There ’s more to life than money , and heaven knows Apple is n’t short of a dollar sign or two . So when I hear that the company ’s TV+ streaming serve is lose $ 1 billion a yr , my first response is n’t shock , but intrigue . Is TV+ deserving all that lost cash ? On reflection , I think it is .
At the time of writing , there ’s considerable excitement in the Price home ahead of theSeveranceS2 close . By the clip you read this article , that inflammation will have been replaced by other emotions : sadness ; loss ; confusion about the relevancy of those goats ; a recondite sense of satisfaction at a story ( hopefully ) well told ; ire at structural missteps and ( potentially ) unresolved plot threads ; and aggravation at the inevitable cliffhanger . But above all , we will be calculate down the days — hopefully not years — until the third time of year .
rupture , by any metric , has been a striking . Despite the on the face of it corner premise , the show is getting plenty of watcher : in FebruaryDeadlinereported it had log 589 million minutes viewed in the U.S. and at one point ranked # 4 on Nielsen . We already eff it ’s surpassedTed Lassoas the most - watch serial in Apple TV+ account , but those are telling numbers for a show on any program .
Unlike most high - viewership shows , it ’s also almost universally liked ( with the caveat that quite a few masses suppose the 2nd season has n’t been as good as the first ) . Even accounting for that slight dip it still has a 96 pct overall critic rating onRotten Tomatoes , not to mention 14 Emmy nomination . It get people talk around the water cooler and has its own subreddit . The Guardian calls it acultural juggernaut .
If you ’ve seen the show and noted its product values and austerely grand set design , you wo n’t be surprised to hear that all this winner and idolization comes at a cost . Severanceis one of the most expensive TV projection ever commissioned , with costsreportedlyexceeding $ 20 million per episode .
Apple has spared no disbursement , a seeming trend with Apple TV+ content . Overall , it ’s estimated byThe Informationthat Apple is losing $ 1 billion a year from its swarm business sector .
That ’s a sight of money , and if this was any other company the warning signal Alexander Bell should be sounding . But since we ’re talking about Apple , I ’ll say two things : the company can afford it and it ’s totally deserving it .
Apple does n’t unravel ads on the TV+ platform , at least not yet , so you ca n’t really ascribe revenue direct to one show or another . ( Product placement could be a direct source of taxation , but TV+ record run to plug Apple ’s own products rather than take money for plugging those by other company , andSeverancedoesn’t have any obvious product placement at all . )
Severancewas never going to be a profitable project in any easy definable way . But it in spades generates money , mainly by being such a cultural behemoth that people sign up to TV+ for join the conversation . It ’s been suggest that the showhas take in Apple $ 200Min new sign - ups , and while I ’d serve a pinch of common salt with that figure , it gives us a ballpark sentiency of how important a tentpole collision can be to a streaming political platform .
ButSeveranceand other prisonbreak TV+ hit are deserving far more to Apple than the money they bring in . For one affair , they are part of the pin I’vewritten aboutrepeatedly over the past mates of days , the process by which the company moves aside from making most of its money from selling iPhones and into selling other things to iPhone owners . A someone own an iPhone makes them more susceptible to paying for matter like TV+ ( and Apple Music , Arcade , Fitness+ , and so on ) , but the reverse is also true : a person who likesSeveranceis more potential to at least count corrupt an iPhone .
Like the iPod in the former 2000s , a cyclosis hit can playact as lure for the intact Apple ecosystem . pass $ 20 M on an installment is worth it if only a few hundred thousand mass watch out that episode and end up as lifelong Apple client .
Apple is more than a company that designs and sells earphone and computers . It ’s a lifestyle make , and its fortunes depend on being perceived in a picky way . If it commence to be perceived as abullying monopolistor ahyperbolic promise - breakerthen that damages its persona and its power to resonate with customers . And , conversely , if a few successful television set shows can make Apple seem charming and folksy ( Ted Lasso ) , funny and disaffected ( Bad Sisters ) , genteel and literate ( Pachinko ) , misanthropical and flatulent ( Slow Horses ) , or weird and smart ( rupture ) then that buys invaluable reputational benefits .
More broadly speaking , Apple stands to profit simply by bring practiced artwork into existence . The company do work this angle to a certain extent when the TV+-distributed movieCODAwon three Oscars , and I find its attempt to horn in on the plauditsmildly distastefulsince the movie had been made and even premiered at Sundance before Apple got involved . But with appearance likeSeverance , Apple can rightly take to be a cultural force-out for good .
Speaking toVarietylast workweek , Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos said he was confused by Apple TV+ and did n’t really see the point . “ I do n’t understand it beyond a selling shimmer , ” he enounce . “ But they ’re really smart people . perchance they see something we do n’t . ” Netflix does n’t have a wider brand name ecosystem like Apple , so of course Sarandos does n’t understand . If you ’re Netflix , you measure the success of a show by the number of subscriptions it drive versus the money it cost . But when you ’re in the repute business concern like Apple , you get to spiel a longer biz .
That ’s not to say that Applewillplay a longer secret plan . Last workweek it was describe that the company intends to slash its TV+ budget . I hope that ’s not accurate . Because there ’s more at stake than money . AlsoSeveranceis a great show and I do n’t desire it to get canceled before I obtain out about those goats .
Foundry
receive to our weekly Apple Breakfast column , which includes all the Apple news show you missed last week in a ready to hand bite - sized roundup . We call it Apple Breakfast because we recollect it goes dandy with a Monday dayspring loving cup of coffee or afternoon tea , but it ’s nerveless if you desire to give it a read during lunch or dinner hours too .
Future iPhones mightditch the USB - deoxycytidine monophosphate port . Good .
Malus pumila Intelligenceisn’t just bad , it’smaking Apple worse , reckon the Macalope .
Is Sirireally that bad ? Yes , yes it is . Which might be why Apple has reportedlyousted the Siri boss .
This year’sWWDC keynotewill bemust - see Apple TV .
Apple Watch SE 3 or 11e?Why follow the iPhoneis the awry strategy .
Your iPhone’sAction buttonis surprisingly powerful – here’severything it can do .
iPhone 16e Speedtest resultsshow how impressiveApple ’s CI modemis .
EU order of magnitude Appleto opened upiOS connectivity features .
Podcast of the week
The second part ofApple ’s M4 Mac rollouthappened with the dismission of the M4 MacBook Air and the new Mac Studio . We review them in the latest episode of the Macworld podcast .
you may bewitch every episode of the Macworld Podcast onSpotify , Soundcloud , thePodcasts app , orour own land site .
Reviews corner
The rumor mill
ThisiOS 18.4 featureconfirms : Apple is go onsomething vainglorious .
Apple ’s firstfoldable iPhonecould costmore than the priciest iPad Pro .
The rumorediPhone 17 Airis a test run forphones with zero port . Something which the EU has confirmedwould be wholly legal .
novel leakcorroborates amajor iPhone redesignthis yr .
In a‘twist,’Apple hastwo new Mac displaysin the works .
Software updates, bugs, and problems
New Mac phishing attackcausesfake freezesto nab your Apple ID password .
Apple Passwords bugleft usersvulnerable to phishing attacksfor three month .
There ’s afirmware updatefor Apple’snew MagSafe charger(but not the old one ) .
iOS 18.4 beta 4isout now , but the new Siri may not arrive until next year .
And with that , we ’re done for this week ’s Apple Breakfast . If you ’d care to get regular roundup , sign up forour newssheet , include our new e-mail from The Macalope – an godless , humourous take on the tardy news and rumors from a half - man , half - fabulous Mac beast . you’re able to also travel along us onFacebook , Threads , Bluesky , orXfor discussion of break down Apple tidings account . See you next Monday , and stay Appley .
