A look at Apple's bad Apple TV+ strategy, including dismissing Netflix's growth, building a platform without a back-catalog, and using TV+ to boost device sales
M.G. Siegler / Spyglass : See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple's video ambitions have long been debated as a choice between content and product strategy: earlier coverage argued it should prioritize original content over premium TV hardware, while its planned service was described as a storefront for other streaming services. By 2021, TV+ was still being assessed within a crowded streaming market; this critique argues that the underlying positioning problem remains.
The key tension is whether TV+ is a standalone subscription product or a complement to Apple devices. A service built without a substantial library must rely more heavily on new releases and its role in the broader Apple ecosystem.
First-order effects
- Apple TV+ content is evaluated less as a self-sustaining streaming offering and more as a lever for device demand, changing the benchmark for its programming strategy.
- Without a substantial back-catalog, TV+ has less built-in viewing depth than library-rich services and must make its originals carry more of the service's value proposition.
Second-order effects
- Netflix's growth becomes a more consequential competitive reference point: its scale underscores the difficulty of treating a streaming service chiefly as a hardware adjunct rather than a subscription business.
- Apple faces a sharper trade-off between investing in exclusive programming to deepen TV+ engagement and preserving TV+ as a broader device-ecosystem benefit.
Third-order effects
- If large platform owners keep using video primarily to reinforce adjacent businesses, streaming competition may divide more clearly between services optimized for subscription scale and services optimized for ecosystem retention.
- That split could make catalog depth and recurring viewer engagement more important competitive assets, while raising the opportunity cost of exclusive content that does not translate into durable service usage.
The trend: Streaming is increasingly shaped by whether a service is built to maximize subscription scale or to strengthen a larger hardware-and-services ecosystem.