r/tvPlus Oct 08 '24

How is Apple TV+ doing after 5 years since launch? Discussion

In about a month Apple TV+ turns 5 years old. How do you think/feel/know how the service is doing for you and for Apple and the industry itself?

My personal experience is that now it has enough content to satisfy a wide range of viewers. But still I don't know many people who are subscribed to the service or care about it except for maybe e few big shows. Also the recent change in strategy for movie releases and type of movies indicate to me that Apple itself expected different results ai this 5 year mark. What about you?

92 Upvotes

102

u/EggStrict8445 Oct 08 '24

It’s the new HBO as far as I can see.

Echoing others, I would like to see more mid budget films instead of giant tent-pole titles. The type of genre and adult films that you used to see a lot in the 90s but that have virtually disappeared from cinema screens.

Their quality is fantastic too. All of their titles follow the same workflow with 4k Dolby, etc. Their content looks and sounds terrific on my home system.

15

u/nicehouseenjoyer Oct 08 '24

That last line plus a thousand. Watching shows on other services (well, Netflix with Dobly is pretty good) is getting harder and harder.

15

u/plexmaniac Oct 08 '24

It’s the new hbo indeed quality over quantity

11

u/lightsongtheold Oct 08 '24

TV+ has one of the highest volume slates of original scripted content in the industry! It still produces high quantity.

-3

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '24

it doesn’t have quality at all. slow burns the amount to nothing don’t make amazing shows

1

u/Ma5cmpb Oct 11 '24

I know right, people keep parroting this but Netflix dominates them in Emmy’s every year. “Quality over quantity, Apple is the new HBO “

1

u/kariato Oct 20 '24

Netflix creates a few quality shows for the award season but they are few and far between. They have a problem, they are spread so far across many different cultures that they need to create a very generic form of programming to keep it simple to appeal to different clutures. They've become the basic cable they replaced. Inexpensive programming with a few tent poles.

1

u/Ma5cmpb Oct 20 '24

They have more Emmy’s than apple. So what’s that say about Apple when they supposedly going for quality lol

2

u/DataWaveHi Oct 10 '24

Second this. I actually think Apple TV plus is becoming better than subbing to Netflix. The price is right too at $10 a month. Netflix wants $23 a month for 4k.

-6

u/ForgivenessIsNice Oct 08 '24

It’s the Disney plus version of hbo maybe

15

u/nicehouseenjoyer Oct 08 '24

This is a fair criticism for the most part but stuff like Severance, Slow Horses, Presumed Innocent and For All Mankind is up there with anything HBO has done recently. In addition, HBO itself is just cranking out IP tie-ins or elevated soap operas for the most part now (hello, Industry).

5

u/ForgivenessIsNice Oct 08 '24

Some of the best shows of all time are soap operas, such as Mad Men and Six Feet Under. Question is whether the soap opera is good.

3

u/Yelloeisok Oct 08 '24

Try Dark Matter

1

u/The-Mandalorian Oct 11 '24

I mean Disney Plus has FX… lots of good shit on there.

Shogun just won a shit ton of awards. Plus The Bear, Only Murders in the Building etc.

1

u/ForgivenessIsNice Oct 11 '24

Disney Plus originals is what I mean, not FX originals and Hulu originals lol

1

u/The-Mandalorian Oct 11 '24

I mean it’s all Disney. It’s all one platform from the same company on the same streaming service.

1

u/ForgivenessIsNice Oct 11 '24

Right yet they title their originals differently because there’s still an appreciable difference.

-5

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '24

meh apple shows are far and few in between. most are a slow burn that amounts to absolutely nothing. all because they want an emmy……… basically no different the netflix quality IMO

22

u/AstroTravellin Oct 08 '24

Now that it's spooky movie season, I've noticed there is one area they are severely lacking and that's good horror shows/movies. Other than that, they're probably my favorite streaming service. 

5

u/paco_unknown Oct 08 '24

It’s a shame because Servant is wonderful and Before looks really good, I think The Changeling has been cancelled and we also have the documentary series The Enfield Poltergeits. They definitely need more thrillers and horror.

2

u/North_South_Side Oct 08 '24

Servant is an acquired taste. It's nearly satire at times. It's kind of a mess and bloated in the middle, but we enjoyed it. Three central characters (plus Harry Potter guy) all have great performances, but it's just all over the place. I cannot see it ever appealing to a wide audience.

2

u/Ginataang_Manok Oct 11 '24

Interesting observation! I’m actually enjoying “From” on MGM+ but I can actually see that show being an Apple owned show.

1

u/Ma5cmpb Oct 11 '24

I agree. Where are the horror shows?

26

u/Raffinesse Oct 08 '24

i feel like they have great content. show like severance, bad sisters, slow horses and drops of god and so many more are just quality television.

with that beings sad, one might argue what of these shows could be considered prestige tv, i’d definitely say severance and maybe slow horses, idk about the rest. i would like apple to really go for quality and maybe challenge hbo (or lately fx) and have a show that would get the people talking week to week.

as far as films are concerned, they’ve done both a great and a terrible job. they’ve done incredible with killers of the flower moon, coda and on the rocks imo. but then there are films like ghosted, which are just awful.

i’d like for them to rethink their approach when it comes to films, maybe make lower budget films with not-so-well-known names that could win awards. instead of hiring only a-listers.

idc about their theoretical approach, they need to figure this one out themselves. but i’d love for films like killers of the flower moon to at least be given a small theoretical run, because such pictures need to be experienced on the big screen at least once

7

u/paco_unknown Oct 08 '24

As for movies, I would cast actors who are just starting out and won’t ask for as much money as Glen Powell, and let the big actors star in the series like Jake Gyllenhaal.

2

u/Honest_Pepper2601 Oct 10 '24

Severance s2 budget is 20 mil per ep

10

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '24 edited Oct 08 '24

Content is great. Trying to go the HBO route is paying dividends in terms of the show quality compared to most of the other services.

I think the marketing and branding is still a problem for them. They spent so long being a closed ecosystem company that I know plenty of people that have no idea you don’t need an Apple device to sign up and watch. I know people that have the app on their smart TV and they’ve never even opened it.

I know you don’t need to be subscribed to the service to watch the first episode of certain shows - I think go one further and make it so you don’t even need to sign into the app to watch the first episode of something. Just reduce the friction entirely. That way, someone who doesn’t even have an Apple ID could watch the first episode of one of the top tier shows and decide from there.

5

u/Laura9624 Oct 08 '24

I got 90 days free as advertised on prime video but they definitely required an apple ID. I happen to have an old iPad so had one but the choice was to create one.

The other problem was finding content past the big ones. Either Google or the "others like this". But that's clunky I think.

7

u/addictivesign Oct 08 '24

Absolutely. Quality over quantity.

Apple did say they wanted TV+ to be seen like HBO, the high water mark of quality programming.

If WB-Discovery continues to falter I’d really like Apple to acquire the HBO back catalogue.

I believe Apple has (had?) a deal with A24. Apple should be the first place to see A24 movies after they’ve had a cinematic release.

Apple really needs to stop giving 70/80+ auteurs a blank cheque and be more responsible with their film funds. Giving Scorsese and Ridley Scott Final Cut or complete artistic licence has not helped Apple at all.

Giving Brad Pitt and George Clooney tens of millions of dollars to star in a mediocre crime movie isn’t smart either.

Apple should have identified some of the best writers in Hollywood (TV and film) and backed them. Everything starts with a great script.

Apple should have found a directors they believed in and offered a similar deal to what Fincher has with Netflix.

The biggest issue is the most puzzling. Only a small % of people have seen Apple’s “content”. Why?

Apple hasn’t advertised its superb shows. And yet no-one advertises and markets products better than Apple.

Apple TV+ should be a much bigger success.

2

u/Laura9624 Oct 08 '24

I'm new to it and finding content other their big ones seems more difficult than it should be.

2

u/lightsongtheold Oct 08 '24

A24 movies are signed on to Max for the Pay-One window. Max is where you can watch A24 movies when they pop up on streaming.

Quality over quantity is also a nonsense argument. Apple do high quality without a doubt but they also have one of the highest volume scripted original output of any streaming service. Over at Max you get maybe 1-3 shows airing weekly episodes at a time while on TV+ it is consistently around 3-6 shows airing new episodes.

1

u/gotwaffles Oct 11 '24

I hope the new prime / apple TV+ partnership or something? should help out a bit, especially if prime starts advertising it as an add on option

9

u/Princep_Krixus Oct 08 '24

I am not a fan of apple products. And I even I have to admit Apple tv is killing it. They have pretty much the best original content on streaming right now.

17

u/CheesyObserver Oct 08 '24

AppleTV+ is probably my favorite service of them all. Other than Monarch, they don't have any franchises. It's just a brilliant platform for new IP and adaptations.

However, the movies they choose to make don't really interest me... With massive exception to Tetris, of course. They definitely expected Argylle to be a hit LOL.

7

u/lightsongtheold Oct 08 '24

They tend to pick up some interesting low budget movies at the festivals. Stuff like Coda and Fancy Dance. Wish they did that more often than wasting $200 million on stuff like Argylle!

6

u/JustGoodSense Oct 08 '24

Content-wise, they're doing fantastic. Before it launched, pundits said it would be "expensive NBC," safe, sanitized, family-friendly. That's certainly been disproved. Now if they would just market the goddamn thing.

2

u/KingKingsons Oct 08 '24

Seriously, what’s with their marketing? Apple is famous for its marketing but for some reason, TV+ is just really bad at it. Like they don’t do much to generate buzz online. The comments in their trailers were turned off for ages, the movies they did get a lot of press coverage were released on Tv+ way after the buzz died down.

On top of that, the trailers they show before starting a new episode are just regular trailers, instead of short snippets which might want to make someone not skip. They’ll also not take into consideration if you’ve already watched something.

There’s not a lot of discussion online and even in Reddit, episode threads often get divided by having a thread in this subreddit and a different one on a show’s subreddit.

So yeah, it needs work.

1

u/slownightsolong88 Oct 14 '24

Like they don’t do much to generate buzz online.

Much of what generates buzz online seems to happen in a more organic way.

21

u/paco_unknown Oct 08 '24

It’s definitely a very good streaming platform with a wide catalog (although many complain that there isn’t enough because they just want a lot and not watch anything) and almost all productions are 10/10, something that no other platform can say. They just need to start advertising outside the United States, release more teaser posters and character posters, and commission more international series. The experiment of adding 30 movies a month should be introduced permanently in all countries. I think they’ve done well with all their content, but it’s not enough.

6

u/khurshidhere Oct 08 '24

It is getting better every month . Quality shows are there . Apple is investing a lot of money there .

5

u/North_South_Side Oct 08 '24

Still think they're leaning too heavily into family-friendly and safe. I don't want a bunch of Euphoria knock offs, but Apple TV content feels almost sanitized.

It's fine to have family friendly stuff, but Apple TV feels sterile a lot of the time, like creative decisions are made in a giant shareholders meeting.

5

u/Vins801 Oct 08 '24

In my opinion, by far the best streaming service of all. I have also Netflix, Amazon Prime, Max and Paramount+. If had to keep only one, it would Apple TV+

1

u/gotwaffles Oct 11 '24

Does apple tv+ have enough content for it being your only streaming service? I feel like the others have so much random crap that they keep cycling, that there will always be more haha

4

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '24

I haven’t used any other streaming in over 2 years. The quality on atv+ series and movies is superb

3

u/mmccutcheon29 Oct 08 '24

Apple sets the bar for TV shows. Every show I’ve watched has been a banger. But my god, Apple is HORRIBLE at marketing their shows. The only time I ever find out about an Apple show is if I’m in the app.

3

u/Sasquatchgoose Oct 08 '24

Love their focus on quality. Easily the best place to go if you don’t want to watch anything superhero related

3

u/Longshot318 Oct 11 '24

Well, as long as they have ‘Slow Horses’, they have my subscription nailed down.

1

u/metsjets86 Oct 13 '24

It's a good not great show. But more than that it's just a good easy hang. The whole vibe of the show.

4

u/Jackman1337 Oct 08 '24

Big problem for EU, or at least germany is that you still can pay only with credit card. 90% of young people I know dont have one, its not a big thing here. Only for booking big vacations etc.

At least SEPA, or better PayPal would help a lot here

1

u/danonck Oct 08 '24

I use my debit card. Exactly the same way I do with my other subscriptions.

3

u/Saar13 Oct 08 '24

I think it's a very consistent service for me, but it doesn't reach the average audience. Let's remember that it's a service without a content library that didn't find a proper production cadence due to two broad shutdowns (COVID and strikes) in the first 4 years.

I remember Zaslav saying in an interview that 80% of Max's audience only watches a dozen shows during the year, but I still think that a vast majority of people subscribe for quantity and that's not offered. I think they could attract more subscribers if they offered a few dozen well-curated third-party shows and  movies. That's not really hard at a time when traditional studios will sell basically anything for good money. More content would attract more subscribers, while making originals mandatory for this audience. They apparently will continue to invest $1 billion per year in movies. If they have two big budget movies ($150 million each), they could still make 22 low and mid-budget movies ($15 - 50 million), and release 2 movies per month.

 In 5 years, they still haven't learned how to promote content and distribute big tentpole shows throughout the year to reduce churn, since they don't have thousands of content like Netflix and Amazon. Marketing is still localized and doesn't reach a global audience. They don't even have social media in languages ​​other than English. Unlike their competitors, Apple doesn't need TV+ to be a leader in revenue and profit, but they obviously expect this to pay off within the service ecosystem. They can maintain great annual content for $6 billion per year, which means they need 75 million subscribers paying an average of $80 per year (the values ​​in other countries in dollars are lower than the US or Europe and there are Apple One discounts). Honestly, it's not difficult to reach this number of subscribers, but not without aggressive marketing. Think about it: in the next 3 months, Apple will premiere Disclaimer and have the return of shows that did very well in their previous seasons (Shrinking, Silo, Bad Sisters and Severance). Obviously, this would deserve heavy marketing. So the biggest problem is promotion. They're hiring people to market TV+, and I expect that to pick up next year, when there will also be a lot of new and returning content that could give TV+ a moment (if people know about it, of course).

1

u/Worf_Of_Wall_St Oct 08 '24

but I still think that a vast majority of people subscribe for quantity

This does seem to be the case based on comments on Reddit. I honestly don't understand this mindset for purchasing anything creative.

2

u/Best_Context_7413 Oct 08 '24

I really like their programs. Excellent selection.

2

u/StarsNBarsNW Oct 09 '24

Limited but I like it

2

u/OkBert12345 Oct 09 '24

Platform is dreadful Doesn’t work very successfully compared to others eg netflix. Maybe it is deliberate that it is clunky on ms hardware. Most of the shows seem very average. As a result I’ve only watched a few things. I have better choices elsewhere. And the Clooney-Pitt disaster just seems like Apple doesn’t actually care about its viewers.

2

u/Smart-Weird Oct 09 '24

Just need one GoT. It’s still True Blood era HBO

4

u/jgreg728 Oct 08 '24

It’s gotten better with content but I feel like more of their new releases stand out less and less each year. They need more variety. I miss more ambitious shows like See, Mythic Quest, The Problem With Jon Stewart, and Central Park even if they weren’t perfect. Hell even Oprah’s Book Club. Everything new releasing these days seems to be a serialized drama of some sort.

2

u/No-Alfalfa-626 Oct 08 '24

Apples shows and movies have been top tier since they first launched it and it hasn’t gotten anything but better

2

u/Normal_Cut_5386 Oct 09 '24

They have some really good shows, but the content is so limited. They don't generate enough content to make it worth a long time subscription.

Join it for 2 months and catch up on content every year

1

u/caspararemi Oct 08 '24

Most people I know watch at least a few shows on it. Probably not nearly as much as they do on Netflix. I really hate Netflix dumping entire seasons in one go, but it MUST be good for their numbers having people watch hours and hours of stuff in one evening or over one weekend so they can keep up with the online discourse.

I think Apple being so cheap is both a huge plus point, but also a big minus point, because it's cheap people don't think of it very highly and assume the shows are just promotional or not very 'worthy' of their time.

I do wish Apple would do more advertising of their upcoming shows. And lean into the shows a bit more too - the ads I do see are all very serious and intense. When Disney has new shows, their ads are quite camp and fun and lean into the type of show it is - like all the Agatha All Along promotion I saw was really adapted for the show.

1

u/DarkHold444 Oct 08 '24

I love their content and wish it was more often. I’ve enjoyed these shows: Dark Matter, Sunny, Swan Song, and Disclaimer coming up. They have real actors in their shows and it’s a bunch of sci fi. I dig it.

1

u/wild-hectare Oct 08 '24

it's been great, but they've also acknowledged that delivering high(er) quality content comes at significant production cost. i expect they will be leaning more into the Netflix model and licensing more international content to broaden their appeal.

either way...for the shows we do watch, the subscription costs are relatively low, so I'll keep paying for now

1

u/plexmaniac Oct 08 '24

Very happy with it

1

u/LeftyNate Oct 08 '24

Honestly, it’s Top 2 streaming services for me. It’s gotten greater quantity, and the quality seems to be second to none. Sometimes they struggle making it known when you get MLB Big Inning free with the service or make things like that hard to find. But overall, it’s one of the two services I’m least likely to cancel. (The other being Disney+ because I have kids, plus we love Marvel. That said, my younger one eats up all of the Snoopy content on Apple TV+.) If Max was still HBO Max, I’d probably put it in the Top 3.

1

u/pobenschain Oct 08 '24

I personally really like it, and since I get it through an Apple One bundle I find it to be a great value, but yeah, I think Apple would be the first to admit it’s underperforming in the streaming space, and has been really lackluster at the box office. It has a minuscule share of the streaming market, especially considering the A-list talent they get and the budgets they spend. Ted Lasso helped move the needle, but they’re mostly lacking in shows that really break into the cultural zeitgeist, even though I agree with you that they have a pretty solid and well-rounded slate of shows (and a handful of decent films) at this point.

1

u/Badassmcgeepmboobies Oct 08 '24

Goated, everything I’ve watched from them except monarch has been good

1

u/CountyRoad Oct 09 '24

I think it’s on the precipices of either being the next HBO or being something more of a MAX with less viewers. It’s had some sneaky good shows like HBO had OZ and Six Feet Under which were more of the shows that only the die hard really got into, six feet under gaining a bigger audience. Apple really needs is sopranos and then a run after that.

I fear it’s heading more to the max as type modern streamer where its content is being drowned out be releases of less intriguing stuff. Many of the stuff it’s released this year have been pretty big duds just in terms of the water cooler type experience, let alone much of the content hasn’t been interesting to even stick with.

I would be fine with less releases but higher quality (not bigger budget, necessarily) television.

Getting some of its shows back from last year will help, but they still need a drama that becomes part of the culture.

1

u/JOE-Q5 Oct 09 '24

It has some of the best,if not the best, programming… add to it, the video and audio are excellent!

1

u/jump_the_snark Oct 09 '24

Quality content. But aren’t they losing a lot of money?

1

u/iangeredcharlesvane2 Oct 11 '24

Best content by far, and now has a deep enough catalog I don’t know why everyone doesn’t take advantage of it, especially for the low cost!

I’ve been saying it for years but still many have never even tried it. Still a marketing problem in a way. The problem is even if someone signs up for “Silo” for example, they are not sure what else to watch because so many of their great shows flew under the radar. It’s crazy because of the absolute bananas star power their shows have.

I’m just glad they didn’t panic and start throwing out those trash tv shows that clog Netflix and Max (Love is Blind types or Mormon wives season 77 or the like ugh). They stuck to their guns.

1

u/Infinzero Oct 12 '24

Apple releases quality over quantity. Top notch shows 

1

u/NeverNude427 Oct 13 '24

I’ve had Apple TV+ since it came out and I love their content. They are my second favorite streaming service (after Netflix) and I happily pay for it.

1

u/Pineapple996 Oct 08 '24

Not great. They must lose so much money. They produce a lot of shows that no one watches and the budgets are huge. Often they get renewed as well. Then the shows that are actual hits don't get much content. Waiting 3 years for Severance S2 is crazy. The Ted Lasso hiatus is also not good.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '24

Its the new HBO imo

1

u/AirNutria Oct 08 '24

Started using their platform a couple of months ago & never looked back. Very user friendly & premium content. I rarely check the other 4+ streaming services I pay monthly for. Couldn't believe it took me this long to check em out.

1

u/Actual_Barracuda1094 Oct 08 '24

So far my favorite subscription - good quality shows and movies. Very easy to navigate and amazing story lines.

1

u/StormMission907 Oct 08 '24

Used to be a huge fan but last year or so I thought the quality and new series really declined.

-1

u/j1h15233 Oct 08 '24

The only service that has more new shows I have watched and enjoyed is Disney Plus and that’s 100% because of Marvel.