Disney+ no longer accepts user subscriptions through the App Store. This change also applies to Hulu. Instead, Disney and Hulu redirect users to their respective websites to sign up for a subscription.
The move is about commission fees, not technology.
Apple TV+ made up 8% of the U.S. streaming market in the third quarter, down slightly from the previous quarter, according to analysts.
While only a modest drop, the streaming service had been just behind some of its rivals, including Disney+ and Hulu. It’s now farther back.
The cost of streaming Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ goes up this autumn. The three streaming video services are ready to watch on Mac, iPad, iPhone or Apple TV. It’ll just cost a bit more in a few months.
The new prices could be important to those currently getting these services free or cheaply by sharing passwords. Disney CEO Bob Iger warned that a crackdown on the practice starts soon.
For $16.99 a month, it’s now possible to subscribe to Disney+, Hulu and Max. That’s a 53% savings for the popular streaming services. The cost almost doubles for advertising-free versions, though.
The three are ready to watch on Mac, iPad, iPhone or Apple TV.
Thursday’s move is part of a recent trend toward bundling. Apple TV+ got on the bandwagon in May, joining in with Netflix and Peacock.
Apple TV+ may not pack in as many movies and TV shows as other major streaming platforms, but what it showcases rates highest for quality on IMDb, according to a new report.
Apple TV+ tops quality ratings in 19 genre categories on the movie-database site, including drama, comedy, action, biography and children’s content. But its relatively small catalogue helps keep it from ranking high on value for its price.
With the writers and actors strikes now over if tentative agreements hold, Netflix plans to raise its ad-free streaming subscription price soon, joining other streaming platforms in doing so, a report said Tuesday.
Disney will soon hike the monthly subscription price of its streaming service almost 40%. When Disney+ first launched, it was one of the cheapest streaming streaming services. Not for much longer.
The company also increased the cost of Hulu and ESPN+.
Hulu today joined the list of third-party video streaming services that offer SharePlay support on iPhone and iPad.
Its latest app update gives viewers the ability to enjoy movies and TV shows with their friends over FaceTime while everyone stays in sync. It also adds the ability to easily switch between channels for Live TV users.
Apple TV+ garners 5% of the U.S. streaming video market, according to a company that follows the industry. While that makes Apple TV+ a small player, the service started 2021 with just a 3% share, so the year saw significant growth.
Its two largest rivals, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, saw drops in their shares of the streaming market in 2021.
Almost every video streaming service except Apple TV+ is selling your data to third-party companies and tracking your viewing habits for targeted ads. A new report from Common Sense Media exposes the loose privacy policies employed by most streaming providers, including Amazon and Netflix.
“Many viewers know that free streaming apps are most likely selling their personal information, but most viewers may not know that most paid sub‐ scription streaming apps are also selling users’ data,” warns the report.
A year and a half in, Apple TV+ remains something of a black box. Ever since the streaming video service’s launch in November 2019, Cupertino has refused to reveal hard data about just how well Apple TV+ is doing.
In some respects, the future looks promising. Apple TV+ continues to add high-profile projects to its production queue. Apple TV+ shows and movies continue to rack up awards. And upcoming originals like an epic sci-fi adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation and the second season of surprise hit Ted Lasso are generating buzz.
Plus, with the original one-year free trials ending — and new free Apple TV+ trials slashed to just three months — the $4.99-a-month streaming service seems increasingly confident about its value proposition for viewers.
Still, the Apple TV+ library continues to be dwarfed by rivals like Netflix and Disney+.
So what does the future hold? And what does “success” look like for Apple TV+ anyway? Cult of Mac asked the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a pseudonymous entertainment executive who writes about the business, how Apple TV+ is faring and what to expect next. His responses have been lightly edited for clarity.
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Apple has hired a former executive who worked for shortform video service Quibi, in addition to Hulu and Disney, to work on growing its video-focused endeavors.
Spotted by the UK’s Telegraph newspaper, Tim Connolly recently updated his LinkedIn profile to reflect his job at Apple. It’s not evident exactly when he started working in the new role.
Apple TV+ has just a tiny fraction of the U.S. streaming video market, according to a market-research firm. Even nine months after its launch, it’s well behind well-established rivals like Netflix and even the other newcomer, Disney+.
If you thought life during COVID-19 lockdown seems awful, trust me — it’s got nothing on Gilead. That’s the fictional setting of The Handmaid’s Tale, a riveting dystopian TV show that’s racked up awards for Hulu since its 2017 debut on the streaming service.
I’ve burned my way through the first season, and I can’t take my eyes off this terrifying vision of a perverted future.
Apple TV+ won an accolade no one wants: it’s the streaming video service viewers are most likely to cancel once it stops being free.
Still, satisfaction with Apple’s offering is fairly high, according to survey results revealed on Friday. But people like almost all its competitors more.
Apple TV+ is about to get even more competition in the form of a new streaming service currently in development by ViacomCBS.
Now that the Viacom and CBS merger was approved at the end of 2019, a new report claims company execs are plotting a way to combine the current CBS All Access service with Viacom’s assets, among which are Paramount’s trove of over 3,600 movies.
The Walt Disney Company just unleashed its first quarterly earnings report for 2020 revealing that its Disney+ streaming service is off to an impressive start.
Paid subscribers for Disney+ more than doubled from 10 million during the first week of availability, to 26.5 million users by the end of 2019. CEO Bob Iger said the service has continued growing since then and currently has 28.6 million subscribers as of today.
Executives at AT&T have quickly learned that building a streaming service to compete with Apple TV+ and Netflix isn’t going to be cheap. During the company’s latest earnings call, AT&T revealed that it has already lost $1.2 billion during the creation process of HBO Max that is set to launch this May.
A new analyst report suggests 33.6 million customers were ready and waiting to subscribe to Apple TV+ before its November launch and estimates that number could grow to 40 million subscribers by the end of this year.
If accurate, the numbers from TV industry market analyst Ampere Analysis would put Apple TV+ ahead of Hulu and Disney+, and already at more than 50% of Netflix in the United States.
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It is finally possible to download Hulu content for offline viewing on iOS. The new feature is available today in the latest Hulu update. But there is a catch.
A former Netflix and Hulu executive thinks that Apple TV+ has a good shot at holding its own against its streaming TV rivals.
Despite the increasingly crowded streaming landscape, Simon Gallagher said that Apple is making all the right moves for success.
Apple TV+ and Netflix are about to get some serious competition from Disney’s upcoming streaming bundle that will combine three services into one.
Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed to investors during the company’s third-quarter earnings call today that customers will be able to get Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ for $12.99, the same price as Netflix.
AT&T is ready to sweeten the deal for some of its monthly subscribers by offering free Spotify premium as of its new entertainment perks.
The carrier revealed its new entertainment perks today that also gives customers the option to choose HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Starz or Pandora as their free entertainment options. Even if you don’t have a qualifying wireless plan, you can still get some other Spotify perks.