Massive Growth for Apple TV
Although FireTV leads the pack for active subscriber growth, Apple TV leads in another category: increase in streaming hours. Apple TV saw a 709% growth in viewing hours in 2018. That’s roughly 5 billion hours of video watching. These numbers are a tall tale sign that consumers are adopting new viewing habits as they ditch the old traditional cable and satellite TV and learn towards OTT.
Although this is an exceptional growth rate, Apple TV still lags behind Roku for total number of streaming hours (as stated, Apple leads in percentage of growth rate for streaming hours). However, this could change as competition heats up between connected TV companies.
Apple TV is considering building an Apple TV streaming stick which would be a cheaper version of their box. This would definitely fuel Apple’s connected TV growth rate and make apple TV available to consumers who are not willing to spend 150 dollars for the Apple TV box.
According to Apple, they are considering making a sub $100 stick to compete with the cheaper Roku and FireTv devices on the market today. Apple has long struggled in fourth place behind Roku, Chromecast and Amazon FireTV.
With Apple TV price tag of a $149 dollars and their competitors at $30 and $40 dollars you can see why Apple is shifting gears to make a cheaper version of their Apple TV. This is, of course, all based on early reports that Apple is considering a dongle-style streaming player.
As with all new product planning, it may never come to fruition even if Apple aggressively works on creating the device. However, just the fact that it is being talked about shows how serious Apple is about competing with the other connected TV devices.
Apple TV represents yet another opportunity for Internet TV network owners. Apple TV has a loyal fan base and having your network available to their viewing audience could boost your network’s viewing audience and ad revenue.
There’s a reason that top OTT companies like Netflix and Hulu are on every distribution platform available – simply because it increases their subscription base. For them, this formula is not rocket science; The more platforms – the more audience potential – which equals higher revenue potential. For online network owners (OTT operators) it’s the same formula to follow in their footsteps.
No need to reinvent the wheel here – we know it already works.
As competition heats up between streaming devices, one thing is for sure – more and more people will be canceling their satellite and cable subscriptions and adopting new viewing habits. No matter what genre Religious, Entertainment, Ethnic, business etc… connected TV is benefiting both broadcasters and audiences by connecting people to what they’re most interested in.
However, when analyzing social data around Roku and Apple TV, something becomes very clear: younger users are attracted to the lower price of the Roku devices, and although this is something Apple TV wants to enter the market to compete with, older users over the age of 35 seem to be loyal to Apple TV.
This gives Apple TV an edge for those wanting to reach a more affluent and older audience.
All of our customers who have networks on Apple TV have seen consistent growth in audience and viewing hours. It’s a fantastic distribution outlet for stable growth, especially for those wanting to reach an audience over the age of 35.
If you’re looking to get your own online TV network then check out our channel manager by clicking here. It’s the easiest way to get started with your own internet TV/OTT platform. It’s the easiest way to both start and expand your network.