Data shows 62% of Apple TV+ subscribers are on a trial, most don't plan to renew

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2021
The majority of Apple TV+ subscribers are currently on a free promotional trial and most don't plan to renew their subscriptions, a new survey claims.

Credit: Apple
Credit: Apple


In the fourth quarter of 2020, 62% of Apple TV+ users were on a promotional plan, according to MoffetNathan's Q4 SVOD Tracker report (via Variety). Those promotional plans have been given to buyers of new Apple products since Apple TV+ launched in 2019.

The data suggests that most users either don't plan to resubscribe when their trials end or are unsure if they will. According to the data, 30% said they plan to renew their subscriptions, 29% said they were not going to resubscribe, and the rest said they were unsure.

Those numbers lag behind Apple TV+ competitors like Disney+. The same survey indicated that only 16% of Disney+ subscribers were on a promotional plan. Among those, 48% said they were going to resubscribe and only 19% said they weren't.

According to Variety, one issue for Apple TV+ may be its lack of content compared to other platforms. The service offers a total of 55 originals, while other video-on-demand services offer thousands of titles.

Apple has yet to disclose Apple TV+ subscriber numbers.

Keeping Apple TV+ subscribers, however, appears to be a priority for the company. In October 2020, Apple extended its free trial to the end of February 2021. In January, Apple extended the trial to July.
«134

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 73
    indieshackindieshack Posts: 336member
    The tiny amount of stuff I have seen on Apple TV + seems to be very high quality, it's just not aimed at me - and that's fine. Apple is dumping a ton of money into film production, creating and sustaining jobs in the industry which is great, I genuinely wish them well.

    I wish I had a better-formed view of the nature of the entertainment on it, that could certainly be my fault for not keeping up with it. I won't be subbing once my seemingly endless free period ends but I like that it's an option for some.
    maltzanantksundarambaconstanglkruppwatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 73
    stukestuke Posts: 123member
    I'm a subscriber through the Apple One Plan - Family.  While they have some interesting stuff, Apple needs about 2-3 more years to build a library worthy of dragging someone off of Netflix or Prime, of the cable-offerings popping up to stay relevant.  The Apple One Plans are a great idea, but like those who are on Apple TV+ trial, I am thinking of ditching even the Plan because it offers Arcade.  Sorry, for me, I left the Arcade after graduating high school.  I don't need this feature.  Let me choose News+ for example in exchange for Arcade, then, Apple, you can secure more "subscribers" to your services.  Plan and simple (but then again it's not Steve's Apple any longer).
    chasmanantksundaramelijahgcg27
  • Reply 3 of 73
    winstoner71winstoner71 Posts: 117member
    That’s their fault, not Apple’s. They offer something for everyone, and spare no expense for the quality. Most people have the attention span of a gnat so they don’t give themselves the time to actually explore how great of a service it is. 
    chasmlolliverwatto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 73
    XedXed Posts: 2,918member
    I wish Apple had started off by purchasing a catalog and then peppering in their original content until it became robust enough to be the primary draw. That's how all the successful streaming services did it, even the nascent Disney+, if you consider that hardly any of their catalog was created for D+ and they acquired some very popular catalogs to buoy their content position.

    That isn't to say that Apple won't have something I won't ever put money down on a monthly or annual basis, it's simply not going to happen today and possibly not for a couple years due to how long it takes to build quality original content. How many decades was HBO creating their own content before signing on George R.R. Martin's best-selling book series? At least since the 1980s, and in the meantime they were airing the same re-run movie eight times day. I think Apple will eventually have a Jon Faverau create their own Mandalorian, but even that original story is supported by decades of Star Wars appeal that is not possible to create overnight. 
    edited January 2021 chasmanantksundaramcg27muthuk_vanalingamindieshackwatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 73
    thrangthrang Posts: 1,044member
    AAPL down 15% after hours... this cannot be the reason...

    EDIT - NVM - was a three minute glitch on all stock sites... back up... whew!
    edited January 2021 watto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 73
    XedXed Posts: 2,918member
    thrang said:
    AAPL down 15% after hours... this cannot be the reason…
    No it's not.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 73
    litolooplitoloop Posts: 96member
    planning to renew subscription, but not at its current slate of offerings, which fit a single page of paper. good thing apple extended the free trial. likely to buy time for the hopefuls. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 73
    chasmchasm Posts: 3,648member
    I may be the odd man out, but I am pretty sure I will keep my TV+ subscription going after the free trial (which now lasts into July). As I've mentioned in other posts on this topic, I tend to examine a service by putting an imaginary dollar figure on how much I got out of it in the past month. Did I get $5 of entertainment from my last month of Apple TV+ viewing? For me, that answer is yes.

    Wolfwalker was great (and the other films from that studio, also available there), Fireball was good, I love Home and Earth at Night in Color, I enjoyed Long Way Up (and the related previous shows), Greyhound was good, we watched the Peanuts Special for Christmas, we're slowly working our way through Amazing Stories, we enjoyed For All Mankind, and Beastie Boys Story (more than I thought I would) and Letter To You (again, more than I thought I would). Getting ready to start Tiny World, oh and we loved Visible: Out on Television.

    That was our last two months of watching, and there are a few things I'm looking forward to that are arriving soon. Was that worth $10? Absolutely. (this is also the way I feel about PBS, which we donate $60/year to every year). Hell, just these shows being seen *with no ads* was worth the $10 to me.

    Is Apple TV+ the best streaming service? No, not even close. So I understand why people are less enthusiastic about it than some of the best shows on Netflix, Prime, Disney+, and HBO Max (we actually had Disney+ for a year and enjoyed it, but ran out of stuff we were interested in surprisingly quickly).

    Is it a good value for money? I'd say it is. One of the real values of the extended trial, however, is that you can really dig into it and see what's there. One of the reasons I think we are getting extended trials (and Apple may decide to keep going with that for frequent hardware buyers) is this is their way of acknowledging that the service is young, and the all-originals path they've chosen to take so far is a more difficult one than the mix of familiar and new that the other big players are taking. But at the same moment, this story points out that 38 percent of viewers are paying the incredibly modest cost -- that's actually a much higher figure than I'd assumed, so this is also an acknowledgement that others like me feel they are getting their $5 worth.

    If TV+ was, in its present form, charging like HBO Max and Netflix do, I'd be gone in a hot minute. But some of my favourite streaming services (admittedly my tastes wouldn't be seen as mainstream) are $5-$7 a month: AcornTV, TV+, Disney+, Britbox, AMC+, Curiosity Stream, IFC Films unlimited (please note I don't subscribe to all of these at this time; I rotate these services around). TV+ is in its present state worth that level of money to me. And of course once you've seen all you care to see on them, you can cancel at any point, maybe to come back again in a year or two. That's one of the beauties of this.
    anantksundaramcg27roundaboutnowlolliverDogpersonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 73
    glindonglindon Posts: 22member
    I have it through the Apple One plan as well so it's something like $5 more for Arcade and TV+. Right now I'm getting the 4.99 credit so it's basically free. Once the credit expires I'll cancel the One plan since I haven't found anything worth playing on Arcade and there's only Foundation and For All Mankind shows that I'm interested in watching. I'm hoping that I'll get to watch those before the free period ends. Basically what I do with any of the subscription services is wait for all the episodes to come out, subscribe for 1 month, watch all the episodes, and then cancel.
    entropysanantksundaram
  • Reply 10 of 73
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,331member
    I am still trying to get over the news 38% actually pay good money for Apple TV+.

    Leaving aside that it is very public television ( or “ Art House”. You know, commercially unsuccessful but earns ego boosting praise from the kind of people who attend all the right dinner parties) in its content so far, there just isn’t enough of it. Every now and again something is released I can binge on over a few days, then months pass. I will not be renewing my subscription when the free period ends.
    edited January 2021 ITGUYINSDmaltzanantksundaramelijahg
  • Reply 11 of 73
    neillwdneillwd Posts: 49member
    Yes, they will buy another Apple device and get another free subscription.
  • Reply 12 of 73
    ITGUYINSDITGUYINSD Posts: 553member
    neillwd said:
    Yes, they will buy another Apple device and get another free subscription.
    Obviously you've not bought an Apple device and used your ONE TIME free 1YR subscription.  You can't keep stacking free 1YR subs.

    firelockwilliamlondon
  • Reply 13 of 73
    ITGUYINSDITGUYINSD Posts: 553member
    indieshack said:
    The tiny amount of stuff I have seen on Apple TV + seems to be very high quality, it's just not aimed at me - and that's fine. Apple is dumping a ton of money into film production, creating and sustaining jobs in the industry which is great, I genuinely wish them well.

    Not sustainable.  Sure they have a few quality shows, but at the end of the day (or Quarter as it would be), they have to have more incoming than outgoing, and I don't see that happening anytime soon.
    entropyselijahgwilliamlondon
  • Reply 14 of 73
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,331member
    Needs access to all the James Bond movies.

    I don’t think the other streamers have them.
    edited January 2021
  • Reply 15 of 73
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,411member
    winstoner71 said:
    That’s their fault, not Apple’s. They offer something for everyone, and spare no expense for the quality. Most people have the attention span of a gnat so they don’t give themselves the time to actually explore how great of a service it is. 
    Haha... that's what Apple should do: diss the customer ("If you don't like us, it's your fault" :D)...

    /s
    elijahgmuthuk_vanalingamindieshackwatto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 73
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,411member

    chasm said:

    If TV+ was, in its present form, charging like HBO Max and Netflix do, I'd be gone in a hot minute.
    This says it all. TV+ can't compete. 
  • Reply 17 of 73
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,411member
    Yikes. 

    I truly hope someone serious at Apple is reading these comments. 
  • Reply 18 of 73
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,453member
    entropys said:
    I am still trying to get over the news 38% actually pay good money for Apple TV+.

    Leaving aside that it is very public television ( or “ Art House”. You know, commercially unsuccessful but earns ego boosting praise from the kind of people who attend all the right dinner parties) in its content so far, there just isn’t enough of it. Every now and again something is released I can binge on over a few days, then months pass. I will not be renewing my subscription when the free period ends.
    Or, more accurately, the programming on the whole is nothing like public television and much of it has been commercially successful. 
    lolliverwatto_cobra
  • Reply 19 of 73
    elijahgelijahg Posts: 2,876member
    winstoner71 said:
    That’s their fault, not Apple’s. They offer something for everyone, and spare no expense for the quality. Most people have the attention span of a gnat so they don’t give themselves the time to actually explore how great of a service it is. 
    It's the fault of people watching (or not) AppleTV+ that Apple produces content that's not particularly popular? Right. 
    muthuk_vanalingamentropys
  • Reply 20 of 73
    fluffheadfluffhead Posts: 55member
    I’m still on the free trial that came with my iPhone 11 and as others have said there simply isn’t enough content. I’ll be canceling after watching all of season 2 of For All Mankind 
Sign In or Register to comment.