Stephen Silver
According to a new digital media trends survey, Americans spend more than $2 billion per month on streaming subscriptions, and Apple appears ready to capture some of that in the near future with its aggressive content creation moves.
The 12th edition of Deloitte's Digital Media Trends Survey found that 55 percent of U.S. households now subscribe to at least one streaming service, and the average streaming video subscriber is paying for three services.
Also, more than 48 percent of U.S. consumers stream television content either every day or weekly, a number that was just 37 percent last year. And those subscribing to specific services are largely driven to do so by exclusive content.
The news from the survey bodes well for Apple's ambitious content plans, as it shows a consumer trend towards getting streaming content from more than one source. Whatever form Apple's plans take, it won't necessarily mean customers bailing on Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime. It's also likely that a lot of those streams are using the Apple TV to do so, although the survey isn't broken down by device.
"Consumers now enjoy unparalleled freedom in selecting media and entertainment options and their expectations are at an all-time high," Kevin Westcott, vice chairman and U.S. media and entertainment leader, Deloitte LLP and author of the survey said in the announcement. "The rapid growth of streaming services and high quality original content has created a significant opportunity to monetize the on-demand environment in 2018."
The survey also drew conclusions about generational approaches to content, finding that more than 60 percent of Gen Xers — most of whom are now older than 40 — stream movies.
Apple's Eddy Cue talked about Apple 's still relatively amorphous content plans at the South by Southwest festival last month. Cue stated that Apple is "all in" on content, although he stated that, contrary to Netflix, "we're not after quantity, we're after quality."
Apple so far has announced a handful of high-profile projects, including a drama starring A-listers Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston, a partnership with rapper Drake and "Central Park," a new animated musical series from the creator of "Bob's Burgers."
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18 Comments
I don't see any discernible, organized strategy here by Apple. It seems like a mishmash of random shows. Apple does not bring any competitive advantage or internal expertise to this space
I think it is a waste of time, focus and $. Lot of other folks are already spending billions creating content and they are all already in the App store
Whatever Apple comes up with I’m confident it will be met with abject negativity and disparagement in the tech tabloids. Another day, another Apple failure... only on tech blogs of course. In the real world real people will at least give it a chance.
I’m wondering what the content delivery will consist of. Will it be an app on the ATV? Surely not iTunes? Will there be an additional fee over Apple Music? Probably. Or will it be a single price for everything like Prime? If $99/yr buys you music and shows I think most real people (not tech blog naysayers, see above and below) will be on board.
I don't understand this foray for them, they need be focused on the platform and content delivery. Arguably the people involved in this aren't any of the same people so it isn't a diversion of efforts, but it is still a use of money that may not not pan out.
Maybe this is their way of trying to strong-arm uncooperative and ungrateful content providers like Netflix who aren't doing their part to make their app's experience on Apple as good as it could be.
Personally I think Apple should just outdo Netflix with their own subscription service for video, and buy them out of existence if need be. I want to see better content delivery on Apple platforms. Better UI, better feature adoption, better everything.