About the Apple TV+ Rumors, What’s Wrong With Apple TV+?, Apple’s Goal for Apple TV+
Hello everyone. Today's update will cover the Apple TV+ rumors that have taken over social media. Did Apple cut Apple TV+ spending? Is Apple TV+ engagement not doing well? What may be going on? Let's discuss.
About the Apple TV+ Rumors
Here’s Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw:
“After spending more than $20 billion to produce original TV shows and movies that not a lot of people watch, Apple is starting to refine its strategy in Hollywood.
Based on interviews with more than a dozen people, including former employees, current employees and business partners, Apple services boss Eddy Cue has been having regular meetings with studio chiefs Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht to go over budgets, pushing them to exert more control over spending on projects. Van Amburg and Erlicht have told some of their top creative partners that they want to change their reputation as the biggest spender in town, according to these people.
Apple doesn’t buy the most projects in Hollywood — that is still Netflix. But it splurges on individual titles. The studio spent more than $500 million combined on movies from directors Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott and Matthew Vaughn, and upward of $250 million on the World War II miniseries Masters of the Air, one of more than a dozen new series released this year.
Those pictures were all disappointments at the box office, and only Killers of the Flower Moon registered in Nielsen’s rankings of the most-popular streaming titles. Masters of the Air delivered a smaller US audience than House of Ninjas, a Netflix show in Japanese, according to Nielsen. Even so, it’s the only new Apple show this year to appear in Nielsen’s rankings.
Apple is spending billions of dollars a year on original programming that has received strong reviews and many awards nominations. But its streaming service is attracting just 0.2% of TV viewing in the US. Apple TV+ generates less viewing in one month than Netflix does in one day.”
In what may be the latest example of how doom sells, Shaw's article spread like wildfire on social media.
There is reason to be skeptical about several points found in Shaw's post. Some of it doesn't pass the smell test for me. However, let's assume the comment about Apple being more critical when it comes to how it spends cash on Apple TV+ programming is true. Would that even be a controversial development?
Apple has shown a willingness to bankroll certain ideas (movies) that other studios moved away from due to budget concerns. Accordingly, the idea that Apple is now dialing back its aggressiveness is certainly plausible. With the whole industry pulling back to a degree, there would
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