Some pundits don’t think Apple TV+ is doing very well (read this and this), but Wedbush analyst Dan Ives thinks Apple’s streaming video service currently has between 30 million and 40 million subscribers.
He admits that most subscribers are taking advantage of the year’s free subscription thrown in because they bought a new iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV. However, the analyst feels confident that most will remain subscribers and pay US$4.99/month when their free year is up.
Cult of Mac reports that, in an email to clients sent Thursday and seen by, Ives said that with an installed base of around 925 million active iPhone users worldwide, Apple has the opportunity to gain 100 million subscribers in the next three to four years. That would put Apple TV+ adoption ahead of Apple Music when judged on a year-by-year basis. Apple Music hit 40 million subscribers in April 2018.
One hundred million subscribers would also put Apple head of Disney+, which reportedly now has 50 million subscribers.
Ives says that Apple has built a “compelling list” of shows for Apple TV+ and is spending around $6 billion per year to create new content. The analyst also thinks there’s a good chance that the tech could buy a movie studio.
