Streaming platforms are at a critical moment in their existence. In the first years, the priority of the services was to increase their own production so as not to depend on third parties and as a tool to attract subscribers. At the same time, the number of subscribers was sold to investors as a way to measure success, even if the platform was clearly loss-making. Now, however, there is not a month without hearing the murmur of rising prices. The other day we were talking about Netflix rates, which are becoming more expensive except for the plan with advertising, and this week it is the turn of Apple TV, which goes from costing 6.99 euros per month to 9.99 euros.
The maneuver is surprising due to an idea that had spread among sector analysts. While companies like Disney or Warner Bros. Discovery need to find a way to make their streaming services profitable, since audiovisual entertainment is their main asset and the clean-up of accounts depends on it, for Apple it is a secondary line of business, a kind of whim so as not to lose a part of the technological pie. However, as Amazon Prime Video also demonstrates, which is looking closely at the extent to which money is lost with productions like The Peripheral and The Rings of Power, in the end even untouchable companies are in “we have to make money from this” mode. But is Apple TV at this point?
The simple answer is no. It is not a question of “any price increase is unacceptable” considering that, as anyone interested in the sector knows, streaming is deficient for all studios except Netflix. Furthermore, despite the mentality that we have acquired with the arrival of streaming, having access to all the content that is currently produced is not a universal right. It can even be argued that, for what it produces, Apple TV has a greater number of successes with Ted Lasso as the best example: it already has two Emmy awards for best comedy on television, an award that Netflix has not yet achieved despite its seniority
In fact, here a server can put a few titles as interesting as Ted Lasso: the unmissable trio of science fiction series that make up For All Mankind, Invasion and Foundation, the sports Swagger, thrillers like Defending Jacob, The Essex Serpent, The Luminous and Losing Alice, a gem of extraordinary beauty like Pachinko, the biopic WeCrashed, comedies like Unfiltered Therapy, Platonic, Central Park and Mythic Quest, the warlike Echo 3, the journalistic delirium of The Morning Show with Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston and Julianna Margulies, or psychological oddities like The shrink next door and Severance.
So, at this level, why is 9.99 euros an excessive price? For a simple reason: the company’s philosophy of not having a catalog, of not having a wardrobe, beyond the original series and films produced since 2019. It is a question of volume. On Netflix, even if the original proposals do not convince, you can find a classic like Suits and stay glued to the screen for more than 100 hours. On HBO Max you can watch the series Friends over and over again and on SkyShowtime you have Frasier. But at Apple, since it does not acquire veteran series for replacement in streaming, it lacks that cushion with which to retain the audience when the original production fails or cannot satisfy the subscriber’s entire thirst for entertainment.
The price of 9.99 euros may not be high for those potential customers who have not yet contracted the service: they have no shortage of eye-catching content to watch for weeks. But, for those veterans who keep Apple series up to date, perhaps amortizing these ten euros is not so easy when two, three or four episodes of series are released every week. What should the subscriber do if they are only interested in one of these series? Do you have to pay ten euros to watch four episodes a month?
Perhaps it is an excessive price when competing platforms, to overcome droughts, offer film and television classics, a notable amount of children’s content for children (here I am looking at Disney, of course), series that we could have missed overlooked in its broadcast on traditional television, third-party acquisitions or simply veteran series that we could watch over and over again. On Apple TV there is quality, yes, but it lacks volume.
