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In today’s edition of Power Up:
- Downloads spike for Apple TV during F1 season opener
- AI audio startup Vokol adds first league user with UFL
- PLL, WLL use Championship Series as tech testing ground
Research firm: Downloads spike for Apple TV during F1 season opener
Viewership for F1’s season opener on Apple TV is unknown, but downloads for the streaming service more than tripled their daily average last weekend, at least on Android devices, according to data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. The 2026 season started Down Under in Melbourne, with Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team taking the checkered flag in first and second positions. The first race of the five-year Apple U.S. media rights deal appeared to go off largely without a hitch on the broadcast side, with few reports on social media of outages or buffering issues.
Fans had multiple options for how to watch the race, including Sky Sports’ feed, the F1 TV broadcast and individual in-car cameras. On Saturday, Apple TV’s daily active users increased 58% from the prior day, Sensor Tower told SBJ. Its data also showed that, on the day of the race, U.S. downloads were up 243% and daily active users were up 176% when compared to the prior 30 days on the platform.
Sensor Tower said its data only reflects Android devices and doesn’t include Apple iOS pre-installs or Apple TV in-app revenue. Liberty Media and F1 execs have been signaling in recent weeks that they view current viewership tracking methods as being archaic and that they don’t intend to judge the performance of the deal solely upon comparing Apple’s viewership to ratings with the prior partner, ESPN. No ratings info on the race has been released.
On the F1 Reddit page, a thread after the race about the Apple stream had 160 comments, with the original poster writing: “I really really like the HDR stream, it makes a huge difference during the race. The track looks much better and feels more immersive! The F1 TV in-race commentary is okay but Apple needs to add the option to switch to the Sky Sports audio feed along with all the other audio tracks from the F1 TV app. ... Overall it’s a good start but there’s definitely room for improvement.” Another poster wrote: “Honestly I thought it was great. I was usually watching on a sketchy stream site before, but I have Apple TV regardless and this is infinitely better.” There were some complaints about the quality of the picture, with one comment on Reddit reading: “The picture quality today was shit, might as well watch standard definition.” Another read: “The quality in the Apple TV app this year compared to the F1 TV app last year seems to be garbage. Colors are washed out and video is a bit choppy under heavy camera movement.”
AI audio startup Vokol adds first league user with UFL
Vokol, the AI sports podcast startup, has signed its most high-profile user to date with the UFL.
The professional spring football league will use Vokol to automate the creation of audio content before, during and after games from the perspective of UFL teams in all eight of its markets. This will help the league boost its sponsorship inventory as well as serve fans in a scalable way.
“AI’s real upside isn’t doing the same things cheaper,” Vokol CEO Mark Antal wrote on LinkedIn. “It’s creating value that didn’t exist before.”
Jason Bernstein, the UFL’s VP of partner strategy and solutions, added that the goal is “leveraging innovation to drive both fan engagement and corporate growth. By integrating AI-powered audio into our content strategy, we are creating scalable digital assets that allow us to monetize AI in a practical, measurable way while delivering new value to our brand partners.”
Vokol has added veteran industry executives Andrew Bimson and Shripal Shah as advisors. Betting operator VIP Play is a client. It has begun pilot partnerships with teams in MLB and the NWSL.
PLL, WLL use Championship Series as Olympic format showcase, tech testing ground
The Premier Lacrosse League and Women’s Lacrosse League wrapped their Lexus Championship Series at The St. James in Springfield, Va., on Sunday, crowning the Carolina Chaos (PLL) and New York Charging (WLL) as champions while using the event as a proving ground for the Olympic version of the sport ahead of the 2028 L.A. Games. While there was no viewership data for the Lexus Championship Series, which was streamed via the ESPN App, the event generated over 63 million social impressions. It also served as a showcase of the Sixes format and doubled as a technology testbed, with the leagues piloting new player-tracking technology designed to help viewers identify athletes during play. The PLL and WLL now turn toward the next phase of the calendar, including international promotion in Japan, the PLL and WLL College Drafts and training camps leading into the 2026 seasons (PLL).
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