“While Apple has long held a desire to rethink television, there has been one missing link: content,” Neil Cybart writes for Above Avalon. “This lack of content played a part in Apple initially positioning Apple TV as a hobby. Unattractive TV industry dynamics, including a problematic go-to-market strategy, played a much larger role.”
“Apple’s video content strategy is coming into focus, and the company’s plans look ambitious,” Cybart writes. “Management’s goal is to develop its own video service to distribute original content to more than a billion Apple devices. Apple will compete with Netflix and every other video content bundle. However, there will be a twist in Apple’s strategy.”
“When comparing Netflix and Apple Music paid subscribers, it becomes clear why using Apple Music as a type of incubator for Apple’s video streaming service ends up being such an interesting twist,” Cybart writes. “By using original video content to boost Apple Music, Apple already has nearly 20M paying viewers accessing that video content. This compares to Netflix’s 83M user count – not bad for a 16-month-old paid streaming service. As the amount of additional video content increases, Apple hopes this will further increase Apple Music subscriptions, thereby improving its video chances. Apple’s $3 billion Beats acquisition was a Trojan horse into Hollywood.”
Much more in the full article – recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Hopefully, using Apple Music as an incubator its subscriber base as leverage is indeed Apple’s plan. We’d like to see things with “Apple TV” (meaning the device and the idea of it on all Apple devices and throughout the ecosystem) move much more quickly than they have so far.
Apple should use their cash pile to create some much needed leverage to finally get their Apple TV subscription bundle(s) up and running even if all they do is flash their cash around. — MacDailyNews, January 14, 2016
Perhaps Cook should consider bidding for and winning NFL Sunday Ticket away from Direct TV, buying rights to Premiere League and La Liga games, etc. and making them Apple TV exclusives. Go directly to the sports leagues with boatlods of cash. Maybe that’ll grease the wheels. It’ll certainly move a bunch of Apple TV boxes around the world in short order. — MacDailyNews, May 6, 2014
Maybe it’s insurance in the face of recalcitrant content providers (“last chance: sign the deal or we’ll buy you with petty cash”)? — MacDailyNews, February 21, 2013
SEE ALSO:
Apple’s Eddy Cue: Nope, we don’t want to be Netflix – October 20, 2016
Apple’s Eddy Cue alienated cable providers and networks with an assertive negotiating style – report – July 28, 2016
How an ‘Apple Prime’ subscription could reinvigorate Apple – October 17, 2016
Only by Apple taking the Time Warner deal away from Evil AT&T, old Cingular wireless who also was evil can Apple get into the TV content game.
I tend to agree, if Apple are seriously intent on being a big player in video streaming they need to commit big time both in acquisitions in the media and producing, aquiring or commissioning their own original or exclusive programming as Amazon has done, while Apple has been merely playing around with its hobby and predictably getting no where with the producer/broadcaster monoliths. Meanwhile Google can likely get the deal that App,e can’t because it first need to make the direct profits that Apple does in its present position.
Part of the issue is that big pile of cash is not in the U.S., they are borrowing money in the U.S. to keep afloat until they can get a Tax holiday. If the Tax holiday comes then the content industry will need to watch out cause they will come guns a blazing.
“and making them Apple TV exclusives”.
Nah. Here’s the problem with that: “exclusives”. Very, very unlikely to happen.
As crappy as they might be, TV networks’ signal does not come with that clunkiness and unreliability of the Internet, let alone having to have wi-fi and high-speed Internet service. Once my grandma turns the TV on, tune in the channel #, she’s all set TO ENJOY a Premiere League or La Liga game, no buffering or fighting IP required, period.
That is your main problem. Let alone the business implications of pushing out all TV networks around the world having rights/contracts in place already; or THE SIZE of TV viewership for those two leagues only all over the world already having a TV set but no Internet service, or wi-fi.
Change that to “making them Apple TV available” and perhaps you have got something.
If Apple wanted content, why did they not buy Time Warner?
CNN, HBO, TBS, TNT, Cinemax, Turner Classic Movies, the new Filmstruck (launching in November with the Criterion Collection exclusively), the Warner Studio and properties, a film library with not only Warner but most MGM films from it’s golden era.
Oh that’s right, Eddy Cue, a washed up rapper and an old as dirt music producer run content at Apple. They would not know content if it bit them in the ass.
The irony is that the anti-Trump Tim Cook’s Apple will benefit the most from a Trump presidency.