Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
68,699
39,605


Apple is scaling back its Hollywood spending after investing over $20 billion in original programming with limited success, Bloomberg reports.

Apple-TV-Plus-Feature-2-Magenta-and-Blue.jpg

This shift comes after the streaming service, which launched in 2019, struggled to capture a significant share of the market, accounting for only 0.2% of TV viewership in the U.S., compared to Netflix's 8%. Despite heavy investment, critical acclaim, and numerous award nominations, Apple TV+ purportedly generates less viewing in one month than Netflix does in a single day.

Over the last five years, the Apple TV+ has had only four series make Nielsen's weekly list of the ten most popular original streaming shows. While Ted Lasso was the most-watched streaming show of 2023, Apple TV+ still accounts for a smaller share of top ten hits than any streaming service except Paramount+.

Apple's initial foray into streaming was marked by lavish spending on high-profile projects and talent, including deals with big names like Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, and Jennifer Aniston. The company's Hollywood operation, led by studio chiefs Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht, positioned itself as a talent-friendly destination, reminiscent of HBO, offering creators seemingly unlimited financial resources.

Apple spent more than $500 million combined on movies from directors Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott, and Matthew Vaughn, and upwards of $250 million on the World War II miniseries Masters of the Air. Despite the strong reviews and awards nominations, these projects have not yielded the viewership that Apple apparently hoped for.

The company's new strategy is said to involve tighter budget controls and a more cautious approach to spending. This includes paying less upfront for shows, being quicker to cancel underperforming series, and delaying productions to manage costs better. For instance, the production of the sci-fi series Foundation was postponed to prevent budget overruns caused by delays related to the 2023 actors and writers strikes.

The cost of the second season of Severance surged to over $20 million per episode due to pandemic-related delays, internal conflicts, and additional expenses such as hiring House of Cards creator Beau Willimon for script contributions. Management has asked the producers of Severance to reduce the budget for future seasons, emphasizing the need for financial sustainability.

Apple has also become more selective in acquiring new projects, declining to buy some shows that sellers believe the company would have accepted just a few years ago. The company allegedly wants to shed the image of being Hollywood's biggest spender and bring more discipline and strategy to its content investments.

While still willing to invest heavily in certain high-profile projects, such as The Morning Show, where cast salaries alone exceed $50 million for the upcoming season, Apple TV+ is becoming more fiscally conservative. The Morning Show stars Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon will each earn more than $2 million per episode. This recalibration comes at a time when other major studios like Disney, Warner Bros., and Paramount are similarly cutting back on streaming budgets due to mounting losses.

Article Link: Apple TV+ Curbs Costs After Expensive Projects Fail to Capture Viewers
 
  • Haha
Reactions: gusmula
Maybe making stuff people want to watch while also stopping overspending on Hollywood cliché shows will bring some viewers to platform.

Why should i waste time of some boring Morning Show while I can watch House of Dragons or other top tier TV show for less money.

*(Maybe just buy HBO for this billions that were spend on crappy Apple shows to capture some viewer-base and let them <HBO> create shows for you was the move. Right now there are like 3/4 TV shows worth watching on Apple TV why should people waste time on boring, repetitive and copy-paste titles?)
 
Last edited:
It doesn’t matter how many awards and nominations Apple pays for, the content is just boring, low-stakes, and barely interesting.

The production value is there, and some of the shows are good (Severance, for instance), but it is just not appealing overall. I have had many free trials ranging from 3 months to over 1 year and still have never felt persuaded to pay for it.
 
Last edited:
Well yeah, money doesn’t buy creativity. Anybody will take Apple’s money but it doesn’t translate to good output.

The Apple content is too conservative and is clearly scripted for domestic consumption, so it lacks international appeal. That’s where Netflix shines.
 
I never felt like Apple belonged in this market. Yes they have the cash to attract top tier people, but the established players offer way more content and the market likes to consume low quality reality TV mostly. How can you expect a large market share with this strategy? How will it turn a decent profit?

It’s like trying to built a top quality car and then realizing it’s going to be a commercial disaster.
 
I don’t know why, but I just find Apple’s content kind of cringey to watch. I wish they would stop all this and just focus on technology.
This isn't Apple content it is Hollywood content they just pay ton of money for that while riding the "hype" of pandemic streaming wars and clearly lose a lot of cash, same stuff happens with few shows from Amazon (for example Lord of the Rings) Hollywood is just overhyped and cost are so high that most products aren't worth it + they are just boring and repetitive as never before.
 
I’ve enjoyed most of the content that was provided on TV+, but it never scratched the itch that Netflix did. I guess the other 75% crap viewing helped fill in the gaps between the 25% great viewing on NF. There is just more stuff to browse on NF.

What I really want is one platform to rule them all and not this fragmented mess that is streaming services… something like Plex.
 
I never felt like Apple belonged in this market. Yes they have the cash to attract top tier people, but the established players offer way more content and the market likes to consume low quality reality TV mostly. How can you expect a large market share with this strategy? How will it turn a decent profit?

It’s like trying to built a top quality car and then realizing it’s going to be a commercial disaster.
Lucid?
 
The shame of it is… Netflix content is mostly garbage. It’s a firehose of reality and true crime junk. But I guess that’s what people want. Apple on the other hand has a lot of really great original shows. I think the problem is they also have a lot of stinkers and they spend just as much money on the stinkers (i.e. ridiculous sums) as they do on the good shows.
 
My test is this: “Would Apple publish ____ (any show you can think of: Breaking Bad, Entourage, etc). Even though Apple’s shows can be profane, their brand’s value and guidelines put them in a box.

Plus the product placement is a bit overkill. Do we really believe Rusty Sabizch has a HomePod?
 
I’ve loved Apple TV plus so much more since i got my Vision Pro. So many great shows. Prior to that i didnt pay nearly as much attention and just watched a few things here and there. I think when it was free early on people didnt see much value in it plus there wasnt much content. Some people still see it that way. The other problem is your average person with an android phone doesn’t use it and some even think they can’t use it. I think calling it Apple TV plus was a mistake. It’s all around confusing for your average person, especially with a hardware device with almost the same name
 
They need more content. Invest in low-cost shows as well. Unknown or up-and-coming actors, directors, etc are much cheaper and will yield the same result.
The problem is that they don't have any sort of back catalog of older movies & shows. not everyone wants to watch "new" stuff all the time. I myself love watching old movies, especially before all the CGI stuff. Can't do that on ATV+.

Apple should have considered to buy one of these studios that have merged with others in the past many years.
 
Price increases will continue until viewership improves! ;)

At 5$ (or as part of Apple One) it was okay for me to just stay subscribed and watch the occasional (great!) show. But after the price increases, I went back to just Apple Music + iCloud storage.

I still subscribe for a month or two per year to watch, since that's kinda enough to watch the entire library. (And actually they just keep handing out free trials, so I haven't paid for that yet.)

I think it's one of those situations where they should go a bit more aggressively after market share rather than high margins.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.