Report: Apple to beef up Apple TV+ catalogue with licensed content

The ‘originals only’ approach is apparently not enough in a highly competitive market. Jason Cross reports

A new report from Bloomberg claims

Apple is changing up its strategy for the Apple TV+ streaming service. Until now, Apple has pitched the service as only for original content you can’t find anywhere else. Now, according to the report, it will bolster its original series and movies with a bit of licensed content.

On page 78, you can see a six-month check-in with the service, which launched on November 1, 2019. After watching nearly everything Apple TV+ offers, we concluded that the overall quality is fine, and the price is competitive (£4.99 per month and a year free with most new Apple device purchases), but the volume of content makes it hard to justify.

Competitors, from Netflix to Amazon to Disney+, make their name on original content but add value with tens of thousands of hours of licensed content.

The report cites “people familiar with the matter” and states that Apple has taken pitches from Hollywood studios about licensing older content. The company has bought some shows and movies, but don’t expect a massive catalogue of hits. The report clarifies that Apple TV+ will remain focused on original shows and movies, and that Apple has not yet licensed any “huge franchises or blockbusters”.

The report does not state when Apple would add its licensed content to the service, but it does say that Apple TV+ had about 10 million subscribers in January, only about half of which were active users. This puts it miles behind rivals such as Netflix and Disney+.