Apple mulls subscription bundle of Apple Music, News and original video content, report sa...
Apple is reportedly mulling a subscription bundle that incorporates the company's existing services, namely Apple Music and products sold through the News platform, with a slate of original TV shows widely rumored to be in production.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, The Information reports Apple is looking to present users with a comprehensive subscription service that would rival similar plans marketed by Amazon and, to some extent, Netflix.
Currently, Apple's subscription lineup is relegated to digital solutions like iCloud storage and Apple Music, the latter of which plays host to the company's two original TV shows, "Planet of the Apps" and "Carpool Karaoke: The Series." The tech giant could expand on the offering by lumping music in with additional products like original video content and an expected news subscription service.
As a first step, Apple is anticipated to launch a news subscription product next year, the report said. Details are not available at this point, but reports suggest Apple will fold assets acquired through its purchase of Texture into Apple News.
Announced in May, the Texture buy opens the door to a slice of digital magazine subscription revenue. The service, sometimes referred to as the "Netflix of Magazines," is still operational and offers customers access to more than 200 monthly titles for $9.99 a month, but that would undoubtedly change once Apple's branded service rolls out.
Following its introduction of a for-pay news product, Apple could create a services bundle that includes as-yet-unreleased video content and Apple Music, the report said. Sources added that customers would likely be able to sign up for the three services separately.
As noted by The Information, a services bundle would begin to answer questions as to how Apple intends to monetize a growing slate of original TV shows, series and other content being created by its Worldwide Video division. Apple is reportedly spending some $1 billion on the video effort and has lined up exclusives with J.J. Abrams, Jennifer Aniston, M. Night Shyamalan, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and other big Hollywood names.
Prior speculation pushed a narrative that original content would be distributed through Apple Music, while others believed the company would build a subscription tier into the TV app. According to the report, Apple could air a portion of its original programming for free before bundling it with music and news.
A timeline for launch is unknown, as are pricing details, but if Apple does elect to bundle its media products, it could lead to a boom in the company's already thriving services arm.
For the last fiscal quarter, Apple's services business -- App Store, Apple Music, iCloud, Apple Pay, AppleCare and licensing -- generated $9.19 billion, up 31 percent year over year. In May, CEO Tim Cook confirmed Apple Music counted more than 50 million users across paid and trial subscriptions.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, The Information reports Apple is looking to present users with a comprehensive subscription service that would rival similar plans marketed by Amazon and, to some extent, Netflix.
Currently, Apple's subscription lineup is relegated to digital solutions like iCloud storage and Apple Music, the latter of which plays host to the company's two original TV shows, "Planet of the Apps" and "Carpool Karaoke: The Series." The tech giant could expand on the offering by lumping music in with additional products like original video content and an expected news subscription service.
As a first step, Apple is anticipated to launch a news subscription product next year, the report said. Details are not available at this point, but reports suggest Apple will fold assets acquired through its purchase of Texture into Apple News.
Announced in May, the Texture buy opens the door to a slice of digital magazine subscription revenue. The service, sometimes referred to as the "Netflix of Magazines," is still operational and offers customers access to more than 200 monthly titles for $9.99 a month, but that would undoubtedly change once Apple's branded service rolls out.
Following its introduction of a for-pay news product, Apple could create a services bundle that includes as-yet-unreleased video content and Apple Music, the report said. Sources added that customers would likely be able to sign up for the three services separately.
As noted by The Information, a services bundle would begin to answer questions as to how Apple intends to monetize a growing slate of original TV shows, series and other content being created by its Worldwide Video division. Apple is reportedly spending some $1 billion on the video effort and has lined up exclusives with J.J. Abrams, Jennifer Aniston, M. Night Shyamalan, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and other big Hollywood names.
Prior speculation pushed a narrative that original content would be distributed through Apple Music, while others believed the company would build a subscription tier into the TV app. According to the report, Apple could air a portion of its original programming for free before bundling it with music and news.
A timeline for launch is unknown, as are pricing details, but if Apple does elect to bundle its media products, it could lead to a boom in the company's already thriving services arm.
For the last fiscal quarter, Apple's services business -- App Store, Apple Music, iCloud, Apple Pay, AppleCare and licensing -- generated $9.19 billion, up 31 percent year over year. In May, CEO Tim Cook confirmed Apple Music counted more than 50 million users across paid and trial subscriptions.
Comments
Then once you add that on to the crazy Internet access pricing, and you're paying more than people used to pay for full-out cable. So much for the cord-cutting. (Thankfully I just don't watch much TV anymore... so more a comment on the state of things than how it impacts me.)
But, if Apple doesn't just include this in the current Apple 'Music' I think it isn't going to go over well. People aren't going to subscribe to Music, Video, and News as separate services. News is useless, and they will have to do a heck of a lot better on Video.
As far as a streaming video service goes, I’d be more than surprised, shocked even, if Apple didn’t offer up a large portion of the iTunes library to go along with their original content. But it's not going to last very long.
Consumers in the U.S. are going to get screwed over in a couple of years - with the merging of all these large content producing and distribution companies, they will all soon have their own streaming services that we'll need to subscribe to.
Disney has already started pulling away from "partners" in favor of building out their own streaming service.
AT&T just bought TimeWarner! You can bet that they'll do whatever they can to wring as much as they can out of their customers. With Net Neutrality gone, I wouldn't be surprised if AT&T started charging subscribers a surcharge if you want stream content from a competitors service.
That's why we're seeing all these others get into this game, they won't have a choice soon, but to produce and stream their own content.
This is why I think Apple should acquire Sony; Movies, TV Shows, Music, Gaming, component manufacturing and fabrication, a very large electronics name brand to run Apple's platforms; iOS on Sony phones, macOS on Sony PCs, tvOS on Sony TV's, etc.
The multiple content producers wont work over time. Cutting out the middle man in streaming is like Coke deciding to cut out retail stores and going with their own stores selling only coke and Fanta.
What do people want from a streaming service. Some original shows, some TV shows, not so much these days movies. Netflix is not actually any good for movies. From a digital download store like iTunes, the most popular would be movies, perhaps but its a close run thing with TV.
However theres no incentive to get a Disney streaming service unless there are no Disney movies anywhere else. If I can get the Disney movie from iTunes ( even after a delay) thats what I am going to do. If I can't, I am not going to subscribe for just one movie. Or even the catalog. Im sure I have some disney movies in my personal catalog but I can't see myself signing up for their old movies, or whatever few they will produce in any one year.
Modern TV shows are a bit different, it is definitely true that you gain subscribers with a GOT or a Westworld, but thats because these need to be watched ( for social reasons) as they are broadcast. Water cooler moments. Even there, people expect not just an internet package but a television package. And those kinda TV shows are like unicorns.
All that Disney and the others will do here is collapse their revenue as they withdraw their content from other streaming or Digital download services, and get some desultory number of subscribers who want to watch Pinocchio again, if they can't illegally download it. There may be some pressure for kids TV shows from kids but thats not permanent either. Or they may gain subscribers with some 3 month free offer when a good movie is released but that will be ephemeral.
This isn't the way capitalism works, these guys are wholesalers, or producers, they need a general retailer to take their stuff and sell it to the public. I have Netflix. I have Amazon prime. I could lose the latter but it comes cheap with prime, but I rarely use it. Even if the catalog of movies disappears from either of these ( and neither are great) nothing is going to tempt me to sign up for any specific content provider, ever. Except free trials.
This will hinge on how well Apple executes its original content. Yes they have tons of money and yes they are working with famous in-demand talent. But that doesn’t necessarily make for great content.
Apple obviously needs its House of Cards, Game of Thrones, or Handmaid’s Tail to drive users to the platform. Original content is key but it has to be kick ass original content.
Good luck Apple. As a shareholder I am cheering you on.
Not only is there the cost of having to subscribe to each service, we now also have the hassle of finding a single method of WATCHING all of those services in 1 place. Sky's set-top box lets you watch BT Sport but not Amazon, BT's set-top box only does BT Sport, Amazon's Fire TV offerings allow the Prime games and Sky's (via Now TV) but not BT Sport. There is no device that does all 3. Apple TV doesn't have a BT Sport app, nor does Roku devices. It's possible via Airplay/Chromecast but that's just another hassle to factor in.
... but IMHO it's not the best of ideas from a human standpoint, or healthy for the consumer and overall economy either to have a handful of massive and wealthy-beyond-need techs be so involved in trying to control so many parts of our day while snatching up as much of our disposable income for themselves as they can. The devices we carry, what we're permitted to use on them, the news we see, the music we listen to, the casual TV viewing we do, the tech in our homes and the tech in our transportation, even the way we communicate with each other.
I hope Umbrella Corp stays forever just a movie plotline, but it's not so far-fetched anymore.