Apple increased the monthly price of its video streaming service three times in three years – even so, the subscriber count has been growing faster than we suspected.
The rumor was for 45 million subscribers. However, Apple Services SVP Eddy Cue appeared on Hollywood-focused podcast The Town and stated that the actual subscriber count is “significantly more than that”. However, Cue refused to give a specific number.
Based on numbers from FlixPatrol, the rumored 45 million count would have put the newly renamed Apple TV service just above Peacock’s 41 million. For what it’s worth, the estimated number on this chart is only 30 million, so the numbers could be well off the mark.
Top video streaming services, data by FlixPatrol
Growing a video subscription service isn’t easy at the best of times, but Apple has it harder than most. Netflix had a big head start, while other streaming services are attached to big Hollywood studios with big libraries of existing content. Apple had to start from scratch.
The global pandemic and the writers’ strike didn’t help matters either. Here’s what Cue had to say:
“Look, it’s a lot harder than it looks,” he said of building a subscriber base with original shows and movies and without a legacy library of content, adding: “I didn’t forecast being out of production for a year and a half, I didn’t forecast a nine-month strike from that standpoint, so we were a little further behind than where I’d like to be. But where we are today is great.”
