Apple TV+ is a small player in the streaming video service competition with only 4% of the U.S. market. Still, it’s beating out some rivals even if it’s well behind the front runners.
The service has reportedly been growing throughout 2021 … not a claim all its competitors can make.
Apple TV+ trails Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ and more
In the third quarter of 2021, Apple TV+ had 4% of the U.S. streaming video market, according to data from JustWatch. And while that’s fairly low, it’s share of the market is up 1%. “Apple TV+ has been growing steadily since February,” notes Kate Yeazel from JustWatch.
Netflix is on top with 27% of the market in the September quarter, but its share dropped by 1%. Amazon Prime Video is at 21%, Disney+ is at 14%, Hulu sits at 13% and HBO Max has 10% of the U.S. streaming video market. The latter’s share of the market grew by 1%.
This data comes from JustWatch, an international streaming guide with over 20 million users per month across 60 countries. Apple doesn’t reveal how many subscribers its streaming service has, nor viewership for its individual movies and shows. The same is true for most of the market. It’s therefore up to analysts to figure out how the competitors stack up.
In a related story, Nielsen Streaming Content Ratings says the Season 2 finale of Ted Lasso on Apple TV+ was one of the top 10 most watched shows on all subscription video services the week it premiered, according to Variety.
Apple working to up its game
Apple TV+ launched on Nov. 1 2019. In the two years since then it’s premiered a dozen movies and almost 50 TV series, plus a collection of documentaries.
It uses a different strategy from all its streaming rivals. Just about everything is original content — with only a handful of exceptions, Apple doesn’t buy shows and films that have already played somewhere else.
And the company is investing heavily in creating new content. As just a few examples, it recently introduced the series Foundation and Swagger, and recently premiered Finch starring Tom Hanks.
