Apple TV+ reportedly attracts 'millions' of users in first week as Apple renews four shows...

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in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited December 2019
Millions of users are watching Apple TV+ content in the week since the video streaming service debuted, according to a report on Thursday, though it is unclear how many are paying subscribers.




Citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, Variety reports Apple TV+ has drawn "millions" of users who on average spend more than an hour on the service.

How many are paying for the service remains unknown. A large chunk of users are likely taking advantage of Apple's current trial offers, which includes a seven-day free sample for all comers. Customers who purchased an iPhone, iPad, Mac or iPod touch after Sept. 10, 2019, have the option of activating a year of free Apple TV+ service on their new device.

The report notes insiders "were impressed" by activity on the Apple TV+ platform, which grew on the order of triple digits over this past weekend. Further, early statistics show viewer engagement is high, with most viewers of the service's four core series -- "Dickinson," "For All Mankind," "The Morning Show" and "See" -- watching at least two episodes. Some went on to watch all three episodes of a given series.

Apple is windowing access to most original shows, offering only three episodes each of "For All Mankind," "The Morning Show" and "See" at launch. "Dickinson," the lone outlier, saw its entire first season released on day one.

Coming off the strong debut, Apple is renewing the four marquee shows for second seasons, Variety says, echoing earlier reports from other publications including Deadline. Weeks before Apple TV+ launched on Nov. 1, industry insiders confirmed sophomore seasons of "The Morning Show," Dickinson," "For All Mankind," "Little America" and "Home Before Dark." Today's report is the first to deliver word of a second season for Jason Momoa vehicle "See."
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 53
    I’d definitely recommend a person who buys a new iPhone or iPad to sign up for the free trial period of one year, however the Apple TV app itself is not very good. This is especially true for anyone who likes to download their movies or shows to watch later with no Internet connection. The app absolutely sucks for this use case.
    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 2 of 53
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    I agree that the app itself is not good and needs to be reworked.

    Everything is all bundled together and it's extremely messy.

    You have no idea what belongs to what.

    I subscribe to various streaming services and I also have cable and they're all tied into the Apple TV account.

    When I click on a movie or series in the app, I don't want to see that I have to pay $3.99 to rent it or whatever. Why are they even showing that to me?

    I should be glad and happy when using an app, not frustrated.

    I am only interested in watching things that I already subscribe and pay for. I don't need or want suggestions or to be shown anything that I do not currently have access to.

    I've only watched one series so far from Apple, but I am looking forward to watching more, possibly this weekend. The streaming quality of the content is great. Opinions on the content itself will of course vary, depending on who's watching, but if you ask me, Apple TV+ is off to a great start.

    I have hope that Apple will rework the app, hopefully sooner, rather than later.


    SpamSandwichphilboogieirelandllama
  • Reply 3 of 53
    sandorsandor Posts: 655member
    The "Free for a year" is the only reason i signed up. 

    I have yet to watch any of the offerings, however.
    cy_starkmanphilboogiechemengin1
  • Reply 4 of 53
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    I'm curious to know how many people have paid to sign up for this service. I wouldn't have had it not come with my new iPhone. That isn't to say that I'm not interested in any of the shows, but I'd probably wait for multiple shows with entire seasons to be launched, along with data on shows that are excellent, before I signed up to binge watch.
    philboogiechemengin1
  • Reply 5 of 53
    Does anyone know how long after purchasing a new device you have to use the free trial? I got an iPhone 11 a few weeks ago, but I want to wait until there’s more content or even full seasons before activating. 

    and does anyone know if you can stack up free trials? I’m keeping my eye on Black Friday deals for an iPad and I’m curious if I could use the free trial from the iPhone and iPad and basically get 2 years free
    ireland
  • Reply 6 of 53
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    fluffhead said:
    Does anyone know how long after purchasing a new device you have to use the free trial? I got an iPhone 11 a few weeks ago, but I want to wait until there’s more content or even full seasons before activating. 

    and does anyone know if you can stack up free trials? I’m keeping my eye on Black Friday deals for an iPad and I’m curious if I could use the free trial from the iPhone and iPad and basically get 2 years free
    • Offer must be claimed in the Apple TV app within 3 months after first setting up your new device. 

    • Only one offer per Family, regardless of number of devices purchased. 
    Solifastasleepphilboogiemuthuk_vanalingamwilliamlondon
  • Reply 7 of 53
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,152member
    I just bought an MBP and an MBA, but I haven’t signed up to Apple TV plus yet. You only get one twelve month freebie, so I am waiting at least until December, maybe Christmas. You just know Apple will throw a tonne of new shows out in November 2020 to get people to continue with the service, but pay for it. 
    It isn’t the money, it’s that I don’t like being manipulated so I want to broaden my options.
    williamlondon
  • Reply 8 of 53
    kevin keekevin kee Posts: 1,289member
    I’d definitely recommend a person who buys a new iPhone or iPad to sign up for the free trial period of one year, however the Apple TV app itself is not very good. This is especially true for anyone who likes to download their movies or shows to watch later with no Internet connection. The app absolutely sucks for this use case.
    Each episodes has a download button underneath for offline viewing.
    StrangeDaysphilboogietenthousandthings
  • Reply 9 of 53
    CarmboCarmbo Posts: 26unconfirmed, member
    There is a clear superiority in visual quality, technically speaking, to Apple’s offerings compared to Netflix, at least here in Canada. Not that Netflix is bad but so far Apple is just that much better. I suspect, though, that the quality of the devices one is watching the service on will have an impact on if the superior quality will be apparent. Not everyone is paying attention to that sort of thing. 
    minicoffee
  • Reply 10 of 53
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    entropys said:
    I just bought an MBP and an MBA, but I haven’t signed up to Apple TV plus yet. You only get one twelve month freebie, so I am waiting at least until December, maybe Christmas. You just know Apple will throw a tonne of new shows out in November 2020 to get people to continue with the service, but pay for it. 
    It isn’t the money, it’s that I don’t like being manipulated so I want to broaden my options.
    I got a new Apple TV 4k recently, so I activated the free 12 month trial right away, because I want to see what Apple TV is about right now, and not wait some months.

    It's only 5 bucks a month and less than that too if somebody subscribes for a full year ($50), so in November 2020, I'll decide to either keep it or not, and the content will have drastically increased by that time I suppose.
    williamlondon
  • Reply 11 of 53
    sandorsandor Posts: 655member
    Carmbo said:
    There is a clear superiority in visual quality, technically speaking, to Apple’s offerings compared to Netflix, at least here in Canada. Not that Netflix is bad but so far Apple is just that much better. I suspect, though, that the quality of the devices one is watching the service on will have an impact on if the superior quality will be apparent. Not everyone is paying attention to that sort of thing. 

    Here in the US there has been a constant battle between ISPs and content providers re: bandwidth & $$
    So quality is sometimes simply tied to your ISP throttling a provider.
  • Reply 12 of 53
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    I’d definitely recommend a person who buys a new iPhone or iPad to sign up for the free trial period of one year, however the Apple TV app itself is not very good. This is especially true for anyone who likes to download their movies or shows to watch later with no Internet connection. The app absolutely sucks for this use case.
    On the Apple discussions forums users are confused about what’s free and what’s not. Many seem to think ALL content within the TV app is supposed to be free. they are confusing the app with the streaming service. To be sure the TV+ content is intermixed with content from other services like Prime and Apple’s for rent/purchase movies and tv shows. You have to scroll down pretty far to get to the TV+ icon which then presents only TV+ content. So yes, it’s a mess right now.
    edited November 2019 tomowamuthuk_vanalingamirelandllama
  • Reply 13 of 53
    dougddougd Posts: 292member
    I'll never pay Apple for their TV 
    williamlondon
  • Reply 14 of 53
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    dougd said:
    I'll never pay Apple for their TV 
    And you don't have to. Everybody is free to do as they please.

    I'll definitely pay for it when they release that Band of Brothers 3rd installment, and that's my choice.
    tmayStrangeDayscoolfactorwilliamlondon
  • Reply 15 of 53
    "Citing unnamed sources..." and "unclear how many are paying subscribers".   What a bunch of fluff.  It's literally FREE for everyone for the first week, and free for millions more for a year.  Who'd pay for it upfront before even getting a chance to watch it? 
    edited November 2019 muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 16 of 53
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    ITGUYINSD said:
    "Citing unnamed sources..." and "unclear how many are paying subscribers".   What a bunch of fluff.  It's literally FREE for everyone for the first week, and free for millions more for a year.  Who'd pay for it upfront before even getting a chance to watch it? 
    That makes it unclear. If there are people who signed up for a free week on 01 November and it's 08 November  in many countries, there will be accounts that probably have been charged. But even countries where it's still the 7th, if they've been charged it would still be unearned service revenue which would count toward paid subscriber numbers.
  • Reply 17 of 53
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    Soli said:
    ITGUYINSD said:
    "Citing unnamed sources..." and "unclear how many are paying subscribers".   What a bunch of fluff.  It's literally FREE for everyone for the first week, and free for millions more for a year.  Who'd pay for it upfront before even getting a chance to watch it? 
    That makes it unclear. If there are people who signed up for a free week on 01 November and it's 08 November  in many countries, there will be accounts that probably have been charged. But even countries where it's still the 7th, if they've been charged it would still be unearned service revenue which would count toward paid subscriber numbers.
    I don't think paying customers are too important right now, and I think that Apple knows that too, which is why they have the 12 months for free offer with certain hardware.

    Even if some of the series are good and people like them, there's still only 9 of them at launch I believe. It's going to take a bit to grow that number, and as it grows, it will become more and more attractive for paying customers, especially at the cheap price of about $4 bucks per month (for the yearly sub).
  • Reply 18 of 53
     For accounting purposes I would wager at least some of the purchase price of a qualifying device is charged as paying for the service. Accordingly, everyone who has signed up for the year is likely treated as a paying customer. 
    SoliStrangeDaysmuthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 19 of 53
    apple ][ said:
    fluffhead said:
    Does anyone know how long after purchasing a new device you have to use the free trial? I got an iPhone 11 a few weeks ago, but I want to wait until there’s more content or even full seasons before activating. 

    and does anyone know if you can stack up free trials? I’m keeping my eye on Black Friday deals for an iPad and I’m curious if I could use the free trial from the iPhone and iPad and basically get 2 years free
    • Offer must be claimed in the Apple TV app within 3 months after first setting up your new device. 

    • Only one offer per Family, regardless of number of devices purchased. 
    My partner and I don't use Family Sharing, I wonder if she buys a new iPhone this year and gets a year, and I do the same next year, that we could get two full years of ATV+ now that you can have multiple users on the ATV?
    netmage
  • Reply 20 of 53
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    I’d definitely recommend a person who buys a new iPhone or iPad to sign up for the free trial period of one year, however the Apple TV app itself is not very good. This is especially true for anyone who likes to download their movies or shows to watch later with no Internet connection. The app absolutely sucks for this use case.
    B.S.
    StrangeDays
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