Apple TV+ Executive: 'We're Not Doing Demographic Programming'

[MacRumors]

WIRED has published a lengthy feature about Apple's foray into streaming video, and while many of the details are known, the article serves as a nice primer ahead of the launch of Apple TV+ on November 1.

In an interview, Apple TV+ co-chief Zack Van Amburg said Apple is focused on quality rather than demographic programming. "No one here is sitting around saying we need to find the next show for males 18 to 34, or the next show for females older than 32. We're defining our programming by quality."

While TV shows on traditional networks are often aimed at capturing viewers between the ages of 18 and 49, a key demographic for advertising, Apple TV+ can avoid this since the subscription-based service has no commercials.

One of Apple TV+'s first series will be Ronald D. Moore's space-race drama "For All Mankind," with the article noting that Moore pitched the series with an impressive level of detail spanning up to seven seasons:

On the wall, a series of timelines and character profiles helped illustrate how the show might progress over the seven seasons that Moore and his writers had broken down. "The level of detail was overwhelming," Erlicht says. "Every aspect of the butterfly effect that would happen from the slightest change in that event." The executives walked out into the hallway, grinned at each other, and negotiated which one of them was going to give Moore the good news.

Apple TV+ will be available on the Apple TV app on iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac, and other platforms, including online at tv.apple.com, for $4.99 per month with a seven-day free trial. Since September 10, customers who purchase any iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, iPod touch, or Mac can get one year of Apple TV+ for free.

Full Article: Inside Apple's High-Flying Bid to Become a Streaming Giant

Article Link: Apple TV+ Executive: 'We're Not Doing Demographic Programming'

 

[Aluminum213]

Of course they are, Apple only does demographic marketing and now programming

 

[markfc]

Cant wait for For All Mankind.

 

[JosephKing]

This is either a blatant lie, or they will soon realize how important market research is when Apple TV originals fail.

 

[Baymowe335]

Of course they are, Apple only does demographic marketing and now programming

Where is your proof?

 

[nebo1ss]

I do not believe the claim of no adverts. Apple will find a way to include adverts.

 

[Rogifan]

Obviously the marketing department decided the word here needs to be “quality”? But how do you define that? Quality TV programming is highly subjective.

 

[Knowlege Bomb]

I do not believe the claim of no adverts. Apple will find a way to include adverts.

Yeah it'll probably be News+ banners splatted all over like they do in their News app.

In all seriousness though, the fact that they're charging a monthly fee kinda negates the possibility I think. Not even Apple can get away with sticking ads in a subscription based platform.

 

[1098474]

Where is your proof?

Are you kidding!?

 

[rosegoldoli]

im scared for apple tv tbh...all the money spent if it flops..

 

[nostresshere]

I have so much TV to watch already - if I watched TV 24 hours a day it would take 10-20 or maybe 50 years to watch it all.

I just don't get it.

 

[yossi]

So is "for all mankind" about us going to mars, or sending a woman to the moon?

 

[Ultramove69]

Shows should be made for specific demographics. You can’t tell me that shows aren’t designed with a kids theme, a teen audience, young adults, elderly folks. Grandma probably isn’t getting the same value out of Sabrina that the grandchildren are. It’s ok to divide programming into demographics. When did this become wrong?

 

[Juicy Box]

I have so much TV to watch already - if I watched TV 24 hours a day it would take 10-20 or maybe 50 years to watch it all.

I just don't get it.

Not if you watch ATV+ exclusively at launch.

You would be done in a week.

 

[PickUrPoison]

Of course they are, Apple only does demographic marketing and now programming

Apple’s marketing demographic is “everybody who can afford to purchase, or influence a purchase”.

A billion iPhones. 1.5 billion devices. With respect to marketing and programming, what demo do you believe they’re marketing to? What demo do you think they’re excluding?

 

[BGPL]

Why would he lie about that, as if there's something wrong with it? Any production from any company is going to be written for a particular audience.

 

[ruslan120]

I like it. I think the aim is to catch those viewers that Netflix and Amazon are losing due to their promotion of LGBT/modern shows ("losing" is a strong word, more like "viewers that are simply uninterested in it and are watching such shows less). The message is that "we're not trying to impress anyone or think too much into social statements and kill character developments for it. We're just trying to make the best shows possible (those that test best with most of a varied demographic).

My $0.02. I remain optimistically hopeful.

 

[fmcshan]

I’m excited for Apple TV+. However, I don’t see how this is a profitably strategy for Apple’s slowing iPhone business. Even if Apple capped the budget at $2 billion (which it didn’t), it would take 400 million paying subscribers at $4.99/month to recoup that investment.

 

[PickUrPoison]

So is "for all mankind" about us going to mars, or sending a woman to the moon?

No.

The series will dramatize an alternate history depicting "what would have happened if the global space race had never ended" after the USSR succeeds in the first manned Moon landing.

 

[coolfactor]

I have so much TV to watch already - if I watched TV 24 hours a day it would take 10-20 or maybe 50 years to watch it all.

I just don't get it.

This is purely to get more people into the Apple ecosystem. Simple as that.

 

[ipponrg]

This is purely to get more people into the Apple ecosystem. Simple as that.

What is interesting here is you can watch AppleTV+ on other select non Apple devices. So the only thing you get of the ecosystem is just an account. It will be interesting to see what becomes of this in a year or 2

 

[PickUrPoison]

I’m excited for Apple TV+. However, I don’t see how this is a profitably strategy for Apple’s slowing iPhone business. Even if Apple capped the budget at $2 billion (which it didn’t), it would take 400 million paying subscribers at $4.99/month to recoup that investment.

I don’t think Apple’s trying to recoup their investment in a month.

 

[PickUrPoison]

This is either a blatant lie, or they will soon realize how important market research is when Apple TV originals fail.

What market research? Two guys with an impressive history of being able to identify quality programming go into a room and say yes. Or no.

 

[xander49x]

I applaud Apple and Disney for entering the market, however, for those of us that like to binge-watch shows I do not see myself subscribing to them. On Apple going for quality shows, if they are only family shows then they are missing out on the majority of the viewing population. I wish them luck in their endeavor.

 

[matrix07]

I don’t think Apple’s trying to recoup their investment in a month.

Ha Ha exactly. It’s not like Apple will invest 2B into TV+ in a month. That would be 24B in a year. That’s more than all Hollywood productions combined.