First Episode of 'Ted Lasso' Season 2 Debuts on Apple TV+

[One2Grift]

Apple will never catch up to Netflix. We keep hearing news for this one Apple TV+ series, which I have zero interest in, while Netflix is debuting multiple series every single week including many international shows. Netflix also dominates awards for all streaming services.

Should have bought Netflix when Apple had the chance.

Netflix has been streaming since somewhere before 2010. That's 12 years, possibly a few more. Netflix is the OG pioneer of mass streaming movies, TV and self created content. It's of no shock to anyone, almost anyone that is, they would have a far bigger user base and therefore be producing significantly more content.

"Apple will never catch up to Netflix". Well it is unlikely. Netflix (see above) has a massive subscriber base before ATV+ was even introduced. However, what is possible is Netflix slows down or even catches down to other streaming services, possibly ATV+ depending on where Apple goes with it. ATV+ is not currently going for the masses. Why I am not sure but that what it is right now. If they were going for the masses they would have bought some sort of catalog.

The streaming space is now extremely competitive. Services are mostly, and purposefully, losing money to gain subscribers. The pressure on the top and bottom line of Netflix continues to grow. A streaming company is going against the bigs who have a number of revenue streams. Companies that have hugely more cash flow than Netflix are hungry for subscribers. Can Netflix stay on top? Sure. Will it be a battle for Netflix to hang on and stay profitable? Extremely so.

 

[chucker23n1]

Oh I agree!

However... the downside of so much choice is that it's sometimes difficult to find someone else who has seen a certain show.

Back in the TV sitcom era... the watercolor talk centered around that one big network show that aired last night.

But now with literally hundreds of shows available to watch at any time... good luck having a chat about your favorite show.

Despite all that... yes... this is a great time for TV.

Now we just need to find more hours in the day to watch all the suggestions from all my friends. Like I said earlier... everyone is watching something different.

Further hurting watercooler talks is binging — if everyone watches a season at a different pace, it’s even harder to find common conversations, common cliffhangers to speculate about, etc. Disney+ and others have learnt from that.

 

[SFjohn]

Netflix's overall quality and production value are top-notch. The value I get for my Netflix subscription is incredible.

If Netflix produces 20 shows, and 10 are hits, and 10 are duds, you're still getting 10 hits. Apple TV+ will give you 2 shows, 1 hit, and 1 dud.

And Netflix is 3+x the price of Apple TV+

 

[Michael Scrip]

Further hurting watercooler talks is binging — if everyone watches a season at a different pace, it’s even harder to find common conversations, common cliffhangers to speculate about, etc.

Yep... that too!

I can see why some streaming services do the once-a-week thing... it keeps people subscribed. If you want Ted Lasso... Apple's got you for the next 12 weeks!

On the other hand... I actually like the idea of an entire series being released at once. Sometimes it's nice to bang through a new show in a short time.

But I really feel bad for the people who choose to wait until the entire season is released before they will binge it.

1. They don't get to participate in watercooler talk during those 12 weeks
2. By the time they do get around to watching it... everyone else has moved on to something else

🤣

 

[chucker23n1]

Yep... that too!

I can see why some streaming services do the once-a-week thing... it keeps people subscribed. If you want Ted Lasso... Apple's got you for the next 12 weeks!

On the other hand... I actually like the idea of an entire series being released at once. Sometimes it's nice to bang through a new show in a short time.

But I really feel bad for the people who choose to wait until the entire season is released before they will binge it.

1. They don't get to participate in watercooler talk during those 12 weeks
2. By the time they do get around to watching it... everyone else has moved on to something else

🤣

Yup. My impatient monkey brain wants to binge. And yet, with a show like, say, For All Mankind, it’s nice to be able to have an entire week between episodes. You get a fan podcast where they speculate what happens next. Or conversions with friends. Or your own thoughts.

(And yes, streaming services totally enjoy the “people won’t ever be able to unsubscribe” thing.)

 

[danny842003]

Apple will never catch up to Netflix. We keep hearing news for this one Apple TV+ series, which I have zero interest in, while Netflix is debuting multiple series every single week including many international shows. Netflix also dominates awards for all streaming services.

Should have bought Netflix when Apple had the chance.

I dont think they’re trying to catch up to Netflix. It’s clearly two different products.

 

[Michael Scrip]

Yup. My impatient monkey brain wants to binge. And yet, with a show like, say, For All Mankind, it’s nice to be able to have an entire week between episodes. You get a fan podcast where they speculate what happens next. Or conversions with friends. Or your own thoughts.

If I have to wait a week between episodes... I'll typically re-watch the last few minutes of the previous episode just so I can remember what happened.

My brain ain't what it used to be!

 

[yticolev]

As someone who loved Season 1 (never watched a show 5 times through before, not even twice except for classics like Friends), S2 episode one was beyond disappointing. Boring and actually bad in almost every respect from story to acting (actually suspect direction as the actors are usually good).

Certainly not up to the quality standards of most AppleTV+ programs.

 

[Abazigal]

Video streaming services are not mutually exclusive. There is room for people to be subscribed to multiple devices (I currently pay for Youtube Premium, Netflix, Disney+, TV+ through Apple One, Amazon Prime via Prime, and Nebula as part of Curiosity).

I do wish that Netflix would focus more on quality over quantity, but it seems to be helping them in terms of nabbing terms of nabbing subscribers, so I guess it’s working out for them?

 

[sjsharksfan12]

I enjoyed the episode a lot. There might have been too many pop culture references for my taste, but it didn't lose a beat from the first season to now. It also helped that I rewatched the first season last weekend, so the whole series was fresh in my mind. Loved Dani and the Football is Life, Football is Death, and Football is Football stuff.

 

[chucker23n1]

If I have to wait a week between episodes... I'll typically re-watch the last few minutes of the previous episode just so I can remember what happened.

My brain ain't what it used to be!

It’s brutal with shows like Homeland and Better Call Saul where you sometimes have 1.5-year gaps between seasons. Who the hell was this minor character again?

 

[One2Grift]

Video streaming services are not mutually exclusive. There is room for people to be subscribed to multiple devices (I currently pay for Youtube Premium, Netflix, Disney+, TV+ through Apple One, Amazon Prime via Prime, and Nebula as part of Curiosity).

I do wish that Netflix would focus more on quality over quantity, but it seems to be helping them in terms of nabbing terms of nabbing subscribers, so I guess it’s working out for them?

Well, they are a streaming service that makes solid money, 4+ billion net profit TTM. Some streamers still don't make money. Netflix' head start and huge 200+ million user base gives them a great advantage. So their content quantity, bigger than all others, may be the catalyst for that or it could be because they were first, are the most well known, and they are proliferated across streaming apps/platforms. And cable/sat subscribers numbers are going nowhere but down. Still lots of new customers to win over. That's the good news for Netflix and its quantity of content. The bad news is calendar Q2 saw Netflix US subscriber numbers drop. Not by a lot, something around 350,000, but US subs tend to be mature subscribers that are paying full price. Further, Netflix must be discounting to get subscriptions up in other parts of the world, APAC and probably India. Nothing wrong with that, it's how streamers grow the user base and it's likely how they added overall subscriber numbers this quarter. The tough hurdle is getting most of those subs to paying full price as well as the sure to come creeping price increase. That requires a compelling product to keep them paying. Can their content quantity make that happen?

This is an interesting time for Netflix with the proliferation of streaming competition, even ones that are freemium. Big kids on the block like AT&T, Disney(despite its pandemic hit), of course Amazon, others. Not sure if they are too worried about Apple but all companies on some varying level worry about Apple moving into a consumer space. It's unmatched free cash flow and huge and among the most loyal user base. But IMHO as long as Apple sticks with original content, it won't ever be a threat to Netflix' content quantity and relatively deep catalog.

 

[Abazigal]

The bad news is calendar Q2 saw Netflix US subscriber numbers drop. Not by a lot, something around 350,000, but US subs tend to be mature subscribers that are paying full price.

I suspect it's due to churn. As the US opens back up, the number of people staying at home will decrease, so the demand for streaming services will probably dip.

I have always wondered if Netflix should introduce an annual subscription plan to help combat churn. There are probably people who wait until there is sufficient content on Netflix worth watching before subscribing for a month or two to binge-watch them all, and it would help stabilise their subscription numbers and revenue.

 

[bebarhood]

I hate how Apple TV+ is releasing one episode a week, unlike Netflix.

My free 1-year trail will probably end before the season is done

 

[Nordichund]

I let my Apple TV+ subscription expire. When the entire Ted Lasso 2 is available I'll ask my other half to sign up for a free month and I'll look forward to binge watching it Otherwise I believe it is going to take Apple TV+ several years to be able to offer a service I would be interested in actually paying for, compared to what the competition currently offers. Sorry Apple, but thanks for Ted Lasso👏

 

[threluja]

I let my Apple TV+ subscription expire. When the entire Ted Lasso 2 is available I'll ask my other half to sign up for a free month and I'll look forward to binge watching it Otherwise I believe it is going to take Apple TV+ several years to be able to offer a service I would be interested in actually paying for, compared to what the competition currently offers. Sorry Apple, but thanks for Ted Lasso👏

And here is the rub, if its worth it, its worth paying for.

How much depends on your circumstances.

I get it through Apple One, for my situation this is good value but I know it won't be for all.

I would never have watched it in the first place tho if it hadn't have been free.

At some point Apple have to believe their content is worth paying for and I guess that time is now that they have Ted Lasso

 

[lpolarityl]

Ted Lasso is a great show, glad it’s back. Trying is also good, See is good (once you get passed the “queen”… playing bass), Servant, Mythic Quest, Morning Show, the rest of the line up is decent as well. Apple TV+ is pretty good. Netflix is also good, it just has A LOT of terrible shows with sprinkles of good shows. It’s also pushing a specific agenda that made our family cancel the service two years ago.

 

[Expos of 1969]

I suspect it's due to churn. As the US opens back up, the number of people staying at home will decrease, so the demand for streaming services will probably dip.

I have always wondered if Netflix should introduce an annual subscription plan to help combat churn. There are probably people who wait until there is sufficient content on Netflix worth watching before subscribing for a month or two to binge-watch them all, and it would help stabilise their subscription numbers and revenue.

I wish Netflix did have an annual subscription. I would have saved a few bucks over the past two years as I don't subscribe, cancel, subscribe etc. I figure if my wife and I watch a couple of things a week at minimum, it is still a heck of a deal compared to going to the cinema. Disney+ offers an annual subscription which is about 10 or 15% cheaper than paying monthly. However I am not interested in the vast majority of what Disney offers so with that I will subscribe, cancel, subscribe if anything of interest catches my eye.

 

[leeuk321]

Thing is, how do you find Netflix’s jewels? Not easily. How do you find Apple TV+’s? Quite easily.

There's a few sites that are good for finding stuff to watch on streaming providers, I personally use JustWatch, which I find superb. You can choose your streaming providers, filter, sort, search, etc.

In terms of Netflix vs Apple TV and the argument of quantity and quality, I don't think it's the binary argument that people are making it out to be, quantity and quality are both important. I find IMDb to be the most objective movie and TV rating site, it isn't perfect but it gives the best yardstick imho to roughly gauge the quality of a show.

I usually find that good TV shows are above 8.0 on IMDb and good movies are above 7.0 (for some reason, TV show ratings are always higher across the board, I've never quite figure out why). Using JustWatch, there are 399 TV shows above 8.0 on Netflix, and 10 on Apple TV; and there are 1063 films on Netflix above 7.0, and 19 on Apple TV.

Obviously a lot of stuff on Netflix isn't original content, and a lot of it is subjective taste, etc. But I think it gives a pretty good yardstick of how far apart they both are at the moment. But as they progress, Apple could very well end up being seen as the next HBO, as people are saying. For now, I'll just use Apple TV on free subscriptions, and failing that I'll just subscribe for 1-month every now again when new stuff has built up.

 

[leeuk321]

I wish Netflix did have an annual subscription. I would have saved a few bucks over the past two years as I don't subscribe, cancel, subscribe etc. I figure if my wife and I watch a couple of things a week at minimum, it is still a heck of a deal compared to going to the cinema. Disney+ offers an annual subscription which is about 10 or 15% cheaper than paying monthly. However I am not interested in the vast majority of what Disney offers so with that I will subscribe, cancel, subscribe if anything of interest catches my eye.

For sure, I'd love this too. I subscribe monthly to Netflix UHD for the sheer scale of it, and would love to save a few quid by taking out an annual subscription. And since Netflix has gone up in price recently, it'd be a nice way of them giving back to loyal subscribers, and is always good business for a company to have guaranteed money and subscription in advance. Win win.

I subscribed to Disney for a year before the price hike and with a £10-off voucher as a "why not", as a one-off. When it expires, I think I'll just subscribe for a couple of months every year around the festive season, to gorge on it. I think there's something about Disney that's just intrinsically linked to that time of year, so I'd look forward to it.

 

[hatshepsut01]

And I'm only paying a few bucks a month for it. And Netflix has the most award nominations every year. If I want to watch an award-winning series, I can on Netflix. If I want to turn my brain off and watching stupid, I can.

I mean, Apple TV+ has only been around for a year. A little harsh to pit it against Netflix so soon. I like both options a lot. I love Ted Lasso and Schmigadoon on Apple TV, I really like Home Before Dark, and I'm extremely excited about Foundation, I have a few favorite shows on netflix, as well, but not that much more, given the huge content available. I do really appreciate their foreign options, it's a great and very enjoyable way to keep up with my Spanish and French.