iTunes Video Sales Top 1 Million

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com)

Apple announced today that the iTunes video sales have exceeded 1 million videos since October 12th.

"Selling 1 million videos in less than 20 days strongly suggests there is a market for legal video downloads," Steve Jobs, chief executive officer, said in a statement. "Our next challenge is to broaden our content offerings, so that customers can enjoy watching more videos on their computers and new iPods."

Apple presently offers over 2000 music videos, 5 Disney/ABC television shows, and 6 Pixar shorts. It's unclear what the breakdown of video sales are.

[tangerineyum]

I am responsible for 2 Lost episodes being purchased.

[Lord Blackadder]

This is only the beginning...

[asif786]

hmm..i'm surprised they didn't announce at least one new show with this news..

still, 1m videos. neat :)

[Sonofhaig]

Simply amazing.

[WeBleed4Real]

We'll see how long this lasts, or if it was just people being curious at the next "new thing".

[applesticker]

we need an iPod that can decode and auto scale large video content -cos these videos are too small when played back on a big screen they look crummy as you can see compression artefacts :( also when will the ipod support direct tv recording :D and furthermore more codecs please like xvid and divx - what a bummer it is a shame to see apple pandering to the video companies instead when they can make a better product.

[Mydriasis]

Way to go Apple!!! I didn't think it would go so well, they are a little too expensive for me. Maybe if I had one of those sexy new iPods? Hmmm...

[macer1]

this just add's fuel to apples fire. I hope this string of perfect moves is highlighted with the move to intel. Maybe, we can all hope.

[Epicurus]

I've personally bought several videos, mostly Lost episodes. Music videos are nice, but there are only a handful I'd actually want to watch repeatedly. TV shows are great, though. The picture quality could be tweaked a little, so viewing on a Mac was a little better (especially with Apple selling so many HD displays and pushing HD content in movie trailers). Once I get done watching Lost, Season 1, I'll probably start buying Season 2. :D

Lets hope this gets the rest of the networks to the table and we get a bunch of new content before christmas

[Steamboatwillie]

Wow, I didn't see that coming. I really thought it would flop. I guess I was wrong and Jobs was right.

[Freg3000]

I think at MWSF we'll see some more content added.

[liketom]

Wow, I didn't see that coming. I really thought it would flop. I guess I was wrong and Jobs was right.
lol you doubted Jobs?

[longofest]

Ratio = 90% TV episodes or Pixar Shorts, 10% music videos. Give or take 5% margin of error, but only if that margin of error is in favor of TV episodes ;)

[obeygiant]

this is going to be huge. its another paradigm shift...again!

[Savage Henry]

It will still rise, particularly after the Festive iPod purchases, but if they start declining in March then the fad will lose it's flavour.

Personally, I can't see why Apple has chosen this path, but at least they are still in the leading pack and not chasing like they did with the phones, and we know how they turned out.

[rockthecasbah]

Ratio = 90% TV episodes or Pixar Shorts, 10% music videos. Give or take 5% margin of error, but only if that margin of error is in favor of TV episodes ;)
says who? I'd personally never want to watch a tv show on my computer..Shorts maybe, but i would hardly say 9:1 ratio. I would much rather rock out to my favorite music videos that i don't get to see much of and leave the tv shows to, well tv.

[gkarris]

we need an iPod that can decode and auto scale large video content -cos these videos are too small when played back on a big screen they look crummy as you can see compression artefacts :( also when will the ipod support direct tv recording :D and furthermore more codecs please like xvid and divx - what a bummer it is a shame to see apple pandering to the video companies instead when they can make a better product.

Somewhere, I saw an article on the video chips Apple is using, they are more than capable, but it seems that Apple is purposely throttling back on it. (at the Apple Store, I tried loading one of my videos I ripped from Tivo, but iTunes didn't load it on the iPod because my resolution/bit rate was too high - looks like a software lock. Played fine, though, on the computer...)

This makes it attractive for the studios, as it won't cut into profits for cable, satellite, tv network, theater, and DVD.

Heck, if it was possible just to download my shows the day after airing, and on top of that view on TV or burn DVDs at a decent quality, I would cancel Dish Network, Tivo, and stop buying DVDs altogether...

[gugy]

wow, it's really amazing that they sold so many videos.
It' great, I hope later the videos will be at least full resolution. it might take few years, but I think this is for sure the future. People will pay money to get their episodes in full res.
now will be interesting to see how that will affect DVD sales 5 years from now. Hopefully by then we can get high quality downloads from Apple.
Steve is really a genius! Thank god he's an Apple guy!:D

[Arcus]

I love this!! I cant wait for them to have more content. If they start selling any home repair / food shows / history channel / classic movies or edutainment type shows Im going to go broke buying these things!!

Rock on Steve!!!!!!!!

[bigandy]

price still an issue here in the UK, which is why i stopped using iTMS a year or so ago. £1.89 for a video (we don't even have the damn tv shows yet) - US$3.35? screw that for a laugh. maybe if they were the same price as the songs here are, i'd be tempted.

[longofest]

says who? I'd personally never want to watch a tv show on my computer..Shorts maybe, but i would hardly say 9:1 ratio. I would much rather rock out to my favorite music videos that i don't get to see much of and leave the tv shows to, well tv.

Keep watching this thread, and see how many people "just can't wait" for more TV content to arrive. Of course, we are ALL waiting for full-length DVD-quality movies to arrive, but that's not realistic for the time being.

I personally haven't bought any music videos, but have bought every single LOST episode (because I hadn't seen any, thought the price was decent for the whole season. I ended up getting addicted).

[yorkslad]

I think apple could have improved on that figure if they had provided TV shows in the UK iTunes store. Unfortunately were stuck with the very limited music video catalogue. Also why can't we download movie trailers and store them on our ipods? Its not as if were ripping of films, infact while your showing off the video aspects of your ipod your probably promoting said trailers. Come on apple, if your gonna do video, don't give us a half hearted effort.

[Epicurus]

says who? I'd personally never want to watch a tv show on my computer..Shorts maybe, but i would hardly say 9:1 ratio. I would much rather rock out to my favorite music videos that i don't get to see much of and leave the tv shows to, well tv.

I got a bunch of Lost episodes to catch up with what I'd missed when it aired. For me, since I can't ever see the shows I want on TV, getting them one by one online is a great option. Once the TV catalog on iTunes spreads, I'll probably buy even more. i've already got a large collection of TV show DVDs, and I see this new iTunes option as a compliment to the DVDs, not as direct competition. Consider it a really excellent alternative to rentals. You trade a little picture quality for a cheaper price and never having to give up the content. Once I pick up a new iPod and can take the videos everywhere, I'll never look back. Full screen video through Front Row works great, even with iTunes videos, by the way.
:D :D :D

[ariza910]

Is Apple including all the music videos that have been included for free with full album purchase?

1 Million sounds great but I wonder how much was paid for and even more intresting, how much of the 1Million was TV show sales?

[liketom]

I think apple could have improved on that figure if they had provided TV shows in the UK iTunes store. Unfortunately were stuck with the very limited music video catalogue. Also why can't we download movie trailers and store them on our ipods? Its not as if were ripping of films, infact while your showing off the video aspects of your ipod your probably promoting said trailers. Come on apple, if your gonna do video, don't give us a half hearted effort.
i 2nd that


saves me dl then quicktime pro-ing it into iTunes

[Lord Blackadder]

I know I'm vastly in the minority on this, but I'd like them to make shows from the Discovery and History/History International channels available.

[ariza910]

Is Apple including all the music videos that have been included for free with full album purchase?

1 Million sounds great but I wonder how much was paid for and even more intresting, how much of the 1Million was TV show sales?

Edit: from the press release... iTune users have purchased and downloaded more than one million videos since they debuted on October 12.... wow good job Apple

[liketom]

I know I'm vastly in the minority on this, but I'd like them to make shows from the Discovery and History/History International channels available.
thats a good idea - my mrs hates me watching Discovery channel late at night in bed - now if i had it on my pod or mac with headphones on mmm

:D

the simpsons would make a killing on iTunes

[Mike Teezie]

So would Family Guy.

[VanMac]

1 million is a pretty respectable number. Glad to see it taking off!

[andiwm2003]

i never bought songs from itunes. i like music but i'm not a real fan. but the video thing is just great. i'm satisfied with the quality, i think it's good enough. they should just come up with more videos. many that i like to have aren't in there yet.

i also like the tv show idea. i can see myself buying five episodes of something a month. it's great to watch them in a window while doing some surfing or work.

bring on more shows. i would never subscribe to the more expensive cable plans, because i don't have enough time to watch them anyway. but downloading a show for 2 bucks once in a while is exactly what i need.

[octoberdeath]

i purchased the first season of Lost and all the episodes so far for the second season... and i don't even own a new iPod! i am on leadership for an organization that meets every wednesday night so i don't get to see the episodes but now i can just buy then the next day... its great! now all they have to do is start offering a better scalable codec and offering movies. i mean if there is a market for movies on the PSP then there has to be one for movies on the iPod.

[BGil]

Keep watching this thread, and see how many people "just can't wait" for more TV content to arrive. Of course, we are ALL waiting for full-length DVD-quality movies to arrive, but that's not realistic for the time being.


Why not? CinemaNow and Movielink do it and even offer some movies in high-definition. Atom Films offers lots of high definition content as well.

Overall I wish Apple would have built FrontRow to accept third-party tuners and plugins so that people can record their own shows for free. This is a step backward, in many ways, for the consumer IMO. Music videos and short films were free on iTunes and still are on many other sites (MSN, Atomfilms, ifilm.com, AOL Music, Yahoo, MSN Music, WindowsMedia.com etc.). I don't want these companies to get the idea they should be charging for this stuff.

I don't object to selling past episodes online but excluding TV tuners from the iMac (and other Macs) so they can sell more shows is not consumer friendly IMO.

[Yvan256]

we need an iPod that can decode and auto scale large video content -cos these videos are too small when played back on a big screen they look crummy as you can see compression artefacts :( also when will the ipod support direct tv recording :D and furthermore more codecs please like xvid and divx - what a bummer it is a shame to see apple pandering to the video companies instead when they can make a better product.

DivX and Xvid are both based on MPEG-4, which the iPod supports.

Unfortunately, lots of DivX/Xvid videos out there use non-standard AVI wrappers (VBR MP3, for example), so you might need to re-encode them.

Fortunately, since the iPod does supports MPEG-4, it will help "consolidate" the standard. And since it can decode 480x480 videos (or the same amount of pixels, whatever the width/height ratio), it can be used for high-resolution files (not HD, but still better than 320x240 - even VCD is higher, at 352x240 for NTSC).

[iEric]

Wow that's great. Good going apple.

Too bad I can't buy TV shows cause I'm in Canada. I mean, we have Desperate Housewives showing here and stuff too. Geez, just cause we live in igloos. or how every you spell it. i forgot :p

[ioinc]

I know I'm vastly in the minority on this, but I'd like them to make shows from the Discovery and History/History International channels available.

I don't know if you are in the minority on this.

I would download "Cane Toads - An Unnatural History" in a heartbeat

[longofest]

Why not? CinemaNow and Movielink do it and even offer some movies in high-definition. Atom Films offers lots of high definition content as well.

Didn't say it wasn't TECHNICALLY feasible. I just don't think Apple is going to do it within the next year.

Also, remember that one of the reasons why TV shows work right now with the iTunesMS is that there is a video-capable iPod to play them. Granted, not everyone who has been downloading videos has a 5G iPod, but that is still Apple's strategy (iTunesMS spurs iPod sales which spur Mac sales). Movies, however, are a different aspect ratio, and wouldn't work well even with the larger 5G screen.

Hence, we will have to wait for about a year or later before a propper iTunes movie store comes out, in my humble opinion. That is probably when a 6G iPod will come out with a widescreen aspect ratio. Man, will that piss off all the people buying the 5G's now. Kinda like the 5G is pissing off people like me who own a iPod photo, who have seen their software go un-updated... another story...

[MacVault]

History Channel (Modern Marvels, Extreme Engineering, etc)
Discovery
Real TV
Worlds Most Amazing Videos
The Simpsons
The Family Guy
etc.

[longofest]

Geez, just cause we live in igloos. or how every you spell it. i forgot :p
You got it ;) At least igloos are a lot easier to heat in the winter than drafty houses...

[longofest]

History Channel (Modern Marvels, Extreme Engineering, etc)
Discovery
Real TV
Worlds Most Amazing Videos
The Simpsons
The Family Guy
etc.

I don't think we'll see the History Chanel's "Modern Marvels" or "Extreme Engineering" until Mac's get inserted into every episode ;)

[zap2]

well 17 days fro 1million iPod Nano, still good #s!

[jywv8]

I love this!! I cant wait for them to have more content. If they start selling any home repair / food shows / history channel / classic movies or edutainment type shows Im going to go broke buying these things!!

Rock on Steve!!!!!!!!


Yeah, I think any "how-to" shows could be big sellers, as these are definitely things you would watch over and over again. (At least I would watch them repeatedly, since I can't even remember where I parked my car sometimes.)

Maybe exercise videos, too.

[Hattig]

No excuse for the pitiful price in the UK for music videos.

I actually want to buy these music videos - even at 320x240 the quality will beat dodgy music television channels, and there'll be no logo. I'm not going to spend over the top though.

So the price should be: $1.99 / 1.77 * 1.175 (VAT) = £1.32 rounded up to £1.39 or at most £1.49 a video.

£1.89 however ... That's 57p over the US price. That's an entire dollar more. Fine, if it also included the audio track on its own.

There is NO excuse for that markup.

I blame the teen weenies who pay £3 for a bloody naff polyphonic ringtune for their mobile phone. There is clearly a large market of people who want to chuck loads of money at ringtone companies, and maybe Apple is wanting some of that pie.

[xli_ne]

very suprised with 1 million so quickly

[Evan_11]

It will be interesting if this trend continues. I suspect a lot of people who bought the new iPod also bought a video just to check out the new feature.

Actually what I'd like to see is more eclectic content like Kenneth Anger and David Lynch short films. Stuff that's difficult to find normally and would fit the nature of the iPod. I also think there's a market for 'greatest hits' collections like that Seinfeld where they showed clips from different episodes. You could organize them as playlists like 'Kramer's Best Entrances' or 'George's Emotional Blow-Ups'. I also think there's a potential market for 'Choose Your Own Adventure' style movies.

[beatle888]

It will still rise, particularly after the Festive iPod purchases, but if they start declining in March then the fad will lose it's flavour.

Personally, I can't see why Apple has chosen this path, but at least they are still in the leading pack and not chasing like they did with the phones, and we know how they turned out.



the phones were just a sample of whats going to happen. just because the Rokr sucks doesnt mean the software sucks. i dont think its a flop, i think its more like a feeler for apple.

[Jovian9]

I have personally bought 25 music videos already. I'd like to see more TV shows though....none of them that are available now interest me at all.

[Chundles]

I bought a Pixar short and four music videos. No TV shows for us yet - there's nothing good to put on.

Blue Heelers? Been going for 15 years, too much data to put all that on iTunes
Neighbours? Running daily since god-knows-when, same as Home and Away, far too many shows to put up on iTunes.

My Restaurant rules your australian idol's backyard blitzed top 20 auctions? yep, aussie TV doesn't have much going for it right now. Mind you, I'm starting to like "The Surgeon." It's new, short and has pretty good storylines, good actors too.

There's just nothing here I can think of that would suit.

[Savage Henry]

the phones were just a sample of whats going to happen. just because the Rokr sucks doesnt mean the software sucks. i dont think its a flop, i think its more like a feeler for apple.
Yeah, you got a point. I just get the impression that Apple gave up midway but had committed to the final product. Still, I may be proved wrong, not every Apple product gets my approval before release .... But I do wish they'd ask sometimes;)

[bbyrdhouse]

You just know that there will be a whole new section to these file sharing programs. "Ipod Videos".

I mean I have already encoded the first 3 seasons of The Andy Griffith Show in 320 x 240 H.264. (They look extremely good.)

I am soon to begin encoding all 9 seasons of Little House On The Prairie.

I know that there has to be other who are doing the same thing with other videos. It is only a matter of time before some P2P app pops up specializing in video for Ipod.

BTW, Torrent sites are the worst. All of them!

[fed-ex]

hey so has anyone else noticed that more music videos have been added recently, they dont really seem to advertise when they do it, but for example Green Day went from 1 to like 8. I think it wont be too long before another broadasting coompany gets in on the act. Or we at least maybe get some more abc stuff. (although that could also extend to channels like espn that are also owned by disney.)

[Super Dave]

2006 is the last year before Apple annually announces the "new fall season" just like any other network.

David:cool:

[Epicurus]

I know I'm vastly in the minority on this, but I'd like them to make shows from the Discovery and History/History International channels available.

You are not alone. I know I'd buy more than a few History channel shows, but they'd have to key up a pretty dep catalog for it to work. Just because they did a show last week doesn't make it interesting, there are things several years old I'd rather be watching. This is certainly more difficult than putting up a show like Lost that's only a year old and is strongly episodic. :D

[Epicurus]

If getting more content is the name of the game, then Apple should definitely extend an olive branch to AtomFilms. They've got a massive library of digital content just waiting to be ported to the iPod. They've also already got a distribution system and a rating system. They might be wary of having to port their entire system to the little video section on iTunes, fearing that doing the new iTunes system justice would take too many resources away from their primary site. Apple needs to talk with them, come to a solution, and push hard to get the plan carried through.

I know this sounds like Apple will be putting a lot of their own resources towards just the video aspects of iTunes, but in order for this to have any sort of long term life, it needs to take off quickly. Once it is really established, new content will develop itself, like the Podcast community has (even before iTunes integrated it).

[Steamboatwillie]

lol you doubted Jobs?

No, I just thought that most people could care less for video on an iPod. I figured it was just the geeky folks (like myself) who were making the most noise for video. My bad. I'm happy though 'cause I own Apple stock! It's good to be wrong sometimes. :rolleyes:

[Stella]

How about Apple negotiating with TV stations from outside the u.s?

[liketom]

No, I just thought that most people could care less for video on an iPod. I figured it was just the geeky folks (like myself) who were making the most noise for video. My bad. I'm happy though 'cause I own Apple stock! It's good to be wrong sometimes. :rolleyes:
yeah i thought that as well


welcome to the revolution:D

[jap4n]

So... a million in 20days eh?

most of the downloads would be tv episodes, would you reckon?
How big (mb) is an episode? For a 43min episode... 100mb?

cos.. how's apples traffic going for all these downloads..?

i figure, 1million x 80mb (average size download including music videos and tv shows?) = 80tb +/- in 20 days?!!!

woah.. imagine the traffic once the video downloads become mainstream like music has!

:eek: :) :) :)

[Super Dave]

I saw this coming when Apple started having videos viewable in iTunes (not the pay ones, the free ones like 1-2 years ago). I even saw that Stevie boy would use his Pixar clout to muscle Disney into offering content.

So here's my prediction:

-iPods sell like mad
-the only video content that will sell will be for a medium that sells like mad
-therefore the iTunes video store will own the online video download industry like it already owns the music one.

So farther off there are clearly going to be full length feature films, full seasons of television and individual shows, oh and music videos (but who cares?).

Apple thus becomes one of the most powerful media companies period (with the iPod both promoting sales and along for the ride). How many years will it be before the iBook....er... iRead.... whatever they'll call it. Digital audio books are already sold by Apple, in 20 years I imagine LCD screens will be cheap enough to make a little Star Trek esque tablet for reading books. Yes paper feels better. But liner notes sell music too, right? Wrong, iTunes has already shown that if you make it cheap enough digitally people will buy it.

So here's the situation in 10 years. Apple is taking on Amazon AND the television networks for being the uber media sales company. Anyone buy it?

David:cool:

[jiv3turkey748]

wow 1million in 20 days thats crazy

[Village Idiot]

A few interesting tidbits from a friend of mine who works in acquisitions at a free to air TV network in Sydney.
One of the free to air TV networks has already snapped up the TV rights for this film (Bondi Tsunami) in anticipation that it will hit it large by being the first movie you can "shuffle" and a new media phenomenon. Some quotes from earlier in the year by the director state that the movie is to be enjoyed in different ways. One of which is to whack it in the DVD player and hit "random".
This obviously lends itself perfectly to be an iTunes downloadable movie. It is also a "music video motion picture" as described by the makers themselves.

It will be interesting to see what comes of this.

[Coca-Cola]

I could see "survivor" heading over very easily. Survivor is currently playing on outdoor life channel. I think they would easily accept an offer to show all of the survivor episodes on iTunes.

[Lacero]

I could see "survivor" heading over very easily. Survivor is currently playing on outdoor life channel. I think they would easily accept an offer to show all of the survivor episodes on iTunes.
I wouldn't download Survivor episodes because they have really low to non-existent replay value.

Give me episodes of Dr. Who 2005 or Simpsons or Family Guy. Those have tremendous replay value.

[dontmatter]

it's so hard to judge numbers like a million, we really have no concrete concept of how big it is.

It sounds big, though two million dollars a month after product launch is nothing compared with 199 million (min) for 17 days with the nano, or compared with whatever the enormous rate is on music.

That said, they've got next to no content to provide, and very few 5th gen ipods have been shipped...

So what's it all mean? I'd say that if apple gets contracts for most of the content on TV, this will be a major phenomanon. If not.... the numbers are only OK, don't expect much.

now, can we expect a major deal? no idea, but I sure hope so.

[Pistol Pete]

congrats apple way to go!

[jywv8]

I wouldn't download Survivor episodes because they have really low to non-existent replay value.

Give me episodes of Dr. Who 2005 or Simpsons or Family Guy. Those have tremendous replay value.

Clearly, "replay value" is subjective. :)

But, seriously, I could see myself buying something that I wouldn't necessarily watch more than once. I paid money to rent the first season of Lost from Blockbuster. If it were cheaper to just buy the first season though iTunes, I would have done that. In either case, I'm not going to watch all those episodes more than once.

Or maybe you meant that, say, Survivor has no replay value because everyone already knows who "won" or whatever? But I don't, because I never paid attention to it.

[corbin_a2]

I know I'm vastly in the minority on this, but I'd like them to make shows from the Discovery and History/History International channels available.


Yes. I agree 100%

[JGowan]

We'll see how long this lasts, or if it was just people being curious at the next "new thing".Yes, we will. I detect some cynicism. Beware, o Cynic. Vast were those laid waste who doubted Apple in selling music. Last I heard, Apple's on the downslope of a billion songs sold. Apple will have more content than you can shake a stick at. 1 Million is nothing.

[SummerBreeze]

This is great, can't wait for more content. I really hope that they put up Alias and Veronica Mars. I'm having to record Alias right now since I'm busy Thursday nights, and we don't have UPN so I have to crash at friends' houses. It would be much easier to get them on iTunes.

[Jonx]

Congratulations Apple!!!!! :D

[p0intblank]

Awesome news! I was looking forward to see how the videos are selling this is just amazing. Steve Jobs definitely has something here, and it's only going to get better. I'm interested in seeing what networks jump in next. :)

w00t!

[Air Cargo]

I wouldn't download Survivor episodes because they have really low to non-existent replay value.

Give me episodes of Dr. Who 2005 or Simpsons or Family Guy. Those have tremendous replay value.

(Poor Homer impression) Mmmmmm- Simpsons replys.......

[Air Cargo]

hey so has anyone else noticed that more music videos have been added recently, they dont really seem to advertise when they do it, but for example Green Day went from 1 to like 8. I think it wont be too long before another broadasting coompany gets in on the act. Or we at least maybe get some more abc stuff. (although that could also extend to channels like espn that are also owned by disney.)

All: I'm living outside USA, and seeing as I can't find episode 6 on iTunes, I'm not too sure if there was an episode shown on 10/26. Can anyone please verify?

Much appreciated!

Phillip

[radio893fm]

Wow, I didn't see that coming. I really thought it would flop. I guess I was wrong and Jobs was right.


No, no, no... you were wrong and Jobs was totally wrong... I was right!!! See Steve, it was a good idea to have video... the PSP proved it... so now, shut up and start working on a bigger-widescreen version of the iPod video.