As noted by RapidTV News, the industry has already placed huge expectation on the November launches of Apple TV+ and Disney+ but research from IHS Markit warns that such direct-to-consumer services will likely encounter limited subscriber growth compared with competitive offerings.
The Apple TV+ streaming service is due to launch Nov. 1 at a price of $4.99 per month. However, you can get a free year’s subscription with the purchase of a new iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV. Add in those devices and the fact that some manufacturers of smart TVs (such as Samsung, Samsung, and LG are building in support for Apple tech such as AirPlay 2 and HomeKit) gives Apple TV+ a potential addressable base of more than 70 million households in the US, totaling 57% of homes in the country.
However this means that Apple’s app will initially address only about half of the total U.S. market and, just like Disney with its upcoming Disney+ streaming service, will front up to rivals that have a wider reach. IHS Markit says that for Apple, this could come as a major disadvantage, as various services vie for screen time on the massive number of devices now capable of media streaming.
The research group calculates that a total of 11.5 billion video-streaming-ready products are expected to be connected to the Internet worldwide in 2023, up from 8.9 billion in 2018.
By contrast, Netflix already reaches 95% of US households and the analyst expects Disney+ to address 92%. These services are available on a much broader set of platforms. However, IHS Markit stressed that the growth of Disney+ will be driven by its availability on Android mobile devices and that by excluding this, the addressable market for Disney+ shrinks due to a lack of smart-TV partnerships.
