While Formula 1 just walked away from ESPN to partner with Apple, its electric cousin is going the other direction. Disney+ has secured global streaming rights to the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, a deal that puts one of the world’s fastest-growing motorsports squarely inside one of the world’s most aggressive data-collecting entertainment companies.
According to Engadget, Disney+ will carry Formula E events across more than 140 territories. In the US, races will also stream on ESPN+. So if you want to watch, you’re looking at a Disney subscription, full stop. The deal still allows Formula E to maintain local broadcast TV agreements in select markets, which is a small concession for viewers who don’t want to hand their viewing habits to Disney’s ad-targeting machine.
The 2026/27 season kicks things off on December 18 in Saudi Arabia, with 21 rounds spread across 13 events. Miami, Monaco, and Mexico City are among the stops. It’s a solid lineup, and Disney clearly sees Formula E as a way to pull younger, sustainability-minded viewers into its ecosystem.
This matters beyond sports broadcasting. Every streaming platform collects data on what you watch, when you pause, what you skip, and increasingly, how you interact with ads. Disney+ is no exception. It rolled out an ad-supported tier and has been expanding its targeted advertising capabilities for years. Formula E fans who migrate from Roku to Disney+ are moving from one data collector to another, but Disney’s scale and cross-platform reach, spanning ESPN+, Hulu, and Disney+, means the profile it can build on you is considerably more detailed.
Roku had been Formula E’s primary streaming partner and even produced a documentary series around the league. That relationship appears to be over. Losing that deal is a meaningful hit for Roku, which has been trying to position itself as a serious destination for live sports.
The Formula E move also highlights a broader split in how racing leagues are approaching streaming. Formula 1 just cut ties with ESPN in favor of Apple, betting on a prestige partnership. Formula E is going the other way, choosing Disney’s massive distribution network over a tighter, more curated deal. Both strategies make sense on paper. But for fans, the result is the same: more subscriptions, more accounts, more data shared, and fewer ways to watch without being tracked.