Study: Apple TV+ took home 27% of new OTT subscriptions during COVID-19

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Amid a boom in U.S. households trialing streaming subscriptions, Apple's own Apple TV+ streaming service made up 27% of new customers, a study claims.

Credit: Apple
Credit: Apple


More than two in five broadband households in the U.S. have signed up for a trial to an OTT (over-the-top) service, such as Apple TV+, during the coronavirus crisis. At least 8% of those households trialed four or more services, a new Park Associates study found.

As a result, many streaming services are offering extended free trials to build up engagement, research director Steve Nason said.

"We are seeing a record number of consumers experiment with new OTT services as a result of the COVID-19 crisis and the shifts in strategy in the industry," Nason said.

Among new subscribers during COVID-19 lockdowns, 49% of them subscribed to Disney+ and 27% signed up for Apple TV+.

A key question for those services is whether or not they'll be able to keep those subscribers. Park Associates also found that the churn rate -- or number of customers cancelling subscriptions -- increased from 35% in Q1 2019 to 41% in Q1 2020.

Roughly seven in ten customers that Park Associates surveyed have subscribed to a digital streaming service that they trialed, Nason added.

Apple's services business is likely to be a key driver of the company's growth over the next few years and the company is reportedly taking steps to hook subscribers on its other platforms, such as Apple Arcade.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 4
    laytechlaytech Posts: 335member
    I find apple content to be very high quality but I may struggle to justify paying the monthly fee once my free year subscription ends that I got with my phone. That said, if every time I buy an iPhone I get a year subscription then there is real value there.

    What I hope Apple doesn't do it just buy a ton of general content just to fatten out their offering, to turn it into another Amazon, Netflix, Hula etc. Cutting the cord with cable subscribers has been refreshing but now we have multiple movie channels and it feels just as segregated. At times there is so much content and choice, that I am left unable to make decision what to watch. It staggers me how so much content can get the viewers but clearly it must be doing.



    Beatsjahbladewilliamh
  • Reply 2 of 4
    mistergsfmistergsf Posts: 241member
    laytech said:
    I find apple content to be very high quality but I may struggle to justify paying the monthly fee once my free year subscription ends that I got with my phone. That said, if every time I buy an iPhone I get a year subscription then there is real value there.

    What I hope Apple doesn't do it just buy a ton of general content just to fatten out their offering, to turn it into another Amazon, Netflix, Hula etc. Cutting the cord with cable subscribers has been refreshing but now we have multiple movie channels and it feels just as segregated. At times there is so much content and choice, that I am left unable to make decision what to watch. It staggers me how so much content can get the viewers but clearly it must be doing.



    Totally agree that AppleTV+ content is very high quality but aside from a few shows, it doesn't really excite me or give me any incentive to continue after my free year. "Foundation", so far, is the only new show I'm curious and excited about. So, Netflix isn't perfect. At least Netflix has some great original series and content that I'm already hooked on. Also, I can always find something good to watch on Netflix no matter what mood I'm in.  I don't mind having occasional, mindless, escapism type shows to watch and Netflix has a lot of that.

    Agree too about so many streaming sources. It does kind of feel segregating in a way. Hadn't thought of that. I don't mind having "so much content". 

    Forgot to mention that Netflix also has a lot of international content that I've enjoyed watching like "Dark", "Money Heist", "Kingdom", "Sacred Games", "Elite", just to name a few.
    edited July 2020
  • Reply 3 of 4
    chasmchasm Posts: 3,275member
    Well, so much for the "Apple TV+ is a flop" crowd ...

    That said, the real test comes with paid subscribers, but I do think they are almost to that point now with content (I'm including announced but not yet premiered content, like the new Tom Hanks movie -- which will draw viewers). I would hope that Apple would re-offer the free-year (or at least some portion thereof) with any new Apple hardware purchase, but we'll have to wait a while to see if that happens.

    That said, $5/month is an utterly trivial expense to me so I'm very likely to keep it going for at least another year even if they don't continue the original offer. While not everything on TV+ is to my tastes, I can see its all extremely well-made and thus far completely original (except now the back catalog of Fraggle Rock, but that only barely counts IMO). What I've enjoyed I have really enjoyed, and the diversity of offerings (and the originality) is very appealing. I'm not a binge-watcher type, so I tend to take quite a while to work my way through the shows I watch, and will even re-watch episodes to focus in more on the music or cinematography or the character development or some other factor. I love the way a great TV show or movie comes together.

    Anyway, for the cost of a latte per month I get more decent content, ad-free, than I have time for. YMMV, but in terms of value TV+ sits pretty well -- it's no HBO Max or Disney+, maybe, but frankly I'm watching more of it than I am Disney+ now that I've mostly gone through the things I'm most interested in. I might well give Disney+ a year off and then come back to it in 2022 and see what they've added (<-- this is one of the best things about streaming services IMO).
    williamlondon
  • Reply 4 of 4
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,152member
    Easy to sign up to free. Just ask Spotify.

    At present my subscription will be ended just before I have to pay for it.
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