Our take on Sony acquiring STATSports Group to bolster its sports data business, and Apple becoming the exclusive new broadcast partner for Formula 1® in the U.S.
Sony acquires STATSports Group to bolster its sports data business
Sony Corporation has acquired a majority stake in STATSports Group, a leader in wearable athlete-monitoring and performance analysis solutions. This strategic move enables Sony to combine STATSports’ cutting-edge tracking technology with its optical-tracking businesses to deliver a unified, high-fidelity sports data and analytics platform.
Our Take:
For years now, Sony has been quietly building what is now one of the most complete sports data ecosystems in the industry. With Hawk-Eye covering optical tracking and officiating, KinaTrax focusing on biomechanics, Beyond Sports visualising data in 3D, and Pulselive delivering digital fan experiences, one of the few missing layers was internal performance data, such as athletes' heart rate and biomechanical data. STATSports has been acquired to fill that gap.
STATSports is one of the most widely used wearable platforms in elite sport, with 800+ clients across football, rugby, baseball, and American football. Its devices track heart rate, positioning, and workload in real time, data that feeds directly into how players train, recover, and stay healthy.
With this move, Sony is shaping what could become the operating system for performance data, not just enabling data collection and processing but owning the entire flow, from athlete to analysis, from tracking to storytelling.
Where many recent M&A moves in sport have chased the monetisation layer betting, fan engagement, and sponsorship, Sony has chosen to reinforce the source. This is a clear bet on performance intelligence as the foundation for everything is a reminder that fan-facing innovation and business growth only happen when the quality of raw data is strong, affordable and stable.
The integration also sets up Sony to offer something few can: a single-stack solution across capture, analysis, visualisation, and distribution. Teams and leagues that once had to stitch together multiple vendors for tracking, medical, broadcast, and digital may now see the appeal of an all-in-one infrastructure partner.
Of course, merging these layers won’t be easy. Combining wearables and optical systems introduces challenges, including differences in sampling rates, measurement protocols, privacy considerations, and workflows. It will require engineering patience and commercial coordination. But the direction of travel is unmistakable.
At LaSource, we view this development as more than just the consolidation of asset classes. Sony is closing the loop in performance data collection and processing by placing itself at the centre of the ecosystem. By entering a new vertical of wearable tracking data, Sony is creating a vertically integrated model in which athlete data is no longer siloed but flows seamlessly across performance, broadcast, and fan engagement layers.
Strategically, as the appetite for real-time data grows across live betting, immersive broadcasts, and even gaming, the ability to control and harmonise both internal and external performance signals becomes a serious competitive advantage. Whether it’s AI-generated highlights, player health modelling, or powering future video games on PC or console, the applications stretch far beyond the training ground.
Sony’s acquisition of STATSports transforms Sony from a supplier of tools into a potential data backbone for the global sports industry, connecting everything that happens on the pitch to what shows up on screen and everything in between.
Apple is the exclusive new broadcast partner for Formula 1® in the U.S.
Apple Inc. has secured exclusive rights to broadcast Formula 1 in the United States, marking a major expansion of its sports streaming portfolio. Starting next year, all F1 races will be available live and on-demand through the Apple TV app.
Our take:
Formula 1’s five-year, U.S.-exclusive broadcast partnership with Apple is worth a reported $140 million per year, nearly twice the value of F1’s previous deal with ESPN ($80 million per year). But beyond the price tag, this deal marks an important moment in the sport’s widespread push into the US market, and Apple’s role as a hub for live sports following its acquisition of MLS’s global rights in 2023.
By acquiring the rights, Apple will embed F1 into its entire ecosystem, from Apple TV and News to Music, Fitness+, and iPhone widgets. Through a carefully crafted multi-disciplinary integration, Apple will turn F1 content into a year-round, multi-platform engagement machine.
The timing of this move could not be better, especially given F1’s transformation over the last five years and how its own D2C strategy has enabled it to secure a deal of this volume. It is important to note and consider that F1TV had been available to American audiences throughout the last media rights cycle (audiences could choose between ESPN and an F1TV product as part of the previous agreement). Even though usage numbers have not been directly reported, one can only assume the volume of 1st-party data F1 has gathered and how it has influenced US fans' desire to access F1TV. In the new rights cycle, these F1TV users will be migrated to Apple, thereby de-risking Apple’s initial user base. The sequence of events aligns with our belief in a hybrid broadcast strategy for rightsholders willing to take the lead. F1 trusted ESPN to lead distribution whilst simultaneously creating direct fan relationships itself, which has certainly been leveraged to negotiate this new agreement.
The U.S. audience has more than doubled since 2018, with 47% of new fans under 24 and over half now female thanks to the popularity of Drive to Survive, the rollout of F1TV and the recent box office record-breaking success of s ambition is to curate the experience rather than just stream it. That means synchronising storytelling, product features, second-screen engagement, and even the cadence of how fans consume content before, during, and after the race.
Despite the many positives this deal offers, it does pose a risk for F1 from an audience perspective. ESPN is a legacy broadcaster with an established footprint across the country, and its reach is a key reason why the sport has grown so much in popularity in the last cycle. Apple TV on the other hand is still building its presence amongst the other streamers within the industry, and from what we understand about the MLS deal, audience growth has not been at a similar scale to that of F1 over recent years. Clearly Apple has a more holistic and wider digital footprint through multiple channels, and proven expertise in reducing friction for migrating audiences, however it remains to be seen whether some fans will drop out of this acquisition funnel and pivot to other means of consumption such as through social clips or a new season of Drive to Survive considering most fans are still new to the sport.
This also signals a subtle shift in how premium sports properties see their own media futures. Keeping the sheer economics of the deal aside, F1 opted for a partner who they believe can extend its brand into new spaces and amplify fan touchpoints across a broader ecosystem. It's a reminder that the value of a broadcast partner today lies not just in audience reach, but in how well they can integrate, personalise, and enhance the product.
At LaSource, we see this as another step in the redefinition of the sports media stack. Rights holders are no longer choosing between traditional broadcasters and D2C platforms; they are choosing to partner with entertainment brands and adopting hybrid structures. And for fans, particularly in the U.S., this could reshape expectations for what watching sport looks like: fully interactive, multi-platform, and deeply personalised.
Apple’s agreement with F1 reflects a long-term view that global, fast-paced, visually rich sports with young fanbases are the most natural fit for the next generation of streaming products. It’s also a sign that media value today is as much about potential as it is about current reach.
For sports organisations and rightsholders following this news closely, the lesson is than being everywhere.
And the most successful partnerships going forward will be the ones that merge content, tech, and user experience into a unified ecosystem that fans never need to leave.
LaSource is a sports consulting agency working closely with startups, tech innovators, and major sports organisations to accelerate growth, shape strategy, and unlock new commercial pathways