Apple TV Plus risks becoming like every other streaming service

OPINION: Well, I suppose it was never going to last. Noises emerging from Hollywood indicate that Apple’s big bet on video streaming is going to need some plasters applied to stop it from leaking more money.

The first news came last week when a rumour that’s been bouncing around for a while emerged again, with the suggestion that Apple was once again looking at licensing content from Hollywood studios to help beef up its offering and retain subscribers.

And then the news week was that Apple was potentially looking at adding an ad-funded tier, following in the footsteps of Netflix and Disney+ in adding the tier years after the service actually launched.

I’m sure there’ll be people around who say (or type) that the first bit of news is long overdue, and perhaps plenty more who aren’t fond of the second round of news, especially as Apple TV+ has gone up in price in the last couple of years, and an ad-funded tier might signal yet another price hike for the main tier.

If either comes to fruition, I’ll be disappointed.

When Apple TV+ launched, it tried to do something different – still within the Apple wheelhouse (so lots of stars) – but the focus on original content was a novel idea when so many other studios and streaming services were just regurgitating and replaying the hits.

But obviously it hasn’t worked out for many reasons. Despite the high production values and the general good quality of Apple’s original content, it hasn’t had many word-of-mouth hits. Arguably Ted Lasso was its biggest, but even then, people found its approach to comedy weird, expecting more laugh-out-loud moments than the sometimes contemplative, issue-led series we did get.

I’ve also liked the recent Dark Matter; I just finished the entire series of See (which is a lot of fun), and there is of course Slow Horses and Hijack (perhaps the only other big word-of-mouth hits on the service), Foundation, Trying, For All Mankind, and Severance.

And there have been misses – plenty of them, as you’d expect from a streaming service finding its way. Echo 3 was a daft military thriller, Liaison was dull, no one remembers the Steven Spielberg-produced Amazing Stories, and We Crashed pretty much did as the title said when it launched.

And like other video streaming services, Apple TV+ seems to struggle badly with making memorable (or just plain good) films. Argyle was a flop, Fingernails was underwhelming, and Ghosted was forgettable. The service did win the first Best Picture Academy Award with Coda, but aside from a few more films such as Killers of the Flower Moon, it hasn’t really asserted itself as an awards player.

It’d be a shame if Apple TV+ travels the same well-travelled ground as the other streamers, and despite Apple thinking that it might stem the (financial) bleeding, I reckon it’ll make Apple TV+ yet another homogenous service. Apple has made a rod for its back with its lavish spending, with word recently emerging that episodes of Severance cost in the region of $20million.

Friends (again…)

The original programming might be seen as a gimmick, but it encouraged new ideas and risks that traditional Hollywood studios haven’t been interested in for a while. It obviously made it different from other streaming services, but it almost seemed as if the lack of familiarity with its library was what kept people away from subscribing to it.

Who really wants to see Friends for the umpteenth time or simply wants to have The Bing Bang Theory on in the background while they work? I think we all want to be engaged by good stories, even better with stories that we haven’t seen before, but we don’t make it easy for ourselves by seemingly demanding the very familiar rather than what’s new.

After all, if Apple TV+ can’t seem to catch a break in doing something new – a streaming service from one of the wealthiest companies in the world – what hope does the future of TV have?