Apple TV Plus is reportedly losing $1 billion per year
Apple TV Plus is losing more than $1 billion every year despite reaching 45 million subscribers in 2024, according to a report from The Information. It’s reportedly the only Apple subscription that isn’t generating a profit.
As part of an effort to take “a harder line on spending,” Apple cut its initial $5 billion budget for Apple TV Plus content by around $500 million, The Information reports. Even with hit original shows like Severance, Apple TV currently captures less than 1 percent of total monthly streaming services viewership, as opposed to Netflix’s 8.2 percent, according to data from Nielsen cited by The Information.
But, as noted by The Information, Apple TV Plus was largely created to keep people in the Apple ecosystem. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos touched on the strategy behind Apple TV Plus during an interview with Variety this week, saying “I don’t understand it beyond a marketing play, but they’re really smart people. Maybe they see something we don’t,” he said.
Apple TV Plus is part of the company’s broader services business, which makes Apple billions of dollars each year through iCloud Plus, App Store purchases, and search advertising. Sources also told The Information that Apple Music, which reportedly reached 100 million users on subscriptions and free trials last year, has seen a slowdown in growth.
Apple News Plus, Fitness Plus, and Apple Arcade also “struggle with low usage and profits,” while sales of digital books have taken a dip as well, The Information reports. Sources tell the outlet that if these services weren’t included in the company’s Apple One bundle, which people mostly buy for iCloud Plus, they “likely wouldn’t be profitable.” Apple reportedly laid off around 100 people in its News and Books division last year.
The Verge reached out to Apple with a request for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.