Hi there! My name is Janko Roettgers, and this is Lowpass. This week: Why Apple TV is different.
Courtesy of Apple
HBO Now wanted to be Netflix, so Apple TV became HBO
Severance. Pachinko. Silo. Ted Lasso. Over the past couple of years, a number of Apple TV shows have become hits with audiences and critics alike. And yet, compared to the size of other subscription services, Apple TV still barely makes a dent.
In Nielsen’s most recent The Gauge report, Apple’s service failed once again to make the top 10 list of most-used streaming services, suggesting that its audience is smaller than not just that of Netflix and Disney Plus, but also Tubi, HBO Max, and The Roku Channel.
New data released by subscription insights startup Antenna last week suggests that this may not be a contradiction at all: Engagement with Apple’s video services is heavily driven by a few anchor shows, according to Antenna’s new State of Subscriptions report, whereas Netflix viewing is spread out much more across a wider range of titles.
Courtesy of Antenna
The report estimates that 32 percent of what the company classifies as heavy viewers watched the Apple TV show Shrinking in March of this year, while 31 percent watched the action series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. On Netflix, only War Machine was watched by 25 percent of heavy viewers, while all other titles remained below the 20-percent mark.
“Big scripted hits anchor heavy viewership on Apple TV,” the report notes. “Netflix Heavy Viewers spread across the slate, signaling breadth of engagement rather than concentration.”
A few tentpole titles that get people hooked and become cultural moments: That’s a model premium cable networks like FX, HBO, and Showtime relied on for decades. It’s also something a number of video subscription services briefly tried to replicate in the streaming age as they aimed to compete with Netflix.