What you need to know
- With more and more people being forced to stay at home, streaming service numbers are skyrocketing.
- That is, except for Apple TV+.
- A report suggests that it is enjoying meager growth whilst the rest of the industry is booming.
Even global lockdown has been unable to spur interest in Apple's TV+ streaming service, with reports stating that it recently only recorded a 10% increase in subscribers last weekend.
According to Forbes:
As Americans brace for spending weeks (or months) inside as the coronavirus pandemic spreads, they are subscribing to additional streaming services, with Disney+ proving to be far and away the most popular choice.
According to Forbes, between March 14 and 16, Disney+ signups tripled compared to the previous weekend. Also enjoying huge spikes were HBO Now (90% up) and Showtime (78% up). Netflix gains were more modest, with subscriptions increasing 47% compared to the same period a week prior. It seems that all the streaming platforms are booming right now, except Apple TV+.... According to the report:
Apple saw only a 10% rise in new subscribers compared to the week before, the lowest of any of the major streaming services.
It seems that for many, being faced with the prospect of 'stay at home' measures that could last weeks is still not enough to tempt people to Apple TV+. Of course, the service is in a unique position in that everyone who bought an Apple hero product in the last 6 months is eligible for a free year of the service. What these numbers could well indicate is that basically everyone who plans to sign up for Apple TV+ already has. It was never expected upon launch that Apple would keep up with the big players in the industry, and that expectation is reflected in the swathe of free subscriptions and the $4.99 price tag. But Apple TV+ is suffering from a very small library of content and has been hit with the prospect of delays to several of its latest productions because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
