Apple is reassessing its spending on original content for Apple TV+, having invested approximately $20 billion on shows and movies that many viewers have likely not seen or heard of. The company is reportedly looking to reduce its budgets and shed its reputation as the biggest spender in the industry.
Meetings have taken place between Apple executive Eddy Cue and the heads of Apple TV+ studios, Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht, to strategize on financial adjustments. Apple has made significant investments, including $250 million on the miniseries “Masters of Air,” which received minimal attention upon release. Additionally, it has allocated over $500 million to films from renowned directors such as Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott, and Matthew Vaughn.
Despite these massive expenditures, Apple TV+ holds only a 0.2% share of TV viewership in the United States, attracting considerably fewer views in a month than Netflix achieves in just 24 hours. Growth in subscriber numbers has also been a challenge for the platform.
Although these issues don’t seem to pose a major concern for Apple, given that streaming does not form the core of its business, signs indicate that the era of unrestricted spending may be coming to an end. This shift is already reflected in the company’s hesitance to renew series for third seasons, according to Bloomberg’s analysis.
Furthermore, Apple TV+ remains the last significant streaming service without an advertising tier, a situation that could change following the recent hiring of Joseph Cady, an advertising executive from NBCUniversal.