According to Digiday, Apple is planning to sell video advertising until early 2023. This follows early discussions with media companies, where Apple has discussed discussing preliminary intentions to sell the video advertising space against its original content and live sports activities.
The move would tie Apple TV+ to the strategies of other streaming services. All major streaming services, except Apple, have announced or already offered ad-supported plans. In the next couple of months, Netflix and Disney+ will introduce ad-supported tiers. This increases consumer comfort during this period of inflation and a weakened economy.
With TV+, it has adopted a premium-first approach up to now, combining top Hollywood talent with large budget productions across its original TV shows and movies. TV+ currently only has a single $4.99 per month tier, which allows users access to all programming in 4K HDR quality without advertising.
Despite the fact that services like HBO Max have shown that media networks may retain the reputation while offering a variety of approaches, including ad tiers.
While Apple TV+ has received many awards, viewership of the service is still minimal. It is estimated to account for about 5% of US streaming TV marketshare. An ad-supported (possibly free?) tier might boost the adoption of the TV+ service, and increase viewership.
Ad-supported tiers help mitigate price hikes as streaming services focus less on subscriber growth and target profitability. Disney+ will launch an ad tier in December at the same price as the ad-free Disney+ price today, $7.99 per month. Moreover, the price of the ad-free tier will rise to $11 per month.
Apple''s video advertising presence is linked to its live sports initiatives. MLB Friday Night Baseball already has a lot of ad revenue on the TV+ platform, but these spots have been sold by MLB Network, not Apple.
In a revenue share agreement, Apple TV will be the exclusive home of Major League Soccer, streaming all games for the next decade.
Apple is expected to acquire the rights to stream the NFL Sunday Ticket in the future, with other sports agreements expected to follow. These live sports packages will bring in millions of potential eyeballs to sell advertising.