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Apple TV's Second-Largest Market Is Brazil, Says Eddy Cue

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Apple's SVP of services Eddy Cue has revealed that Brazil is Apple TV's second-largest market by subscriber count and its fastest-growing, in an interview with Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo (via 9to5Mac).

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Speaking on the sidelines of Apple's recent media event in Santa Monica where the company previewed its 2026 content slate, Cue acknowledged that Apple has yet to produce any original content in Brazil. Competitors like Netflix, Amazon, and Disney, meanwhile, have turned the country into a major production hub, leaving Apple in catch-up mode.
"It doesn't move as quickly as I'd like, especially if you want to be truly good, but we'll get there," Cue said. "I know Brazilians want quality – I appreciate that – and I also know there's a lot of opportunity in Brazil to create strong content."
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Cue also reaffirmed Apple's commitment to theatrical releases through distribution partnerships, pointing to the success of "F1: The Movie," which was released in theaters by Warner Bros. and went on to earn an Oscar nomination. Cue conceded that "the bar for leaving home and going to the movie theater" is getting increasingly higher, but he believes the experience remains irreplaceable.
"There's no substitute for that experience – for watching a film collectively, going on a date at the movies, enjoying a night out with friends or children watching a film," Cue said. "It's something truly unique, and I believe it will become even more valuable over time."
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At the time of the interview, Netflix was still in the running to acquire Warner Bros. Asked whether a potential deal could complicate Apple's theatrical distribution arrangements, Cue was unconcerned. "We have a great relationship with the Netflix team – I've known them for a long time – and the same is true of our relationship with Warner," he said. "I know Ted [Sarandos – Netflix CEO] very well. Well enough to believe we'll continue working together in the future."

Netflix has since dropped out of the bidding, with Paramount now widely expected to win ownership of Warner Bros. following regulatory approval. Meanwhile, Apple has struck a U.S. partnership with Netflix to bring the complete latest season of Formula 1: Drive to Survive to Apple TV.

A March 2025 report by The Information revealed that Apple TV subscriptions grew to around 45 million in 2024, but it was still losing more than $1 billion annually. The company has spent more than $5 billion a year on content since the service launched in 2019, but this was reduced by $500 million in 2024 in response to a push for cutbacks from Apple CEO Tim Cook and other executives.

Article Link: Apple TV's Second-Largest Market Is Brazil, Says Eddy Cue
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/02/27/apple-tv-second-largest-market-brazil/
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Speaking as someone who works in media for a different conglomerate... Brazil is a very tricky market to serve. You're looking at a nation where no other uses its language, Brazilian Portuguese ≠ European Portuguese in tone, slang, voice acting style and even vocabulary. The audiences down there expect Brazilian localization, not Portugal dubs and subs. That adds a ton of cost.

Then you've got regulatory friction. Brazil has content quotas and annoying af taxation, and the currency is volatile. It's also a country with a lot of poverty which results in very high piracy and few laws to enforce it. Revenue per user is low and costs stay high, the margins aren't there.

Brazilians tend to expect full dubbing and culturally adapted jokes, you can't just "ship LATAm Spanish + Portuguese subtitles" and call it a day.

It is the largest media market in Latin America, and once you're localized it's got great ROI, but starting from 0 is brutal down there. Apple is mostly copying Netflix and Spotify's moves and hoping it wins.
 
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turbineseaplane said:
I’m a little confused.

What is the news here?

Just that Brazil is the second largest Apple TV market?
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Yeah, and they should invest in creating more shows over there.
It's crazy that $1 billion annual investment isn't a lot of money. I guess for movies/production shows/etc. Hence why Apple isn't even entertaining (pun) purchasing WB/Discovery. All of these bleed money. And putting a movie in the theaters certainly helps. You could make up for a lot of losses in streaming this way. But, that movie better be a hit.
 
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It would also be more in EU if we get more Voiceovered content.
See case of Apple Fitness+
 
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Blackstick said:
Speaking as someone who works in media for a different conglomerate... Brazil is a very tricky market to serve. You're looking at a nation where no other uses its language, Brazilian Portuguese ≠ European Portuguese in tone, slang, voice acting style and even vocabulary. The audiences down there expect Brazilian localization, not Portugal dubs and subs. That adds a ton of cost.

Then you've got regulatory friction. Brazil has content quotas and annoying af taxation, and the currency is volatile. It's also a country with a lot of poverty which results in very high piracy and few laws to enforce it. Revenue per user is low and costs stay high, the margins aren't there.

Brazilians tend to expect full dubbing and culturally adapted jokes, you can't just "ship LATAm Spanish + Portuguese subtitles" and call it a day.

It is the largest media market in Latin America, and once you're localized it's got great ROI, but starting from 0 is brutal down there. Apple is mostly copying Netflix and Spotify's moves and hoping it wins.
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Portugal doesn't even dub anything besides children content.
And considering size differences I never expected anyone to consider the European variant as a base. A bit like British and US English but on steroids.
 
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AppleTV's achilles heel remains that they don't have any sort of back catalog of old classics. They should have bought the rights to some, or acquired a studio with the catalog. I don't know of anyone within my circle of friends or family that subscribe to it, while they subscribe to some of the other popular platforms.
 
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HiVolt said:
AppleTV's achilles heel remains that they don't have any sort of back catalog of old classics. They should have bought the rights to some, or acquired a studio with the catalog. I don't know of anyone within my circle of friends or family that subscribe to it, while they subscribe to some of the other popular platforms.
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Agreed. And, sorry to break it to folks, but they really aren't "creating any classics" with the same rewatchability of much older content.

i.e. this problem is not really getting closer to being solved or something that will be fixed with more and more time.
 
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HiVolt said:
AppleTV's achilles heel remains that they don't have any sort of back catalog of old classics. They should have bought the rights to some, or acquired a studio with the catalog. I don't know of anyone within my circle of friends or family that subscribe to it, while they subscribe to some of the other popular platforms.
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I have it because AppleOne makes good sense for a family of 4 (plus my bro), but that's the only reason.
 
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HiVolt said:
Yeah, I don't pay for any Apple Services, because they don't offer any value or usefulness to me, and I can still enjoy my Apple devices without them.
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Apple Arcade alone for the kids is huge. No IAPs and they don't ask to buy coins or gems or rainbows or whatever horse armor a game wants to sell.
 
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If Eddy know's Ted so well, perhaps he could leverage that relationship to get Netflix properly integrated with tvOS. After all, Apple do provide a really nice set of platforms for Netflix's app.
 
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Neither me nor none of my friends do a thing, so, that thing can’t be worth millions or billions of dollars a year.

Companies should check with me and my group of friends before figuring out what to do. Paying attention to OTHER people and THEIR friends and family is a fools errand!
 
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HiVolt said:
AppleTV's achilles heel remains that they don't have any sort of back catalog of old classics. They should have bought the rights to some, or acquired a studio with the catalog. I don't know of anyone within my circle of friends or family that subscribe to it, while they subscribe to some of the other popular platforms.
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Excellent points. Apple should have bought Paramount and Warner Brothers to get superb contents for Apple TV. Both companies have a lot of excellent productions. The acquisitions of these companies will definitely increase Apple TV subscribers.
 
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HiVolt said:
AppleTV's achilles heel remains that they don't have any sort of back catalog of old classics. They should have bought the rights to some, or acquired a studio with the catalog. I don't know of anyone within my circle of friends or family that subscribe to it, while they subscribe to some of the other popular platforms.
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It's proving to be WAY too expensive to do so. WB/D deal is going for $111 BILLION DOLLARS. 😱
By the time Apple makes their money back could be a LONG time from now. Unless they got 100 million new subs to pay $13 a month.

Would have been nice to pull away some shows here and there to add to ATV. But, that's not going to be happening much if at all. Everyone that is going to sell, will only sell the whole thing. Not pieces.
 
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