Apple Looking to Overhaul Services with Priority on Streaming, Sports, Advertising
Apple sets its sights on streaming and advertising for future revenue.
Senior Vice President of Services at Apple, Eddy Cue, is planning a significant overhaul of the company’s $76 billion services business. Looking to the future, Cue’s goal is for the iPhone company to put a higher priority on services such as streaming and advertising, both of which have proved incredibly lucrative for Apple in recent years.
According to Business Insider, Cue has begun reshuffling the management structure within Apple’s Services branch allowing top executives to focus on expanding both streaming and advertising.
While it is clear that the company is looking to fuel future growth with additional investments of both money and resources, Apple’s venture into streaming has been incredibly fruitful for the company thus far. In addition to becoming the first streaming service to win the Academy Award for Best Picture with “CODA,” Apple TV+ is also the home of some of streaming’s most critically acclaimed shows including “Ted Lasso,” “The Morning Show,” “Severance,” and “Pachinko.” The streamer also recently added its first live sports property with Major League Baseball coverage on Friday nights.
Now, the streaming service is rumored to be setting its sights on even more sports broadcasting rights as the company has reportedly nabbed the rights to the NFL’s Sunday Ticket and is pursuing future rights for the NBA as well.
The addition of more live sports on Apple would allow the company to monetize the high-demand content in a major way. Apple would presumably see the benefit of increased subscribers — especially for the Sunday Ticket — as well as additional revenue from a potential add-on sports package, and of course additional advertising revenue across live broadcasts.
The company already offers a good deal of services to consumers with its current catalog including the App Store, Apple Music, iCloud, AppleCare, Apple Pay, Apple News, AppleTV+, and advertising.
While the company may be best known for its hardware with products such as the iPhone and the MacBook, Apple’s services business has seen exponential growth. Apple Services grew by 17% in its last quarter, making the business worth an estimated $19.8 billion. The company boasts 825 million paying subscribers worldwide across its different services.
Apple Services is a more significant part of the company’s portfolio than many may think. In fact, if it were a standalone company, it would be the 113th largest company on the Fortune 500 list.
As the world’s largest company continues to invest more and more in the world of streaming, it will undoubtedly change the face of streaming
Apple TV+
Apple TV+ is a subscription video streaming service for $9.99 a month that includes high-quality original shows and movies including Best Picture winner “CODA,” popular sitcom “Ted Lasso,” and dramas like “The Morning Show” and “Severance.” Apple TV+ is also home to MLB baseball games on Friday nights and MLS Season Pass.