When it comes to streaming video, Netflix pioneered the winning playbook for a dominant streaming business—and its rivals have been smartly imitating those proven steps ever since.
Netflix started by licensing movies and TV shows from other providers, then boldly shifted in-house, investing heavily in original content. It has since aggressively acquired intellectual property and recruited top Hollywood talent to build a powerhouse lineup of Netflix Originals that complement its licensed library.
Now, Apple is taking a page straight out of that very Netflix playbook, making savvy moves to own key content outright and strengthen Apple TV+ for the long haul.
Danny Vena for The Motley Fool:
In a move that turned heads, Apple has acquired full ownership of Severance… The dystopian thriller is one of the most-watched programs ever on Apple TV and the most-nominated program at the 2025 Emmy Awards, bagging 27 nominations and winning eight awards. It acquired the rights from television studio Fifth Season in a deal reportedly worth $70 million. Apple is also keeping the successful creative team together, including creator, executive producer, and showrunner Dan Erikson and executive producer and director Ben Stiller.
Despite its popularity, Severance has had its share of challenges, including significant restrictions while filming during the global pandemic and a nearly nine-month shutdown courtesy of back-to-back Hollywood strikes in 2023. That caused a three-year lapse between the release of season one and season two, something Apple is looking to avoid in the future. Fans have been eager for the next chapter of the show, and reports suggest the third season could begin filming as early as this summer.
Apple has big plans for the critically acclaimed series, including producing future seasons of the hit show in-house and potentially expanding the Severance franchise. Under consideration are possible spin-offs, a prequel, and foreign versions of the show…
Apple’s move to acquire the full rights to Severance follows the playbook that Netflix has used so successfully.
MacDailyNews Take: Severance is great. The problem with so many shows from streamers today is the long, long waits between seasons. Hopefully, Apple’s acquisition can move things along. (Remember when TV series took off 3 months in the summer and then came back with 25+ episodes a year?) Granted, the quality (and length) of Severance episodes is much higher than those of a network series, but 3 years between seasons is Stranger Things bad.
As an aside, it’s unfortunate that it and Pluribus are pitted (pun intended) against each other and cancel each other out (see the 2025 Golden Globe Awards), to the benefit of yet another hospital drama that we’ve all seen a thousand time (The Pitt)’s benefit.
Many awards (like the Grammys and the Golden Globes Best Television Series – Drama category) use simple plurality voting (everyone picks one favorite; highest vote count wins).
In these systems:
• When multiple strong nominees such as Severance and Pluribus appeal to the same voter bloc (e.g., similar genres, styles, actors from the same film, or overlapping fanbases), their support gets fragmented.
• A different nominee with a more consolidated (but smaller) base, such as yet another hospital series that we’ve all seen a thousand times before like The Pitt, can slip through and win.
This is why Ranked Choice Voting is used in the Academy Awards for Best Picture. For its Best Television Series – Drama category, at least, the Golden Globes should adopt Ranked Choice Voting, Approval Voting, the Condorcet method or some other more meaningful method of voting.
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One flaw in the argument of The Pitt winning the Best Drama Emmy over Severance and Pluribus splitting the vote is that Pluribus wasn’t in the running for the most recent Emmy contest.