Shares of Roku took a deep dive of more than 12% Tuesday, the steepest drop since March, after Apple said its original TV service Apple TV+ will cost just $4.99 a month. Apple TV+ launches on November 1st.
Netflix shares fell more than 3%.
Apple’s streaming product, Apple TV+, was expected, but consumers didn’t know how much they would be paying. CEO Tim Cook said Tuesday during the company’s annual launch event that the ad-free service will cost $4.99 a month for the whole family.
Netflix raised the price of subscriptions in January. It now starts at $8.99 a month. The most popular offering costs $12.99, and its premium plan is $13.99. Disney, whose Disney+ service will cost $6.99 a month, also dropped close to 3%.
MacDailyNews Take: Streaming is in a hypergrowth period, so Disney, Netflix, and others will be okay, but there is only so much time in the day and, if you get hooked on an hour-long drama series from Apple TV+, that’s an hour less you have for the likes of Roku. Consumers will weed out the services they don’t use, but for $4.99, we doubt Apple TV+ subscribers will ever drop the service. It’s simply priced too attractively to ever leave, which is likely Apple’s very smart intent.
Will you subscribe?
— MacDailyNews (@MacDailyNews) September 10, 2019
As with most of Apple’s new ventures online, I expect major crashes of the Apple TV+ during the first few hours of availability. I hope I’m wrong, but if history repeats itself….
I don’t think Disney or Netflix has much to worry about since it’s all about LIBRARIES and Apple has a long way to go (years and years) before building up much of one unless it buys other studio’s libraries. Roku simply can’t compete with all the heavy hitters with deep pockets.
All this new content sure has pulled the rug out for syndication from most shows too. Why watch old shows if there are plenty of new ones available? I just wonder when the other shoe drops and this new “golden age of television” fizzles out.
It’s a possibility for me. However, I’ll wait a few minutes after the debut and see what others have to say about it.
months*
Why would Roku stock even be impacted? Apple TV+ is a streaming service, not hardware. Roku does not even have a competing streaming service. Further, Apple TV+ is being more prominently advertised as something to watch via the Apple TV+ iOS app, rather than Apple TV hardware (the only actual Apple product that competes with Roku).