Apple bets big on content
Emailed on January 3rd 2020 in The Friday Forward
In the 10 months since Richard Plepler stepped down as HBO’s chief executive, the final season of “Game of Thrones” came and went, CBS and Viacom merged, and Disney and Apple rolled out new streaming services.
After 27 years at HBO, Plepler and his new company, Eden Productions, signed a 5-year deal with Apple Inc. to make television series, documentaries and feature films exclusively for Apple TV Plus, the streaming platform that started in November.
Apple’s new streaming service is only beginning to take shape, but what’s quite clear is the company’s willingness to spend big for top Hollywood talent.
Analysts have for years predicted that Apple, with lots of free cash flow, would one day buy a content company like Netflix or HBO to fulfill its streaming ambitions. But Apple’s recent investments in individual producers, actors and directors suggest the Silicon Valley titan is heading in a different direction.
“This is a watershed moment for Apple — aligning with Plepler and team make it abundantly clear just how serious AppleTV+’s ambitions are,” says veteran media analyst Rich Greenfield, a partner at LightShed Partners.
Unlike some of its streaming competitors, Apple TV+ is being built almost exclusively for original content. Its smaller, more focused catalog is starting to look attractive to Hollywood A-listers, who worry about their work getting lost in the shuffle of mega-libraries at Netflix, Amazon, or HBO Max.
