Apple is re-evaluating its spending on original content for Apple TV+ after investing an astonishing $20 billion on shows and movies, many of which have gone unnoticed by the public, according to a report from Bloomberg.
The company’s executive Eddy Cue has reportedly been in discussions with studio heads Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht about scaling back budgets. The duo has been communicating that Apple TV+ aims to move away from its image as the leading spender in the industry.
Apple has made significant financial commitments for specific projects, such as investing $250 million in the miniseries “Masters of Air,” which did not perform well upon its release this year. Additionally, the streaming service has spent over $500 million on films from prominent directors like Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott, and Matthew Vaughn.
Despite this high level of investment, Apple TV+ holds a mere 0.2% share of TV viewership in the U.S., attracting fewer views in a month than Netflix does in just one day. The service has encountered difficulties in growing its subscriber base.
Although these challenges have not raised major concerns within Apple, given that streaming primarily supplements its core business, it appears that the era of unrestricted spending on content may soon come to an end. This is reflected in the company’s hesitance to renew shows for additional seasons, as indicated by Bloomberg’s findings.
Notably, Apple TV+ remains the only major streaming service that does not offer an ad-supported tier, a situation that may shift following the recent hiring of Joseph Cady, an advertising executive from NBCUniversal.