New in Apple Maps: Formula 1 in Monaco with advertising space

Apple Maps as an event companion and advertising space: Shortly before the Monaco Grand Prix, the city-state will receive a detailed city view in Apple Maps. This shows additional elements such as lane markings, pedestrian lanes and trees as well as specially designed 3D buildings. In Monaco, these include the casino, the yacht club and the Hotel de Paris, as Apple announced.

In addition, details relating to the major Formula 1 event will be incorporated into the map service, including the racetrack with markings of the familiar bends and the finish line. Apple also promises that the relevant road closures will be accurately recorded.

Advertising for Apple's Formula 1 film

For the first time, the detailed view also includes prominently placed advertising signs, which Apple uses for cross-promotion: The racing film "F1", produced for the in-house streaming service TV+, is advertised on them in a thematically appropriate way. Apple Maps also features a special Formula 1 overview containing information on other well-known race tracks.

Apple reportedly paid a good 130 million US dollars for the rights to the feature film alone. At the beginning of the year, it was speculated that the budget would ultimately exceed 300 million US dollars, a sum that producer Jerry Bruckheimer rejected as too high in an interview with Deadline magazine. Bruckheimer said that sponsorship on the film racing car had raised more money than some real Formula 1 teams.

The feature film is important for Apple's streaming service. Previous film projects, which were also expensive, met with little interest in some cases. Apple recently scaled back its cinema ambitions significantly and is increasingly focusing on TV series, with the company investing billions in content production.

Detailed city views in Apple Maps still rare

Detailed city views in Apple Maps are still rare; in Germany, the service currently only covers Berlin, Munich and Hamburg. Unlike Google Maps, Apple has so far refrained from financing the map service through advertising, even though there has been repeated speculation about plans to do so. Apple's important services business is currently coming under pressure: in the USA, the company could lose app commissions, as well as an annual multi-billion sum from the Google search deal.

(lbe)