According to a recent report presented by CBN, Apple has claimed that its TV+ service had less than 20 million subscribers in the US and Canada as of July and this claim has been made to pay production crew lower rates than streamers with more subscriptions.
These claims were made by the Cupertino giant to the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, which is a union representing TV and movie workers who perform jobs like operating cameras and building sets.
Apple launched its streaming service, Apple TV+ back in 2019, and since then the Cupertino-based tech giant has never once shared its subscriber numbers. Just a few weeks ago, The Information said that “a person with known of the numbers” that an analyst estimate of around 40 million subscribers is “roughly accurate as of this summer,” with half of those subscribers paying for the service and the other half on a free trial of some sort.
However, if the numbers are accurate then the U.S. and Canada account’s for almost 50% of all subscribers of Apple TV+. If we compare these numbers with other streaming services like Netflix claimed 209 million subscribers as of Q2, and Disney+ claimed 116 million, way more than Apple TV+.
“Under the current contract, high-budget productions intended for streaming can offer lower rates to workers if the streaming service has less than 20 million subscribers in the U.S. and Canada, which is determined on July 1 every year. Apple told IATSE that it had less than 20 million subscribers, a union spokesman said.”
“The union is currently in negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producer over a new contract particularly new form of media, and companies that bankroll streaming productions should pay rates closer to traditional media productions.”
