It has the best series, but it doesn't succeed: Why doesn't Apple TV+ work out?

Surely you’ve heard it more than once in conversations about series (which have fortunately replaced football) by the coffee machine: the truly good ones are from Apple. Whether it’s Ted Lasso, Severance, The Morning Show, or Mythic Quest… And yet, no one ends up subscribing unless it’s with a discount code. How is it possible that everyone agrees it’s the best, but no one wants to pay for it? Does Apple TV+ have a future? And above all, why isn’t it working out?

The latest arrival

Apple TV+ was launched on November 1, 2019, and at first glance, it was a perfect time to take advantage of the peak in subscriptions that all online services experienced during the pandemic. Additionally, it launched with very strong series like For All Mankind, The Morning Show, and See, which were soon joined by Servant (by M. Night Shyamalan), the reboot of Amazing Stories, and Foundation. However, as of today, it only has 25 million members worldwide... And with no signs of increasing.

They seem like a lot, but considering that more than 200 million iPhones are sold annually, the number of people interested in the streaming service is frankly ridiculous… Especially considering that it is not something proprietary, but anyone, even from an Android phone, can access the service. In fact, their rates after the 3 free months and the 7-day trial are not excessively expensive, $9.99 a month. So, what? What is the problem?

In reality, it is not just one, but a concatenation of several. The first and most obvious, the oversaturation of streaming services. We have Netflix, Prime Video, Max, Crunchyroll, Movistar, Filmin, SkyShowTime. Add more to the list. Niche streamings, cult favorites, internationally renowned, locally famous. From small, large, and medium series and movies. We have so much entertainment that we are stressed in our free time. And what we need the least is for someone else to come and throw another shovel and a half of series at us. No matter how good they are.

Is there an audience for Apple?

The public loves to get lost in immense catalogs. Finding hidden gems among the thousand and one new series, the licenses from previous years, the movies that no one expected to find there. And Apple TV+ has a small and exclusive catalog, with its own series, not licensed from anyone. And the problem is that, unlike Netflix’s, you can actually finish this one. At five or six episodes a week, it’s not that hard to keep up with the series and, therefore, decide to cancel and wait to binge-watch for a couple of months, saving a hundred bucks along the way.

And precisely because of this passivity of the public, there are also cultural phenomena missing beyond -being generous with the term- Ted Lasso and Severance. There is no Stranger Things, no Squid Game, no Game of Thrones, no The Boys, a series that makes everyone subscribe and navigate out of inertia. It’s a vicious cycle: there is no advertising on the streets, which leads to people not knowing about the service, which leads to no series becoming a phenomenon, which leads to no money for advertising. And back to square one.

Really, the strategy is very smart on Apple’s part, because it aligns with their company: we don’t launch many products, but the ones we do launch are wrapped in an aura of quality. One phone model a year, a couple of series a month. The question is… How long is the tech company going to want to throw money into this bottomless pit? No matter how much they collect 250 million dollars monthly from subscriptions (being generous and not counting the people who cancel to take advantage of another promotion), it is nowhere near enough to maintain so many original series at the same time.

Apple TV+ has a tough time surviving: nobody knows it, those who do are reluctant about streaming, its catalog is short, and the quality doesn’t become pop culture. At least it has a company behind it willing to trust and throw unlimited money into the fire… For now. Whether there is a real future for the brand or not, I’m afraid it’s something even the most ambitious analysts wouldn’t dare to predict. The future of streaming, in general, is quite bleak. Apple’s future is leaning towards a black color. Beautiful, of course, like everything they do. Wouldn’t want it any other way.