Research suggests Apple TV+ may be struggling to retain its audience. Why that might not be such a bad thing.
Filipe Espósito, writing at 9to5Mac:
Based on research from Antenna provided to the Wall Street Journal, companies behind streaming services need more than just new content that gets media attention to retain subscribers.
And:
For instance, Apple TV+ gained several new subscribers on the premiere day of Greyhound (2020), a highly anticipated World War II movie starring Tom Hanks. But according to Antenna, half of these new subscribers canceled their subscriptions within six months. Similar moves happened with major premieres on HBO Max and Disney+.
Greyhound was a long time ago relative to the (admittedly short) lifespan of Apple TV+, but I think it’s reasonable to conclude that this is still an ongoing issue. That it’s happening with other players in the industry like HBO Max and Disney+ suggests that this is the new normal in terms of running a streaming service. And on top of that, I think there’s a case to be made that this is a good thing, as much as Apple would like to continue to hold onto and grow its subscriber base.
Back in the pre-streaming days, what did we all long for? A future where we could pick and choose which cable TV networks we got rather than paying for a bundle of networks that included a lot of stuff we didn’t care about. That future is here. But instead of choosing from a list of the old cable networks like History, A&E, TBS, etc., we have a whole new crop of “networks” in the form of Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, Apple TV+, Hulu, etc.
That means two things: first, users are empowered to choose where their entertainment dollars are spent, and they do so on a pretty granular basis. I don’t want to subscribe to Paramount+ all year long, but I do subscribe for part of the year during which new seasons of Star Trek are available. I’m sure loads of people have made a similar choice with Ted Lasso on Apple TV+.
The other thing it means is that streaming services are working hard to find content that connections with audiences, and they’re catering to niches like never before. 30 years ago when everyone was watching mostly CBS, ABC, and NBC, there wasn’t a lot of science fiction programming for people like me who were into that. The Big 3 networks knew that larger groups of people wanted police and hospital dramas and game shows, so that’s what they invested in. But in the modern TV landscape, people can come and go as they please and will go where there’s content that appeals to them. Streamers and networks have realized that there’s actually a large number of people who will pay for genre television. In 2022 I have so many science fiction and fantasy TV options that I can’t possibly watch them all.
Apple and others are constantly trying to bring us new content to reel us in and keep us in, and it’s resulting in a golden age of television. Really, the last vestige of the old cable empire is ESPN and the massive deals it has with sports leagues. But even that will eventually splinter, and we’ve even seen rumors that Apple is looking to invest in live sports for Apple TV+.
Really the only big concern I have for Apple specifically is that I wonder what we’re missing when Apple’s attention and resources are directed toward Hollywood and away from its historic areas of competency: hardware and software computer products.