Apple Looking to License More Movies to Expand Apple TV+ Library

Apple is in active talks to license more films from major Hollywood studios as it seeks to bolster Apple TV+, according to Bloomberg.

Apple TV Plus Feature 2 Dark Teal
Apple has traditionally focused on original productions for its streaming platform, but it is increasingly looking to expand its offerings by acquiring programming from the extensive libraries of established studios, sources familiar with the matter claim. While ‌Apple TV‌+ has seen some success with original series such as "Ted Lasso" and "The Morning Show," these hits have been relatively few and far between, and the service has struggled to match the extensive catalogs of competitors like Netflix and Disney+.

‌Apple TV‌+ launched in November 2019, positioning itself as a premium service with a slate of high-quality, original content. Despite receiving critical acclaim and numerous awards, including 72 Emmy nominations this year, ‌Apple TV‌+ has not garnered the same subscriber base as its competitors. According to the research firm MoffettNathanson, only 11% of U.S. households use ‌Apple TV‌+, compared to 55% for Netflix. The limited scope of content available on ‌Apple TV‌+ is apparently seen as a significant factor contributing to its slower growth. Data from Antenna indicates that streaming services with larger content libraries, like Netflix, experience lower cancellation rates.

In an effort to address this, Apple has already begun experimenting with licensing. Earlier this year, the company licensed approximately 50 movies from Hollywood studios for its service in the United States, adding popular titles such as "Mean Girls" and "Titanic" to its catalog. The positive reception to this initial batch of licensed films is said to have encouraged Apple to pursue additional deals. These discussions aim to license even more titles, potentially expanding the service's offerings internationally as well as domestically. Simultaneously, major studios such as Warner Bros., Discovery, and Disney are increasingly open to selling their content to rivals to boost revenue.

Popular Stories

New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

10 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Thursday October 31, 2024 9:42 am PDT by
Apple is set to release iOS 18.2 in December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. There are a handful of new non-AI related feature controls incoming as well. ...
M4 Pro on Blue

M4 Pro Chip Benchmark Results Reveal an Extremely Impressive Performance Feat

Thursday October 31, 2024 7:06 pm PDT by
The first Geekbench 6 benchmark results for the M4 Pro chip surfaced today. Impressively, the results that are available so far show that the highest-end M4 Pro chip is faster than the highest-end M2 Ultra chip in terms of peak multi-core CPU performance. Here is a comparison of the results: Mac mini with M4 Pro (14-core CPU): 22,094 multi-core score (average of 11 results) Mac Studio...
Apple iPhone SE 4 5G Modem 1

iPhone SE 4 First to Get Apple-Designed 5G Modem, iPhone 17 Pro to Add Custom Wi-Fi 7 Chip

Friday November 1, 2024 4:04 am PDT by
The iPhone SE 4 that's set to come out early next year is expected to debut Apple's first in-house 5G modem, according to Jeff Pu, an analyst who covers companies within Apple's supply chain. In a research note this week with Hong Kong-based investment firm Haitong International Securities, Pu said Apple is expected to roll out its custom-made 5G modem starting with the next-generation...
best early black friday deals

The Best Early Black Friday Apple Deals

Friday November 1, 2024 8:21 am PDT by
We're officially in the month of Black Friday, which will take place on Friday, November 29 in 2024. As always, this will be the best time of the year to shop for great deals, including popular Apple products like AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment,...
M3 Pro Max vs M4 Pro Max Feature

Here's How Much Faster M4 Pro/Max Are for Graphics vs. M3 Pro/Max

Friday November 1, 2024 8:04 am PDT by
Apple's new M4 Pro and M4 Max chips are impressively fast in terms of CPU performance, topping the M2 Ultra, but what about graphics performance? The first Geekbench 6 results for GPU performance are now available for the M4 Pro and M4 Max, and the Metal scores reveal some impressive year-over-year gains. Based on the Metal scores that are available so far, the M4 Pro and M4 Max are up to...
imac video apple feature

What to Expect From Apple This November

Friday November 1, 2024 9:40 am PDT by
After a busy October in which Apple announced new Macs and Apple Intelligence launched, the calendar has now turned to November. Below, we outline what to expect from Apple this month as the slower-but-still-busy holiday season approaches. After seeding the first betas of iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2 with additional Apple Intelligence features last month, Apple will likely...
pixelmator

Apple Acquires Photo Editing App Maker Pixelmator

Friday November 1, 2024 8:41 am PDT by
Apple has reached an agreement to acquire Pixelmator, the company behind popular photo and image editing apps Pixelmator Pro, Pixelmator for iOS, and Photomator. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval, according to an announcement made by the Pixelmator team on Friday. Based in Vilnius, Lithuania, Pixelmator has developed a suite of well-regarded creative tools that compete with...

Top Rated Comments

Total Respray Avatar
15 weeks ago
It would be good if they would licence any further content worldwide and not just the US. Especially given we all pay - more or less - the same price.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
anthogag Avatar
15 weeks ago
Licensing older movies and shows that are already on other streaming services just to increase the catalog is boring.

Great shows bring customers to a platform. Apple should spend its money on trying to make or get original hit entertainment.

If they're going to licence movies get the new movies that come to streaming after playing in theatres.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HobeSoundDarryl Avatar
15 weeks ago
Just before and throughout the time that AppleTV+ has existed, multiple major studios with huge libraries have been put up for sale... often with Apple rumored to be among the bidders. Apple never "wins" such auctions if they actually are among those seriously interested.

Putting a little bit of the massive vaults of cash (or the massive Apple debt) to acquire the entire 20th Century Fox library or the entire Warner Library, or MGM, etc would have loaded AppleTV+ with abundant classic content. Apple didn't want to pay for it.

The behemoth Paramount Pictures was available in the last few months, the owner of "a mountain" of desirable content, a big library, franchise favorites, etc. How much did it cost the buyer who did buy it? A little under 3X the Beats acquisition price ('https://finance.yahoo.com/news/done-deal-paramount-global-sells-035601778.html'). Did Apple put some of that cash hoard towards buying that big bundle of content and franchises? No. Were they even rumored to be among the bidders? No. Same story every time.

Same with games. We keep running through this circular cycle of Apple being serious "now" about gaming... but when it comes to laying out the cash to buy various gaming studios to then own AAA game exclusives, Apple is often rumored among the bidders... but never actually buys. Instead, they seem to run a "build it and they will come" approach, where they roll out some interesting hardware but then expect developers to choose the "no money" approach over the "easy money" approach to developing games.

Both are easy uses for the great wells of cash or credit at Apples disposal. Instead they just sit on that cash and/or pile up more debt. Do I expect that to change? No. Apple seems to value third party content about like many of us seem to value it: they/we want the sun & the moon for nothing... but Apple to (somehow) get huge profit anyway.

Before a defender(s) fires back with something like "I'd rather Apple focus on Mac/iDevices/Software than putting money into content library acquisitions," nothing at all stops them from doing BOTH. Instead, they are doing what is apparently short-term group rentals of select content, sort of like a poor-man's Disney Vault approach... with far fewer movies & shows in rotation. You'd think it was 1997 Apple with no spare cash if you didn't know so much better.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iJulio Avatar
15 weeks ago
Makes sense. They've had a decent rotating catalogue of films recently and the streaming quality is top notch. Also, the breadth of titles they've been rotating on the service are fairly decent picks of the most popular Hollywood movies within the last decade or two.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mr Todhunter Avatar
15 weeks ago
Slow Horses series. Better of all the others combined.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NapZzz Avatar
15 weeks ago
If strange things can be watched in  TV+, that will definitely be f**king incredible.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)