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.

Is your internet connection fit for video streaming? Or is your service provider throttling you every time you attempt to watch your favorite movies and TV shows? It’s now easy to find out with just your iPhone.

We’ll show you how.

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.