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The original was posted on /r/tvplus by /u/Saar13 on 2023-11-01 20:32:07.


Some highlights from Puck’s report:

“Currently, Apple TV+ has between 15 and 20 million subscribers domestically, according to my team’s analysis at Parrot Analytics, where I work as director of strategy.”

“Between March and May of this year, Apple saw a 147 percent increase in its week-over-week viewing ratings, according to Nielsen, thanks mostly to Ted Lasso, its biggest hit, but also Shrinking, and Silo. Yet despite those obvious successes, the vast majority of Apple TV+’s titles have not broken into the zeitgeist. In fact, many recent decisions—such as cutting ties with Jon Stewart; ending its deal with Skydance Animation; canceling The Afterparty, City on Fire, and Suspicion—suggest that the top programmers Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht are still figuring out what kind of platform they want TV+ to be. Apple, of course, has the financial freedom to provide this sort of test-and-learn latitude. Barclays analyst Tim Long has suggested that Apple TV+ contributes just 2 percent of Apple’s services revenue.”

“But all the executives I speak to point out that Apple, despite its fortress balance sheet, isn’t idly investing in film and TV because Tim Cook likes attending the Oscars or Emmys. Apple ruthlessly pursues profits, but its business is more complex than others in the space. Just as Amazon entered streaming video in order to sell more toilet paper on Prime, Apple’s investment in entertainment, at least for now, levels up to its Apple One business.”

“Apple is arguably trying to push more people to its sticky One package, which provides consumers both with features that they need and also others that they covet—additional iCloud storage space, for instance, and entertainment via TV+, Music, and Arcade. TV+ isn’t likely the main reason that people get Apple One, but the better TV+ becomes as a platform, the more it retains those customers, and the higher the margins for Apple.”

“But original programming can only go so far in acquiring subscribers. About 35 percent of customers who canceled a premium SVOD service returned within a 12 month period between Q1 2021 and Q1 2022, according to Antenna. Apple TV+ doesn’t have many subscribers in the first place; to spend money on re-engaging those who cancel and acquiring new customers with a comparatively small content offering is an expensive bet.”

“But Apple’s hope is that the One bundle will capture more of its other service customers and new subscribers, particularly as they continue to invest voraciously in content.”

Apple’s Price Hike Economics - Puck