Ad Data Points to Apple's 'Slow Roll' Promotion of Apple TV+

[Abazigal]

I haven't seen anyone say they are planning to sign up after the 1 free week trial. Where are they?

I have a year. I will probably end up going with the annual plan directly (like what I am already doing with Apple Music) when it’s time to renew my subscription around this time next year.

Been a busy weekend, but I managed to catch the first three episodes of morning show and 2 episodes of See. I quite like them actually. Cinematography is gorgeous, stars are watchable, acting is great, script and dialogue feels tight and well-paced overall. However much Apple paid for producing these shows, I will say they got their money’s worth.

Caught a bit of that elephant documentary. The part where the elephant kept disturbing the tortoise with its trunk was pretty cute.

This is coming from someone who has been subscribed to Netflix for a while now but simply hasn’t found their original content enticing. This reminds me of the whole quality vs quantity argument we always seem to be having about Apple products. Netflix boasts so many shows on paper, yet the reality is I am having a hard time finding content which actually interests me these days.

Apple’s original content, in contrast, clearly sport higher production values, and their weekly release schedule gives me something to look forward ever so often.

I think it’s Netflix who needs to seriously relook their current business model. No doubt it has been successful in allowing them to grow to be as large as they are today, but I don’t find their current strategy sustainable at all.

 

[Ar40]

I haven't seen anyone say they are planning to sign up after the 1 free week trial. Where are they?

I already paid for a full year of Apple TV+ starting once the sub ends. I didn't get a free year like many others - my last purchase was an iPhone X in 2017.

 

[gruntersdad]

Disney is $6.99 per month and has been producing shows since 1936. Give it time folks. Two days out and the "professional" critics can't wait to complain. Sad.
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I have a year. I will probably end up going with the annual plan directly (like what I am already doing with Apple Music) when it’s time to renew my subscription around this time next year.

Been a busy weekend, but I managed to catch the first three episodes of morning show and 2 episodes of See. I quite like them actually. Cinematography is gorgeous, stars are watchable, acting is great, script and dialogue feels tight and well-paced overall. However much Apple paid for producing these shows, I will say they got their money’s worth.

Caught a bit of that elephant documentary. The part where the elephant kept disturbing the tortoise with its trunk was pretty cute.

This is coming from someone who has been subscribed to Netflix for a while now but simply hasn’t found their original content enticing. This reminds me of the whole quality vs quantity argument we always seem to be having about Apple products. Netflix boasts so many shows on paper, yet the reality is I am having a hard time finding content which actually interests me these days.

Apple’s original content, in contrast, clearly sport higher production values, and their weekly release schedule gives me something to look forward ever so often.

I think it’s Netflix who needs to seriously relook their current business model. No doubt it has been successful in allowing them to grow to be as large as they are today, but I don’t find their current strategy sustainable at all.

Right here am I. Letting it ride for a while. I can quit at any time,

 

[Baymowe335]

Disney is $6.99 per month and has been producing shows since 1936. Give it time folks. Two days out and the "professional" critics can't wait to complain. Sad.
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Right here am I. Letting it ride for a while. I can quit at any time,

Agreed. At this point, I'd almost rather be Apple in streaming because Disney is only going to hurt the lead Netflix has built whereas Apple is starting from the bottom. They have time to learn and grow while they figure things out. Netflix is in an all out war to save their business, because streaming is all they have. Netflix didn't gain a big enough lead and never monetized their service sufficiently, so they still struggle with cash flow.

Disney is a devastating competitor because they own A LOT of good content and have cash flow to buy/create more.

Apple is uniquely positioned because they have the most cash of anyone AND have 1.4B devices to push content to along with an app.

 

[red elma]

Agree with some of the other posters, I too am turned off by seeing Jennifer Aniston as the "poster face" of ATV+ over the last few weeks. . . a rather "blend" Hollywood Face.

 

[ThatGuyInLa]

The AppleTV screensavers are more entertaining.

 

[dallastigers]

I have a year. I will probably end up going with the annual plan directly (like what I am already doing with Apple Music) when it’s time to renew my subscription around this time next year.

Been a busy weekend, but I managed to catch the first three episodes of morning show and 2 episodes of See. I quite like them actually. Cinematography is gorgeous, stars are watchable, acting is great, script and dialogue feels tight and well-paced overall. However much Apple paid for producing these shows, I will say they got their money’s worth.

Caught a bit of that elephant documentary. The part where the elephant kept disturbing the tortoise with its trunk was pretty cute.

This is coming from someone who has been subscribed to Netflix for a while now but simply hasn’t found their original content enticing. This reminds me of the whole quality vs quantity argument we always seem to be having about Apple products. Netflix boasts so many shows on paper, yet the reality is I am having a hard time finding content which actually interests me these days.

Apple’s original content, in contrast, clearly sport higher production values, and their weekly release schedule gives me something to look forward ever so often.

I think it’s Netflix who needs to seriously relook their current business model. No doubt it has been successful in allowing them to grow to be as large as they are today, but I don’t find their current strategy sustainable at all.

I got tired of Netflix’s stuff as well. Most require subtitles and already using them to make sure I catch all the words I can’t always hear in first place. I figure i can just sign up for a month or 2 and catch up every year.

But Apple+ is underwhelming so far. If it wasn’t free I wouldn’t be trying to watch any of it. It’s also not enough now for me to restart using TVOS 13’s TV app regularly even free.

Have they attempted to take over any shows that might be canceled that still have enough fallowing to bring over some hard core customers. It also wouldn’t hurt to buy rights to stream previous shows to give people chance to watch them as well.

Must have Spent a lot of money on actors in Morning Show, and morning talk show setting as a dramedy just doesn’t seem that interesting. All of them have range & talent to do something more appealing. Put them in better vehicle or just find good actors that may be less known but also cost less if show may need some tweaking before it catches on or doesn’t catch on.

 

[danny842003]

I love how there’s so many people who are absolutely adamant this will fail.
I’m happily subscribed to Netflix I don’t need Apple TV+ to do what Netflix does as I’m unlikely to unsubscribe from them. However if Apple have a select number of high budget high quality shows i would be willing to add that to what I have with Netflix.
ive only watched two episodes of see so far and they seem to be on to a winner there.
having a Second subscription would still have me paying about a third of what I was with Foxtel.

 

[Tech198]

I choose to take 'a slow rollout' with the service will add more content over a longer period than other services would like Netflix and Stan

Unlike others, i don't play this 'cat & mouse' game of "if the content is there, suddenly price is no object"

i.e.. Most people may 'cut the cable' because it's too pricey, add the fact that its ridiculed with repeats and perhaps lack of content.. Eliminate the last two, and people will easily pay more than a cable subscription, given the right circumstances.

I however, will not. price, to me, is always the top tier and should not be subverted just because your now paying multiple subscriptions, and $30 a month BUT i get what i want.

 

[480951]

I can’t believe Apple spent $300 million (how?) just making the Morning Show. It doesn’t matter how many stars you have if the scripts aren’t great.

 

[millydog]

I purchased an iPhone XS Max and iPad Pro 12.9 late last year and a mini 5 and 2019 MacBook Pro this year, but I don’t qualify for a 12 month subscription since these were purchased before the 10th September. I’ve bought AirPods Pro too, but that doesn’t qualify me either. I’m a big spender, but decided to skip the iPhone 11 Pro Max this year and iPads Pro haven’t been updated yet, so I’ll wait and get my 12 months subscription later on when I next upgrade a qualifying device.

 

[jimbobb24]

And after all these years, iCloud and Apple music still aren't that great and almost all competitors are more popular and a better value.

Apple Music mostly destroys Spotify in nearly every way except having a web based client and Spotify is still slightly better in music discovery. But Apple Music is absolutely amazing so I think this broad brush is just wrong.

 

[DevNull0]

i.e.. Most people may 'cut the cable' because it's too pricey, add the fact that its ridiculed with repeats and perhaps lack of content.. Eliminate the last two, and people will easily pay more than a cable subscription, given the right circumstances.

I however, will not. price, to me, is always the top tier and should not be subverted just because your now paying multiple subscriptions, and $30 a month BUT i get what i want.

I cut the cable cord because of the horrendous advertising and station marking. I'm in Canada, so I don't know if the US is this bad, but aside from the normal commercials, they do everything they can to destroy the content. While the main show is playing ---- They will shrink the screen to about 60% and show a commercial below and beside the show. They will overlay a commercial over the bottom 1/3rd of the screen blocking out the content. They will have commercials for the next show taking up 1/3rd of the screen *with a voice announcement blocking out the show audio*. The station ID logo is on the screen permanent and occasionally they expand it to 1/4th of the screen, opaque with flashy visual effects *and audio effects*. Some channels, the ID logo turns bright and colorful and starts bouncing around the screen for 10-15 seconds.

If they want to make it impossible to sit down and enjoy a show, why would I pay anything for the service. Cable TV with no pay channels here is $75/month, and for the above reasons, I find it completely unwatchable. I actually would still be paying that price right now if it weren't for those annoyances.

So I do agree with you that cost is an important consideration, but it's actually hard to spend as much as I would be willing to spend on cable anyway, and for that lower price, I get a commercial-free experience with nothing on the screen but the content. It makes wonder why anyone still pays for cable at all unless they're unable to figure out how to use a streaming service.

 

[greytmom]

I liked The Morning Show. A lot. I’m kind of annoyed that the rest of the episodes aren’t available.

I haven’t watched anything else yet, but I would watch Jason Momoa read a cereal box, so I’m counting See as a win without seeing it. Yet.

 

[mellofello]

I got my free year due to just receiving a new work phone.

I will give it a month or 2, but I am probably going to cancel it, just to be sure that I don't accidentally pay for it in a year.

As it stands now free is too expensive for the shows on offer. I cannot believe that they couldn't even produce one show I was excited to watch

 

[bobob]

It's pathetic. There is nothing to watch. At all. I've literally already watched whatever I'd even consider watching. ON THE WHOLE 'PLATFORM'

Watch for Calstanford TV+ Coming in November 2044!

Instead of quickly developing a few high profile series like Apple TV+ for an early launch to gain a foothold in this rapidly growing market segment of streaming media, Calstanford TV+ has commited to spending the next 25 years investing in building a giant library of series to launch all at once 25 years from now.

 

[cardfan]

Apple Music mostly destroys Spotify in nearly every way except having a web based client and Spotify is still slightly better in music discovery. But Apple Music is absolutely amazing so I think this broad brush is just wrong.

Spotify has around 220mil (96million paid and 124 free with ads). Apple Music 60mil paid.

That’s why I take these estimates of users Apple will have in atv with a grain of salt. Well if Apple can convert just 10 percent of its 1.4 billion base in five years...yada yada.

Welp Apple Music has 1.4 billion base as well. How’s that 10% coming along? Not to mention much of these 1.4 billion is iPhones and iPads. In fact 900 million is iPhones. iPads is around 350 million. That leaves 150 million devices which make up macs, watches, Apple TV, HomePod.

Somewhere it was estimated there’s 13 million active Apple TV devices. Roku and amazon have over 70% of this market. Apple is dead last as lg and WebOS figures to pass Apple. It’s also estimated over half of all video streaming is done by a connected box.

So this 1.4 billion base really is kind of meaningless for projecting atv+ future numbers or success.

Think about it. 13 million Apple TV’s. It’s no wonder Apple made their app available on roku and amazon. But you can’t really expect much from that not to mention it’s a limited version of atv on Apple TV since it cannot integrate with other apps on competitors products.

It’s highly unlikely Apple would ever have over 100 million atv+ users. Something would have to change drastically for this to happen. I’d say 10-20 mil tops in 5 years and that’s only if they keep spending what they are. Any real revenue from atv has to come from selling channels.

 

[Reason077]

Slow... just like the plots of the shows on the platform.

 

[will_is_here]

Apple Music mostly destroys Spotify in nearly every way except having a web based client and Spotify is still slightly better in music discovery. But Apple Music is absolutely amazing so I think this broad brush is just wrong.

Apple Music has a web client now: beta.music.apple.com
It's still a beta, but it's bloody good nevertheless.

 

[aknabi]

The shows are amazing. Better than HBO in my opinion. Also, there’s more than enough content for me - I only have an hour or two a night to watch, plus weekends.
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Better than HBO??? Plenty of content... that takes some blind loyalty to actually internalize.

 

[chucker23n1]

One positive review. Yeah not quite. Let’s look at things realistically. Many outlets. In fact it seems most of them refuse to give a rating on their reviews. They try to paint things in a light that will let them keep favor with Apple without completely shattering their credibility with their audience. When you look at their prior and subsequent content reviews you can see they provide ratings (1-5, 5-10) for their other reviewed material.

The majority (59%) of reviews is positive.

Besides that, there are multiple news stories reporting that the launch content was so widely panned by early reviews (pre-release) that Cook immediately dove in and offered this “one year free” deal to all recent Apple customers.

Apple never has and likely never will be in the business of giving anything away for free and discounts (even for the largest enterprise) are very hard to come by.

So your criticism is simultaneously that they gave a discount and that they don't give discounts enough?

Apple TV +, Apple is branding and taking ownership of the rights to these productions. That is a significant order of magnitude greater involvement in the creative process than ever before. And honestly, they aren’t known for this and don’t really have any in-house creatives. Only executives and social advocates who work within their ranks.

Netflix wasn't known for it either. Amazon wasn't either.

I doubt they will abandon this effort until new leadership walks in, but they’ve quite possibly bitten off more of the “Apple” than they can chew. LOL

LOL!!

(???)
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iCloud is still not considered all that great when it's compared to Google Cloud or AWS.

Comparing iCloud to GCP or AWS is like comparing a phone to a printer.

 

[RS52]

Apple needs to buy PlayStation Vue or work out a deal where we can pay for the live networks we want to watch plus give us Non-Apple original content as well DVR capability. Some things seem so obvious to me I cannot comprehend what Apple is thinking...

I’d pay $50-55 a month if they bought PlayStation Vue and I had all my channels I currently watch plus AppleTV+.

I’d play $10 for local channels and up to $5 a channel at varying prices for the networks I want to watch.

Apple is missing what the market wants and needs while giving us what no one even asked for and expects us to pay for it.

 

[Terrinb]

Shows are amazing? Nah, the best shows were mankind and morning show. But they aren’t like buzzworthy shows like succession etc. Maybe it is me, cause i am not an Apple fan boy. But i can look at it objectively. And just come out and say when Apple doesn’t do a good job or something. 🤷🏼‍♂️

To each their own, but I enjoyed SEE. My girlfriend likes Dickerson.

I don’t know if I’d call either HBO quality content, but they were certainly ether than a lot of crap.


Plus it seems pretty clear Apple doesn’t care to make money on this service. It is a value add on to increase sales of Apple hardware.

 

[adamryan1983]

Is it possible to have a single article about Apple TV+, without showing Jennifer Aniston?

Why? She's easy on the eyes

 

[Zimmy68]

Hail Mary pass, it will do just fine, you are one of those people that bash everything Apple does, then when it’s a success you don’t say a word.

It's an absolute Hail Mary pass. You notice how Apple doesn't give new phone buyers extended free trials to News+ and Apple Music?
Could you imagine the numbers if they gave the usual one month trial for TV+?
People would consume the good shows in a few weeks and not sign up until the next batch of shows happen late next year at the earliest.
I don't care if it succeeds or fails, but will admit to becoming happy at any and all Fast Eddy Cue's continued mistakes. I've never seen anyone fall upward like him. They should do a documentary on it.

But tell me why you think it will succeed with what we know now?
What will it look like in 3, 5 months? Am I going to turn on my AppleTV and see Jason Mamoa's face every day?

As my original post said, content is king and they don't have any. I assumed they were going to offer movies and tv shows from iTunes.
Something, anything.