TV+: Apple's streaming service allegedly a massive loss-making business
According to a report, the losses at TV+ amount to more than one billion US dollars per year. Apple's other subscription services are also reportedly weakening.
(Image: Sebastian Trepesch)
TV- instead of TV+: Despite major cost-cutting measures, Apple's video streaming service remains in the red, according to a report. Losses now amount to over one billion US dollars per year, as The Information reported on Thursday, citing informed persons. According to estimates by industry analysts, TV+ had around 40 million subscribers at the end of 2024, putting it far behind competitors such as Netflix (over 300 million subscribers) and Disney+ (over 120 million subscribers). Apple has not yet provided any specific subscription or revenue figures for its in-house services.
First cost-cutting measures for TV+
According to the report, the company spends over 5 billion US dollars annually on the production of content and had calculated extremely high losses over the first ten years when launching the streaming service.
At the same time, the company has obviously started to cut costs in the past year: Apple boss Tim Cook and other top managers had been a thorn in the side of high expenses, including, for example, costs for private jets to transport stars and costly feature film productions, which ultimately met with little interest. The Group already adjusted its cinema strategy last year: The film "Wolfs", which featured a high-profile cast including the duo Brad Pitt and George Clooney, was not given a theatrical debut - much to the annoyance of the director.
TV+ productions can boast a long list of nominations and awards, which the Apple boss is also happy to point out. There are also two clear hits in a row: Ted Lasso and Severance. According to information from The Information, Apple's other subscription services are also weakening: Music, Arcade, Fitness+ and News+ are profitable in contrast to TV+, but only to a manageable extent. In addition, there is hardly any growth and the usage figures for Arcade and News+ are also low.
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Allegedly hardly any growth in Apple's services
Apple's Services division is the only segment of the Group that is still showing significant growth. However, a large part of this is contributed by revenue from the increasingly controversial App Store commissions and the billion-euro search deal with Google.
Even in its sixth year, it remains unclear what strategy Apple is pursuing with this business. The industry is also still puzzling over TV+ & Co. He simply doesn't understand it "apart from the marketing aspect", Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos recently said in an interview with Variety magazine, but there are "really smart people" at work, "maybe they see something we can't see". Some Apple services are linked to Apple's hardware, but TV+ is available across all platforms and an Android app has recently been launched.
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