Apple Extends Monthly Credit Deposits to Apple TV+ Subscribers Through June

[Alan Wynn]

Apple TV has a couple of OK things on it.

But it is trying to be the "catch all" and send everybody everywhere where there is income to be made.

This is a big problem for them. There is an AppleTV box, the AppleTV app (that shows up on iPhones, iPads, AppleTV hardware and various other televisions, streaming boxes and game systems), and the Apple TV+ service and most people have no idea which is which.

It is annoying... I don't need Apple TV to tell me I can watch GhostBusters on "Subscription Platform Y" or "buy for $10" from platform X.

Is it that you do not like unified search, or that you do not want to be presented with the purchase option? The Amazon app on the AppleTV does something similar, showing both content that is part of Prime Video (included), things you can purchase from Amazon for streaming, and things that are on channels one can purchase via their app (CBS All Access used to be available standalone using their AppleTV App, as a channel within the Apple TV app and within Amazon’s app). It made things confusing.

I do like being about to search one place to find almost all the content (Netflix is not indexed as far as I remember).

It is as messy as Apple News+ (got a 3 months free) - where it tries to implement "fancy" magazine styles - that does absolutely not work or keep me interested in reading them. I don't need/want fancy multimedia adverts or articles.

Again, they have a similar problem with the News App and the News+ service as well as News+ content that appears as part of the News app, separate from the full magazines in the News+ section.

News/News+ has the opposite problem from the TV app, in that there is not really good way to search the content.

A COUPLE of times it has been used with good effect to explain things like science stuff - but 99% is just "flap" and completely unuseful - just like Apple TV+

If I could understand clearly when one of the cool explainers was going to be done, it would be much more valuable. I used to use News+ mostly as a cheap way of getting the LA Times (my local paper) and all the industry magazines (Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, etc.) without needing to manage subscriptions and having to give up my personal information. The inclusion within Apple One Premier makes it an easy choice. My BF and I had the Apple Music family plan and he had the 2tb iCloud, so we get TV+, News+, Arcade and Fitness+ for $5 a month. Each service seems worth at least $1.25, making it easy to justify.

 

[Stephen.R]

The pace really comes to a crawl through the mid season.

Being sightless will do that to people 😂

 

[szw-mapple fan]

To me this sounds like tv+ isn’t going as well as they hoped

I tried a bunch of stuff. Not for me.

cancelled already

Either that, or they are hoping to hold out until they release some new shows around June so people will be convinced to stay for those.

 

[lazyjj1]

Watched: servant, home after dark, Ted lasso, Tehran... all great!!!

 

[Blowback]

Everyone loves Ted Lasso! Defending Jacob was pretty good. Tiny World (was it? With Paul Rudd) was great. The Morning Show was solid. Tehran was excellent. Long Way Up I thought was really interesting... and that’s just TV Shows! And I mean it’s been free for going on two years? Why do people complain so much for a FREE service LOL.

Why? Because thats what some people DO! Priced to a beer or two.....AppleTV is nothing!

 

[Blowback]

I’m also suspicious that they would give it to Apple One subscribers and I also buy credit like that and indeed my balance just went down $30 (premier one), not $25. RIP iTunes at Costco! Hopefully they bring it back somehow!!

I'm an Apple1 subscriber and I've gotten it......

 

[Blowback]

Not sure where you are, but in Southern California, I find the new Maps to be much better than Google Maps. Not just are the display, presentation and navigation better and estimated times more accurate, but the integration with the ecosystem is awesome. If I ask the HomePod what time a store or restaurant closes, or how long it will take me to get somewhere, Maps suggests it as a destination when I get in my car. All this without Apple knowing everywhere I go and selling that data to advertisers.

I got a 3 year subscription to Disney+ at a super discounted price. So far I have only watched The Mandolorian and one episode of Wandavision (I will probably finish the series, but I am not in love with it). In contrast, I have watched: For All Mankind, The Morning Show, Ted Lasso, See, and Ghostwriter. I am currently watching Mythic Quest, and want to watch Tehran, Servant, Defending Jacob, Greyhound and Truth Be Told. I think we have watched one or two Amazon originals but I cannot think of what they are. We get Netflix from T-Mobile so I do not worry much about it, but very few of their recent originals have been good. As someone else said, at $5 a month, $80 a year (or even less as part of Apple One Premier), they just need one show or movie a month to make it worth it for me to subscribe.

Yeah, I remember when that 3 yr. Disney sub came out and jumped on it....at about 6(?) cents a day if I recall.

 

[macsound1]

I have ATV+ for free and mostly I'm frustrated that I never see ads on any other platform for the shows and movies. I watch almost 100% of my tv and movies with the rest of my household and not knowing anything at all about a single tv show means I'm always veto'd when making a suggestion.
People mention amazing things about all this stuff, like Ted Lasso, but I haven't a clue what its about.

If apple wants to be a big boy in television, they need to advertise like the big boys.

 

[macsound1]

I flinched. Realizing that nobody in my family watches more than an hour or two on Netflix a month. Less than Disney+, HBO Max, and even peacock. Heck, we even watch Apple TV+ more often. I guess we’re all sick of dubbed low-budget foreign thrillers and game shows where people try to make pastries or crafts.

Decided to keep note of exactly how often anybody in the house watches Netflix for the next month or so and probably unsubscribe if it’s as rare as I think it is. We can always resubscribe for a month when content we actually want to see appears. We subscribe to pretty much everything, but $17/month for Netflix got me thinking.

That's kind of surprising.
Sure I watch baking and agree that almost all "Netflix originals" are horrible, it's still the streaming service we watch the most of.
Hulu has almost no movies. D+ is great for some stuff but, by design, not well rounded. HBO Max has almost no casual TV. So Netflix becomes the default app to scroll through every evening.

Truly though, I think Netflix is really messed up and I wish they realized how terrible the orginization of content is and how impossible it is to find something for casual viewing.

 

[bankshot]

Yeah, I remember when that 3 yr. Disney sub came out and jumped on it....at about 6(?) cents a day if I recall.

It was $140.97 for 3 years, which works out to just under $0.13/day or $3.92/month. Still a great deal if you like the content.

 

[Alan Wynn]

As for Apple TV+ I don't like it. I hate how they mix PPV content with ATV+ content making harder to find.

You are not the only person that has commented on that, but I noticed that there is now a TV+ tab in the AppleTV TV app and an Originals tab in the iPad app. The unified search (that is searching through the content from almost all the various apps one has installed) is nice and annoying at the same time. It is nice in that one does not have to look in each app to find who has a show or film, but it is annoying if the only results are purchase/rental only. It has gotten better over time in that one can now watch most of the selected shows within the TV app and it will also keep track of the shows you are watching and which episode is current. It used to be that it would ship you to the other app completely once you picked a show.

That is what I hate about Amazon Prime which I also rarely watch but my uncle watching Prime content more. I keep Amazon Prime for the 2-day shipping.

They also have a unified search including all the channels to which one can subscribe within Prime Video.

 

[Kabeyun]

Possibly. But Apple never leaves money on the table. I’ll stick with my opinion.

If it improves their image and encourages subscriptions, it helps their market share. That’s not necessarily leaving money on the table. Just have to have a longer-term perspective to see it.

 

[EugW]

That's kind of surprising.
Sure I watch baking and agree that almost all "Netflix originals" are horrible, it's still the streaming service we watch the most of.
Hulu has almost no movies. D+ is great for some stuff but, by design, not well rounded. HBO Max has almost no casual TV. So Netflix becomes the default app to scroll through every evening.

There are many great Netflix originals. Your tastes may differ, but I really liked Daredevil, Punisher, and Jessica Jones, Stranger Things, Bridgerton, Queen's Gambit, Santa Clarita Diet, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, etc.

Or are you just talking about Netflix Originals cooking shows?

 

[Kabeyun]

Everything I watched was bad IMO.

Already bailed. Tried several shows. Didn’t enjoy one.

Can’t imagine anyone so hard-hearted as to not enjoy Ted Lasso.

 

[Alan Wynn]

I have ATV+ for free and mostly I'm frustrated that I never see ads on any other platform for the shows and movies. I watch almost 100% of my tv and movies with the rest of my household and not knowing anything at all about a single tv show means I'm always veto'd when making a suggestion.

Yup, very much a problem.

People mention amazing things about all this stuff, like Ted Lasso, but I haven't a clue what its about.

This is the article that convinced me to watch it: https://www.loopinsight.com/2020/08/24/the-ringer-how-on-earth-is-ted-lasso-actually-good/

The premise is silly (an American second division college football coach is hired to coach an English Premier League soccer team) but the show is great.

If apple wants to be a big boy in television, they need to advertise like the big boys.

Completely agree. That is the primary reason I list the shows I have watched when people talk about the service. There are over 45 shows and movies on the service, but most people have not heard of any of them. I have not even found a good website that lists them all. In the TV app there is now a tab that shows all the originals, and one can go look at the trailers for each of them, but that is more work than most people will do to discover something new.

 

[LV426]

UK viewers might be interested to know that Run Lola Run is now available for purchase on iTunes.

Still no sign, after all these years, of The Abyss or HD versions of Jean de Florette / Manon des Sources. Which is a shame.

 

[TriBruin]

Yup, very much a problem.

This is the article that convinced me to watch it: https://www.loopinsight.com/2020/08/24/the-ringer-how-on-earth-is-ted-lasso-actually-good/

The premise is silly (an American second division college football coach is hired to coach an English Premier League soccer team) but the show is great.

Completely agree. That is the primary reason I list the shows I have watched when people talk about the service. There are over 45 shows and movies on the service, but most people have not heard of any of them. I have not even found a good website that lists them all. In the TV app there is now a tab that shows all the originals, and one can go look at the trailers for each of them, but that is more work than most people will do to discover something new.

Not sure I agree that Apple needs to advertise more. In fact, I have seen more ads for Apple TV+ shows on regular TV than anything on Netflix. (Disney, however, takes the prize for advertising Wandavision.)

I don't think it is so much advertising, but word of mouth. Obviously everyone's sphere of influence is different, but I hear way more "watercolor talk" about recent Netflix hits Queen's Gambit & Bridgerton than I have heard about any Apple TV show. Without judging the quality of shows, I would bet that the average person are much more aware of Netflix shows than any Apple TV+ shows.

 

[Alan Wynn]

It was $140.97 for 3 years, which works out to just under $0.13/day or $3.92/month. Still a great deal if you like the content.

The idea that it was $4 a month locked in for 3 years is what made me sign up.

 

[Alan Wynn]

Not sure I agree that Apple needs to advertise more.

Promote rather than advertise. They need to make sure people know more about the shows.

In fact, I have seen more ads for Apple TV+ shows on regular TV than anything on Netflix.

Netflix needs to do much less to promote their new shows, as they can let their subscribers discover them through their interface and then use the size of their audience to let others know.

I don't think it is so much advertising, but word of mouth. Obviously everyone's sphere of influence is different, but I hear way more "watercolor talk" about recent Netflix hits Queen's Gambit & Bridgerton than I have heard about any Apple TV show.

Would be shocking if that were not true. Netflix has 200 million subscribers, Disney+ has around 80 million and Apple has many fewer. They need to get people to try their shows in order to get people to try their shows.

Without judging the quality of shows, I would bet that the average person are much more aware of Netflix shows than any Apple TV+ shows.

True without a doubt. That is one reason that I try to list the shows I have watched that I like, to at least make it possible for people to go check them out using the App.

 

[Colonel Blimp]

My family watches Netflix, but I rarely watch it. I don't like their originals as all have to have LGBT agenda even their kids shows and movies.

So true! Take The Crown, for example: the central character is a raging queen! Talk about relentlessly promoting their LGBT agenda!

/sarcasm

 

[msp3]

So a company won’t charge people for garbage no one wants to watch? Got it...

 

[Abazigal]

Not sure I agree that Apple needs to advertise more. In fact, I have seen more ads for Apple TV+ shows on regular TV than anything on Netflix. (Disney, however, takes the prize for advertising Wandavision.)

I don't think it is so much advertising, but word of mouth. Obviously everyone's sphere of influence is different, but I hear way more "watercolor talk" about recent Netflix hits Queen's Gambit & Bridgerton than I have heard about any Apple TV show. Without judging the quality of shows, I would bet that the average person are much more aware of Netflix shows than any Apple TV+ shows.

I am sticking with Netflix mostly for their library of third party content (here in Asia, currently watching anime and old Hong Kong movies), but I will say that as far as original content is involved, I don’t really watch that much of what Netflix produces. I am aware of them thanks to reporting by sites like TheVerge, but something just feels off about them. They have popular stars and lots of flash, but the plot just feels paper thin and unsatisfying.

 

[jeremiah256]

Enjoyed the Morning Show and Long Way Up. Currently enjoying Servant. On my 'to watch' list is Ted Lasso, Defending Jacob, and Palmer. But, I'm still getting Apple TV Plus for free from a purchase in 2019 and none of the shows I watched are (IMHO) 'must see'. My guess is Apple knows this and won't start charging until after 'Foundation' has premiered and (hopefully) becomes their 'Game of Thrones'.

 

[Deliro]

AppleTV+ is a lost leader right now. Apple has a longer term strategy in mind. They can eat the cost of the service until they’re able to churn new content or purchase a catalog.

I’ve enjoyed most of what I’ve seen on there.

Netflix keeps pumping out originals, sure but the Southpark episode of green lighting everything has some truth in the comedy. Most of it is garbage.

“Netflix you’re green lit who am I speaking with?”

“We have a great idea for a show that would be great for Netflix”

“Great do you want a pilot or straight into an order of 6 episodes?!!”

Hilarious.

 

[TriBruin]

I am sticking with Netflix mostly for their library of third party content (here in Asia, currently watching anime and old Hong Kong movies), but I will say that as far as original content is involved, I don’t really watch that much of what Netflix produces. I am aware of them thanks to reporting by sites like TheVerge, but something just feels off about them. They have popular stars and lots of flash, but the plot just feels paper thin and unsatisfying.

Of course, everyone's taste is different. If you don't like the shows on Netflix, that's fine.

The issue I have is that people keep trying to imply there is nothing good on Netflix ("it's all crap") like that is a fact. I wonder how much they have really watched, versus just wanting to crap on a competitor to Apple.

You can not deny that Netflix has had way more "hits" in the past year than Apple TV+ has had. Just in the last 3 months. Queen's Gambit, The Crown, Cobra Kai, and Bridgerton have all had significant pubic attention and received very high praise from both critics and the public.

On AppleTV, I would suggest the only two shows that have made any sort of dent in the public conscious have been The Morning Show and Ted Lasso. You could probably also throw Greyhound in there, even if it is a movie. While there are definitely other good shows on AppleTV+, they don't get much coverage. Personally, I really like Dickerson and find it fun and entertaining.

As you mentioned, Netflix also has a great back catalog, I have found a number of shows that I missed on regular TV, including The Good Place, Wynonna Earp, and The Imposters. Without Netflix, I would have never found these shows.