Despite having Emmy-nominated shows like “The Morning Show,” “Ted Lasso,” and recent standout “Presumed Innocent,” and even some Oscars love for “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “CODA,” Apple TV+ still lags when it comes to getting viewers to stick around.
Nielsen’s recent The Gauge report, which tracks American viewership over multiple formats, had Apple TV+ with a share of less than 1 percent of all TV viewership, behind even platforms like Pluto TV, Tubi, Peacock, and Paramount+. So far, Apple’s strategy has been to almost exclusively build its own library. It didn’t go out and buy a studio like Amazon did with MGM, and it doesn’t generate new hits from other studios’ old shows and movies the way Netflix does. They’ve held firm on their strategy since launching in 2019.
All that may be changing. Bloomberg is reporting Apple is in talks with major Hollywood studios to license more older films to fill out their streamer.
Apple TV+ had been dabbling with offering classic films as part of their service this year, with Martin Scorsese films like “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “The Departed” popping up around the time “Killers of the Flower Moon” dropped and other fan favorites like “Mean Girls” and “Con Air” making appearances on the app as well.
However, all those offerings were temporary. The Bloomberg story hints at a shift in strategy for Apple’s streamer, and all these movies popping on the streamer could be looked at as a beta test for whether a wider, non-original film selection would draw a larger crowd.
A representative for Apple did not respond to our request for comment.
Apple could quite easily buy a studio and library if it wanted and build up its library that way. But so far it has experimented with teaming up with individual studios on its recent theatrical releases. That strategy has seen mixed results. For example, earlier this year, Matthew Vaughn’s heavily marketed “Argylle,” which was budgeted at $200 million, earned only $96.2 million at the box office. Their most recent outing, the Scarlett Johansson/Channing Tatum period rom-com “Fly Me to the Moon,” distributed in partnership with Sony, fell way short of expectations with only $10 million on its opening weekend against an estimated budget of $100 million. Up next it has “Wolfs” with Brad Pitt and George Clooney and “F1” from director Joseph Kosinski also starring Pitt.
Even with slam dunk original content, Apple may finally be realizing it needs reliable older hits if it wants to compete in the world of streaming.
