Apple TV+ Doubles Total Hours Consumed in 2023; ‘The Family Plan’ Becomes No. 1 Movie in Service’s History
Apple doesn’t share much in the way of viewership metrics or other data, but things change when there’s good news to reveal.
Hard data is hard to come by from Apple. The company is well-known for keeping its numbers to itself, but it recently decided to pull back the curtain just a bit on its streaming operations. A new Deadline-exclusive report is outlining which 2023 releases are having the most success for Apple TV+, which has seen viewership rise 42% year-over-year.
- Apple TV+ has doubled total hours consumed year-over-year as compared to 2022.
- The new Mark Wahlberg comedy “The Family Plan” is now the service’s most-viewed movie of all time.
- New titles like “Lessons in Chemistry,” “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” and “Messi Meets America” are all driving impressive growth at the service.
Apple on the Rise
Companies like Apple don’t mind revealing some statistics when things are going well, and it appears that’s exactly the case currently. The company revealed to Deadline that it has doubled the total number of hours consumed on Apple TV+ has doubled year-over-year since Dec. 2022, driven by titles like “Ted Lasso,” “Hijack” and more. That’s especially impressive considering the platform released fewer originals in 2023 than it did in 2022; 50 this year, as opposed to 56 last year.
Mark Wahlberg’s new comedy film “The Family Plan” debuted on Apple TV+ on Dec. 15, and in just one week has become the most-watched movie in Apple TV+ history. It has de-throned the Chris Evans-Ana de Armas action-comedy “Ghosted” to claim that prize; “Ghosted” was released in April.
Other top recent performers on Apple TV+ include “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters,” which is the No. 1 first-season drama premiere on the platform, and the Brie Larson-led “Lessons in Chemistry,” which is the top limited series on Apple TV+ to date. “Messi in America” is on its way to becoming the top unscripted sports series in the platform’s history, which is hardly surprising given the impact he made on MLS ratings when he joined the league.
Gary Oldman’s series “Slow Horses” recently released its third season, and its ratings in the United Kingdom are up 65% over Season 2’s numbers. Its Emmy-winning sci-fi drama “For All Man Kind” has also boosted its ratings in its fourth season as compared to Season 3, rounding out the list of top performers of 2023 for Apple.
What Wasn’t Included in Apple’s Data Dump?
Unsurprisingly, Apple’s release of data surrounding the year’s successes left some big numbers out of the equation. The biggest is its global Apple TV+ subscriber total, which Apple has never revealed publicly and probably never will.
The release was a far cry from Netflix’s recent decision to unveil hours viewed on nearly all of its titles in the first half of 2023. That allowed users to see Netflix’s triumphs and its failures, and though that report also was missing some key context it was a massive step forward in the name of streaming data transparency.
Viewers shouldn’t expect Apple to join with Netflix in revealing so much data about itself and will have to content themselves with the nuggets reported to Deadline this week. Nevertheless, Apple’s ability to double the amount of time consumed on Apple TV+ during the year is impressive, particularly in light of the fact that it released six fewer originals in 2023 than it did in 2022.
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.