivalries and drama on and off the track.”

“We’re seeing a direct audience impact on subscribers and growth season on season. Kayo Sport is up 87 per cent with the Formula 1 year-on-year.”

Foxtel also has plans to integrate the F1TV app into all its iQ boxes, offering documentaries, short-form features, analysis, and an archive of past races.

Foxtel also owns the broadcasting rights to NASCAR, Supercars, MotoGP, and WorldSBK.

Apple TV is making a Formula One movie starring Brad Pitt, which will further interest in the sport.

Another major reason Formula One has become a boom sport is the changing of ownership to Liberty Media, who acquired the league in 2017, and focused on digital growth.

EA Sports’ Lee Mathers, , the longtime creative director of F1’s hugely successful video game franchise, tells Bloomberg the shift was “night and day” and it “was very much not a partnership” with the old owners, who shunned non-traditional broadcast revenue.

In the US, the rights are expected to go for around US$100 million, which is comparatively cheap for a top-tier sport. ESPN currently hold these rights, and won’t be expected to give them up easily.