It’s the Apple TV +, huh? Apple’s original content service is – like the rest of the world – at the forefront of Coronavirus (COVID-19).
One of its biggest stars, the presenter and executive Oprah Winfrey, has just launched a pandemic interview program on the platform, but the Apple service does not seem to be “taking advantage” of the moment of attracting new subscribers.
Let’s see all of that in the next few paragraphs.
Small jump of subscribers
With the pandemic, it was expected that health services streaming receive a jump in their number of subscribers – after all, the more people at home, the greater the demand for entertainment content. The expectation was confirmed, but, in the case of Apple, the jump was not that great.
THE Forbes recently published a survey of the gain of users of the main streaming the United States in recent weeks, and came to a clear champion: the Disney +, whose number of new subscribers tripled between 3/14 and 3/16 compared to the same period last week. HBO NOW and SHOWTIME also took advantage of the moment, with growth of 90% and 78%, respectively.
THE Netflix saw a 47% jump in the weekly comparison, while the Apple TV + it was the service that achieved the lowest growth in the metric: there were 10% more registrations in the period compared to the previous weekend. There are no figures in relation to Amazon Prime Video.
It is worth noting that counting the Forbes includes free trial subscriptions – almost all platforms offer some free trial time before the monthly fee starts to be charged; in the case of Apple, this period is one week (or one year, for recent buyers of iPhones, iPads, Macs and Apple TVs). The survey notes that some of these platforms, especially HBO NOW and SHOWTIME, will see a drop in the number of subscribers in the coming weeks, precisely because of consumers who will choose not to continue with the services after the “tasting”.
Still, the news isn’t exactly encouraging for Apple. Of course, Apple TV + is, of the services mentioned above, by far the one with the least amount of content – and this is certainly a determining factor in the numbers. In other words… as soon as this moment of crisis passes, it’s time for Cupertino to get his hands dirty and fill the platform with interesting news.
“Oprah Talks COVID-19”
Surprisingly, Oprah made the first episodes of a series of interviews about the Coronavirus pandemic available on Apple TV +. The series “Oprah Talks COVID-19” brings talks by the presenter with notable figures related to the disease; the first episode shows Oprah talking to the actor Idris Elba (“The Wire”) and your wife, Sabrina Dhowre, both infected with the virus.
Understandably, the production is quite simple, boiling down to a screenshot of Oprah’s conversation – which is quarantined, like any sensible person who is in a position to do so – with his interviewees via FaceTime. That, let’s face it, is enough when the conversation is interesting and the questions are relevant.
So far, four episodes of the series have been released. The second brings a chat with Pastor Wintley Phipps, while the third highlights an interview with doctor Marco Vergano and journalist Monica Maggioni, both Italian; the fourth focuses on an Oprah chat with DJ D-Nice. There is no announcement of when (or if) other episodes will be released.
“Oprah Talks COVID-19” it is released free of charge to all users of the Apple TV application, without requiring an Apple TV + subscription; so far, however, the series is only available in the US – perhaps because it has not been subtitled. Let’s hope it will be available in other regions soon!
Trailer of “Defending Jacob”
Speaking of interesting news, Apple recently released the first trailer for “Defending Jacob”, the new mystery miniseries starring (formerly) Captain America in person, Chris Evans.
Co-starred by JK Simmons (“Whiplash”), Michelle Dockery (“Downton Abbey”) and Cherry Jones (“The village”), “Defending Jacob” follows the story of a small town US prosecutor who has his life turned upside down after his teenage son is accused of murder. The production is based on the novel of the same name written by William Landlay.
Check out the trailer below:
It looks cool, doesn’t it?
via AppleInsider, Cult of Mac
