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Apple TV+ complete failure?

im finding its different from netflix. okay neither is huge money but Netflix is €16 or somthing, and i watch tons of stuff on it. some of it is great, most of it is decent, and some of it is watchable crap.

Apple tv+ is filling in a niche in my viewing, i dont watch a lot on it, but enough to justify the €5. what i do watch is excellent, and as long as there's one series im enjoying each month then basically its €1 an episode for great tv i wouldnt see otherwise.

Just finished Severance, very slow to start but excellent, cant wait for the next series.
Loving Slow Horses, 1 more episode this friday.
Ted Lasso was cracking, Acapulco was really enjoyable.
Wife enjoying The Morning Show.

a few titles ive struggled with, but then given i struggled with Severance and then loved it, maybe i need to give Suspicion and The After Party another go. Roar is a bit weird, think i need to watch every episode but make a decision to skip the ones that dont grab me early in it.
 
Did they ever release a season 2 for the Morning Show? That was literally the only other show I found interesting beyond For All Mankind.
 
nickdalzell1 said:
Did they ever release a season 2 for the Morning Show? That was literally the only other show I found interesting beyond For All Mankind.
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Yup.

00FBF07F-0E13-45D0-96DF-1FFD53D66C45.jpeg
 
Oh that's neat. The last time I tried to find Season 2 (last december) it wasn't yet out. Ten episodes feels weird still to me. I'm used to 21-24 and there being only a few months between seasons vs. a year plus.

Netflix is even worse, there's a nice show out now called 'Sweet Tooth' but Season 1 only had EIGHT episodes. I was done in a few hours. Now waiting probably a couple more years for another eight. It took two years for them to make Season 2 of Another Life. But hey, there's at least three seasons of Stranger Things!
 
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It was certainly a complete failure in my house. We had it 2 years and watched probably 5 different things on it. Every time we browsed the content there was just nothing that appealed so we’ve cancelled it. Netflix and Amazon are better and worth the money, whereas Apples offering just wasn’t IMO.
 
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AVBeatMan said:
I'm currently watching Slow Horses and Severance. Both very good.
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Agreed on both.

Severance was slow the first couple of episodes. I watched them one at a time, and then I put it aside for a bit. But the build up and pacing was just about perfect.

Slow Horses is also really good. Gary Oldman really nails his character.
 
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I don't mean to jump to conclusions here, but the big loss of customers by Netflix in this last quarter is an eye-opener. Now there were a few reasons for it, including Netflix's decision to pull out of Russia and its crackdown on password sharing.

But I suspect that the brief, golden age of streaming may be slowing down. People have less money to spend these days and the pandemic clarified what they are willing to keep paying for and what they are willing to let go. I believe there is a finite number of people who will pay for such services and it's much smaller than many first thought.

So, what does this have to do with Apple TV+? Before too many more years pass, Apple is going to have to decide if the streaming market is even worth pursuing.
 
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Biro said:
I don't mean to jump to conclusions here, but the big loss of customers by Netflix in this last quarter is an eye-opener. Now there were a few reasons for it, including Netflix's decision to pull out of Russia and its crackdown on password sharing.

But I suspect that the brief, golden age of streaming may be slowing down. People have less money to spend these days and the pandemic clarified what they are willing to keep paying for and what they are willing to let go. I believe there is a finite number of people who will pay for such services and it's much smaller than many first thought.

So, what does this have to do with Apple TV+? Before too many more years pass, Apple is going to have to decide if the streaming market is even worth pursuing.
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That's an interesting take on the situation. I can neither confirm nor refute you comment on why Netflix is losing customers with hard facts. Neither am I ready to suggest that the golden age of streaming may be coming to an end.

My gut tells me there's much more to this issue. Anecdotally, I would suggest that streaming activity has actually increased since the start of the pandemic. I would say that almost everyone that I know still has one or more streaming services that they use regularly. Personally, we use Netflix and Amazon Prime and do several (Apple's TV+ and Peacock) off and on throughout the year (subscribe for a month, binge several shows, cancel, rinse and repeat).

During the pandemic, many of the entertainment avenues were shut down - professional and college sporting events, movie theaters, concerts, etc. So during the pandemic, OTA television and streaming services were about the only entertainment available to the masses. And add the fact that the monthly subscription cost of a streaming service was considerably less that the cost of travel/tickets/snacks for a sporting event and/or a movie. That means that a family could enjoy a month (or more) of in-home entertainment for much less than the cost of a single night out for entertainment. IMO, if the finances for the evenings out are no longer available, that one or more streaming services could fill the void and a much lower cost.

Why has Netflix lost so many customers? Pulling out of Russia and cracking down on password sharing probably play a large part in that, but I am not sure that there isn't something else going on. For example, there are many more options today than when Roku and Netflix launched back in the day. Every network and production house has their own streaming service these days. I would suggest that Disney+ is a big factor in the shrinkage of Netflix. Much of the content that was previously available to Netflix (Disney movie catalog, the entire Star Wars and Marvel franchises), is now exclusively available on these one-off services (Disney+, CBS, Paramount, Peacock, etc). Even outlets like HGTV has their own streaming option.

Personally, I think Apple has done a good job of building their catalog with quality. It's going to take a while to create breadth and depth, but they appear committed to it. Time will tell.
 
Biro said:
I don't mean to jump to conclusions here, but the big loss of customers by Netflix in this last quarter is an eye-opener. Now there were a few reasons for it, including Netflix's decision to pull out of Russia and its crackdown on password sharing.

But I suspect that the brief, golden age of streaming may be slowing down. People have less money to spend these days and the pandemic clarified what they are willing to keep paying for and what they are willing to let go. I believe there is a finite number of people who will pay for such services and it's much smaller than many first thought.

So, what does this have to do with Apple TV+? Before too many more years pass, Apple is going to have to decide if the streaming market is even worth pursuing.
Click to expand...
Netflix is taking a huge hit because it has competition now. Gone are the days of basically being the only player on the block. Every media outlet is starting their own streaming service and reeling in all their content back home as exclusives. If you think about it, much of what Netflix offers isn't actually owned by Netflix, thus subject to removal.

Streaming isn't going away. If anything it is likely to replace broadcast TV as a whole. No one I know even watches broadcast TV anymore. They all stream. The war is now between the services that can provide the most entertainment for the least amount of money.

You can't continue to add new subscribers... eventually everyone who ever cared to watch it will have done so and then move on to something new. Most of the Netflix crowd are there out of habit. It came free with their phone contract, whatever. Kind of like how prime exist mostly because of the 2 day shipping. Gimmick subscriptions. Apple probably over did it with the free year, but given the competition, they needed an edge into the market and that did it for them. Now people are actually paying to watch it.

What people have to understand is that people are less inclined to remain subscribed to a single service as hop from one to another as their favorites appear. People left cable because they didn't like wasting money on shows they never actually watched. Who cares if everything under the sun is available, you only actually watch 3 shows, what pay for the rest?

To be honest, Netflix was due for a reality check. Even if it goes under, streaming won't go away. It's just one fish in the pond now, not the only one.
 
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Please note that I didn’t say streaming is going away. Just that the total amount of potential customers is finite - and smaller than many thought in, say, 2019. Many streaming services believed their offerings would be subscribed to in addition to the existing services. And, for a while, that was true. It’s clear now there is a point at which consumers will only spend so much and choose only a few among the many offerings. That means there will be winners and losers. Perhaps Apple will hang in there until they become one of the streaming winners. Perhaps not.
 
Biro said:
Please note that I didn’t say streaming is going away. Just that the total amount of potential customers is finite - and smaller than many thought in, say, 2019. Many streaming services believed their offerings would be subscribed to in addition to the existing services. And, for a while, that was true. It’s clear now there is a point at which consumers will only spend so much and choose only a few among the many offerings. That means there will be winners and losers. Perhaps Apple will hang in there until they become one of the streaming winners. Perhaps not.
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I'd have to say Apple is one of the winners... it's growing, not stagnating.

You're also comparing whales to polliwogs here... most streamers don't subscribe to multiple services at the same time, they subscribe to just one and hop from service to service as the content becomes available. There is a lot of account sharing that is still going on, but that's not the same thing as a single individual paying for them all. The whales subscribe to multiple services at the same time. Us polliwogs are a bit more frugal in our spending. In the end, we're both streaming all the time... only some are paying more because they are overlapping services.

Streaming content can be watched at any time... watching it as it is released weekly is like watching cable TV... yep, you cut the cord, but you still view content like a cable TV subscriber. They'd love you to do that. They don't want you to hop services because they don't make as much money that way. Polliwogs save money. Whales could care less.
 
Just an interesting footnote: A new report from Big Media indicates that not only are most Americans abandoning brand loyalty to buy on price these days… but the top item Americans will cutout of their budget is streaming services.
 
pmiles said:
Netflix is taking a huge hit because it has competition now. Gone are the days of basically being the only player on the block. Every media outlet is starting their own streaming service and reeling in all their content back home as exclusives. If you think about it, much of what Netflix offers isn't actually owned by Netflix, thus subject to removal.
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Heh.. this describes the mobile app stores as well! A decade ago, it was a gold mine since there was hardly anybody on there. Nowadays, the AAA gaming companies, and large corporations who wrote off the mobile markets are realizing that the mobile app stores have a lot of influence and spenders (if not direct money, than ad $'s). It's said that they now reap in 86% of the profits, pretty much squeezing out the smaller companies and indies.

pmiles said:
Streaming isn't going away. If anything it is likely to replace broadcast TV as a whole. No one I know even watches broadcast TV anymore. They all stream. The war is now between the services that can provide the most entertainment for the least amount of money.
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Fun to point out opposing anecdotes... for older people and/or those who can't really use internet and/or modern computer, they will still watch traditional cable TV, or OTA. They can just turn on their TVs using a remote control, and have at it. It's familiar b/c it's something they've been doing for decades. Another reason for OTA or cable TV is for content that's much harder to get via SS, like certain sports programming, and cable news. I don't care about any of these and stopped doing cable TV, but I'm still affected since for some SS, we pay towards some of those things we don't use.

pmiles said:
You can't continue to add new subscribers... eventually everyone who ever cared to watch it will have done so and then move on to something new. Most of the Netflix crowd are there out of habit. It came free with their phone contract, whatever. Kind of like how prime exist mostly because of the 2 day shipping. Gimmick subscriptions. Apple probably over did it with the free year, but given the competition, they needed an edge into the market and that did it for them. Now people are actually paying to watch it.
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Apple ran into this issue many years back... they were going to hit a wall (or otherwise major obstacle) b/c people weren't going to keep buying an expensive, new iDevice every year. People have been holding on to their iPhones for 2 to 5 years. Some of them sell their existing iPhones to help fund the newest ones (they do hold their value better), but then all of those who buy used iPhones won't be buying new ones for themselves. And hold on to their iPads for 3 to 6 years (I myself bought a used 1st gen iPad Air 6 years ago, and only bought an 9th gen ipad b/c I was in the market for a tablet again).

That's when they rolled out their subscription services (hello ATV+, and A1!). Nice for me since they had to lower their prices to attract more customers. My ipad Air 1 was only $400 b/c it was used. I got my 9th gen iPad for $300. There was no way I'd be willing to pay $500+ for a new iPad for sure, so that helped. I can't recall if I mentioned it in this thread, but for me, a major obstacle with ATV+ was I thought having suitable Apple hardware was a requirement. It was only b/c I got a trial of ATV+ that I looked into streaming it via Firefox, on a Windows machine.
 
Biro said:
Just an interesting footnote: A new report from Big Media indicates that not only are most Americans abandoning brand loyalty to buy on price these days… but the top item Americans will cutout of their budget is streaming services.
Click to expand...
Yes, by that they mean extra streaming services... they're going to only carry a single subscription not multiple. Sure there will be some that go cold turkey and drop all entertainment from their lives, but that would be the smallest percentage.

I don't see where brand loyalty comes into play in regards to streaming services / devices. People subscribe to the services that offer the entertainment they want to watch, not the moniker behind the entertainment (i.e. HBO, NETFLIX, PARAMOUNT). If two services are vying for their time, the cheaper one will win out first.
 
pmiles said:
I don't see where brand loyalty comes into play in regards to streaming services / devices. People subscribe to the services that offer the entertainment they want to watch, not the moniker behind the entertainment (i.e. HBO, NETFLIX, PARAMOUNT). If two services are vying for their time, the cheaper one will win out first.
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The brand loyalty refers to anything. It’s just that the first thing to get dumped completely is a streaming service.
 
Brand loyalty means nothing today. Gone are the days when buying a Zenith over a Philco meant anything. Today every company and every brand makes pretty much the same crap. All homogenized and afraid to differentiate; making decisions that would bankrupt a company years ago because it would make customers revolt. Today, consumers take what they are given and don't vote with their wallets. Part of that is because we've become comfortable with renting over owning, and buying stuff on credit. It's the World Economic Forum's mantra of 'You'll own nothing, and you'll be happy.'.

Personally, I'm sick of it. I don't want to live in the world they want to recreate.
 
I've reduced my streaming services to literally one: Netflix (I love their original content and it's not available on DVD/Blu-Ray)

But I buy everything else mostly on physical media, including VHS, and sometimes digitally. I tend to watch a lot of the same stuff over and over and that means buying once vs. continual payments makes better sense.
 
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jdechko said:
Agreed on both.

Severance was slow the first couple of episodes. I watched them one at a time, and then I put it aside for a bit. But the build up and pacing was just about perfect.

Slow Horses is also really good. Gary Oldman really nails his character.
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Just seen the first 2 episodes of Slow Horses, a great show! Proper British spy story. Really good cast too as you said.
 
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nickdalzell1 said:
Oh that's neat. The last time I tried to find Season 2 (last december) it wasn't yet out. Ten episodes feels weird still to me. I'm used to 21-24 and there being only a few months between seasons vs. a year plus.

Netflix is even worse, there's a nice show out now called 'Sweet Tooth' but Season 1 only had EIGHT episodes. I was done in a few hours. Now waiting probably a couple more years for another eight. It took two years for them to make Season 2 of Another Life. But hey, there's at least three seasons of Stranger Things!
Click to expand...
Season 2 premiered in September 2021, ended in November
 
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