The Abject Failure Of AppleTV+
Say what you will about Apple as a franchise, but their streaming platform, Apple TV +, has been an adject failure since it launched back on November 1st 2019. At the time, the service promised to offer high quality streaming options in a frantic race to carve a lucrative slice of what was, at the time, dubbed the “streaming wars”. So why did Apple fail? And how? Let’s dive in.
The Launch
When it launched, Apple had four streaming series titles to begin with; quirky satirical comedy Dickinson, political drama The Morning Show, sci-fi thriller For All Mankind and post-apocalyptic romp See. It also dropped with several other titles, including a couple of children shows and documentary, The Elephant Queen.
The production value was high for all of these offerings, with a smattering of big stars throughout, a promise of extra titles being added over time and a… lukewarm reception from the media and audiences alike. We’ll get to the subjective quality of the titles shortly, but this is worth bearing in mind for now.
Behind the scenes, Apple were busy producing new shows to reach the platform, including mystery-horror series Servant, alongside smash-hits Severance and Ted Lasso, to name but a few. There were also a number of deals in place with different studios and creators, with the intent being of having a steady flurry of new, original content available each month to bolster out the number of titles available. This also circumvents the idea of licencing old material and paying out to other studios too.
Cracks Begin To Show
Along with this promise of extra content, Apple also adopted a familiar model seen with Hulu titles in the US, dropping several episodes at once (usually 2 or 3) and then dropping back to 1 episode releasing a week in an effort to keep subscribers going and keeping up that “water cooler” chatter.
However, even as early as launch, many users were complaining about Apple’s horrific interface and a lack of variety. I mean, launching with four shows and a documentary doesn’t quite compare to Disney+ or Netflix hitting with a variety of backlogged titles to keep viewers engaged.
Now, one of the things with streaming platforms that we no longer get are accurate numbers for engagement, including views, subscribers and minutes watched.
Unlike something akin to YouTube, where you get instant feedback on likes, dislikes, minutes watched and a plethora of other information, every streamer keeps their cards close to their chest. Unless something is a smash-hit, like the aforementioned Ted Lasso. In that example, these studios are very quick to come out and celebrate to the high-heavens about all of these numbers!
And at the time of writing, no official numbers have been released by Apple over its subscriber numbers or viewing figures beyond very few soundbites to the media.
Silence Is Deafening
In a way, this lack of audio actually speaks volumes about the health of the product. After all, if these numbers were high we’d be hearing about it every week. There’s a reason why Netflix shout about the numbers for Stranger Things or Bridgerton – because they’re high. As for Apple TV+, beyond Ted Lasso (which dropped on 14th August 2020) Apple have been pretty tight-lipped over the success of their other shows.
We can kinda gauge the popularity and general numbers from things like the Nielsen Ratings (which are a month old) or IMDB popularity with the number of user ratings, or even those who chat about it on social media. But again, these are not definitive numbers. And the industry seem to love these social media stats like Parrot Analytics because they artificially inflate the popularity of a show, gauging how many times someone mentions the show’s name, not the actual views.
According to them, Velma season 2 was the most popular show of the year, followed by The Acolyte, which obviously includes every mention of “This show is trash, I’m never watching it”. Go figure.
The Numbers
By early 2020, Apple TV+ reported 10 million subscribers, a far-cry from Netflix’s reported numbers at the time of 192.95 million. This is worth noting because Apple TV+ was available in about 100 countries at that time and also included users who received a free one-year trial with the purchase of an Apple device.
By this point, the service began to pump out a steady stream of titles but it paled by compared to Netflix or even Amazon’s number of options and Originals released each month. It’s also worth noting that at this point, Apple caved and decided to go back on its initial idea of only having Original content, deciding to licence older TV and films to stay competitive with other services. It’s a massive 180 movie and it definitely provides food for thought over whether the service would have benefited from having this available from launch.
Back in 2021, a disclosure as part of an agreement with IATSE indicated that Apple TV+ had fewer than 20 million subscribers. So in the span of a year, with extra content included and this licencing deal too, the service did double its subscriber count, but barely moved the needle in the grand scheme of things. Given the amount of money Apple have pumped into this thing (and we’ll get to that shortly) thar’s not a great return of investment (ROI).
The latest figures for 2022 aren’t too accurate but estimates place the service’s subscriber numbers somewhere around 25 million. This is despite some pretty decent shows making the rounds. The trouble is, the second and third season renewals for shows like Servant, See, The Morning Show and For All Mankind weren’t received as glowingly as audiences liked the first, with the writing suffering noticeably. This is worth bearing in mind because generally, renewals mean budgets and wages increase.
During Q1 2023, according to industry research, Apple TV+ actually dipped in its overall market share compared to other American streaming services. Apple TV+ ranked seventh when it came to market share in the streaming industry in the United States. It also saw no subscriber growth at all, although it does claim that alongside the 25 million paid subscribers, an additional 50 million viewers access the service via promotions. Whether these are actually active users or people just bundled with free trials and barely touching the platform is another question. The only source we have to go on here is a “trust me, bro” from Apple themselves.
High Production Values; Empty Content
Remember what we said earlier about the interface? Well, on the 11th December 2023, 4 years after the service dropped, Apple decided to update the interface but in doing so, ran into more problems from those unhappy with the added “Up Next” section and other changes Apple enacted here.
It’s also worth noting that a lot of people remain torn over the quality of Apple TV+ Originals. The seervice undoubtedly has a lot of good looking shows and big stars on its roster. But even now, it’s clear that Apple’s core products revolve around novel adaptations and sci-fi. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but a lot of these shows suffer from bloat and as one person on reddit put it best “Apple Originals feel like dull and soulless products. They’ve got high production values around empty content.”
In 2023, Apple remained very tight-lipped over their official subscriber numbers. At least the paid ones anyway. Apple launched a whole bunch of different promotions around this time, including three or six months free for PS5 users, bundles with other services and plenty of other goodies.
On the one hand, this is a nice incentive to keep people around and watching what’s on the service. Unfortunately, the sheer lack of variety and a big backlog hurts Apple TV+’s retention massively. I mean, most people will probably blast through what they want in a month, cancel the service, and start back up again when their favourite show finishes streaming and repeat the cycle.
A Turbulent Year
2023 was a pretty turbulent year for Apple overall. The Problem with Jon Stewart was cancelled due to creative differences, disappointing the dozens of fans for that show (I joke, of course!) while Skydance cancelled their animation partnership with Apple too. However, Apple also started to sneak in more movies to the box office, a way of generating extra revenue, with both Killers of the Flower Moon and Napoleon doing relatively well, all things considered. Oh, and in the midst of all this, Apple’s original movie CODA won the Academy Award for Best Film.
Current streaming and viewing numbers at the time of writing this are unclear for Apple TV+. However, we do know Apple have spent over $20 billion on deals, content and overhauling the interface itself. Given it’s currently lagging behind every other service, that’s a pretty dreadful ROI. If that wasn’t enough, numbers estimate that Apple TV+ generates fewer views in a month than Netflix does in a day, such is the gap between the two services.
Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Geetha Ranganathan and Kevin Near wrote recently that: “Subscriber growth has been weak, with the platform’s original content a fraction of what rivals offer” which does feel like an admission of failure to be honest.
Out Of Control Spending
There are plans to reduce down how much Apple are spending on their shows which is ironic because their glossy, high production values – the one thing many people praise the service for – is about to come down in a big way.
In fact, when you look at the numbers, it’s actually pretty crazy how much Apple have spent. Yes they still have a net worth of 3.35 trillion,so of course they’re not in trouble, and these numbers we’re talking about are just a tiny splash or the behemoths compared to us mere peasants, but we’re still talking about a massive chunk of change.
The studio spent more than $500 million combined on movies from directors Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott and Matthew Vaughn, and upward of $250 million on the World War II miniseries Masters of the Air, one of more than a dozen new series released in 2024. And what return does it get on all that? According to Bloomberg, it attracts 0.2% of TV viewing in the US. Damn.
Continuing with that Bloomberg article linked above, over the last 5 years, the company has only had four series make Nielsen’s weekly list of the 10 most-popular original streaming shows. Of course, Nielsen only counts US viewers and isn’t wholly accurate for worldwide figures but as we’ve already discussed before, it’s the best we have to go on. And to be honest, you can kinda tell which ones do the best by the number of articles around them. Nobody is writing articles on Trying season 3 or Ghostwriter for a reason!
What next for Apple?
So here we are, at the time of writing, in the middle of 2024 with a service that’s put in 20 billion dollars, splashing out money left, right and center like its cocaine at a Hollywood party. And what does it have to show for it? A tiny slice of the streaming pie, a nasty hangover and being left in the dust to other streamers like Amazon and Netflix. Apple are in desperate need of reducing down its costs but what impact will that have on the service?
Say what you will about Apple’s longevity in the field but after spending that much money and putting that much effort into trying to prop Apple TV+ up, this streaming platform has been an absolute disaster. If not for the money and might of Apple as a brand, this one would have crashed and burned long ago. But hey, at least we have a few good shows from it all!
If we’re predicting what happens next, there are constant rumours floating around the ether around Apple buying out Disney. If we’re putting our two-cents in here, I think the idea has merit. Apple would have no interest in the parks but the dwindling IPs and market value of stuff like Marvel, Star Wars and to a lesser extent Pixar, could see Apple buy out a large stake to prop these up.
Apple have the money and Disney have the reach and power of Hollywood. The two studios have historically had a good partnership but Disney aren’t exactly in a good place right now. But that’s an article for another time! I guess only time will tell but whether Apple TV+ can turn it around and become a large player in this field remains to be seen. But it certainly doesn’t look great right now.