Apple TV+ titles’ average score on IMDb of 7.24 beats that of its key rivals according to research conducted by personal finance company Self Financial, which tried to find the best value for money streaming service. Furthermore, the Cupertino offering has more 4K HDR content than HBO Max, with higher average quality ratings (7.13) than Netflix (6.94), Disney+ (6.63), and HBO Max (7.01). It’s even beating Disney+ on animated offerings (5.96 vs 5.88). Ultimately though, the research found that “Netflix provides the most content, and a lot of high-quality content, and is similarly priced to the other platforms, therefore it offers the best value for money.”
Quality vs Quantity Debate Swirls Around Apple TV+
The heart of this debate, as it has been since Apple TV+ launched, is quality vs quantity. With a total of just 64 movies and shows, Apple TV+ has a significantly smaller library than all its key rivals. (Netflix has over 5,000, for instance.) When it comes to 4K HDR content, Netflix also has the most, and Hulu had the high-quality rating. Apple was third in terms of quality, beating HBO, Netflix, and Disney+. While it also had a higher average score for its family-friendly content than Disney+, that’s only from a total of 29 titles for those 7 years and under.
Commenting on the findings, Jeanette DePatie said:
As a newer service, Apple has chosen to pursue quality as it’s main differentiator. This makes sense in terms of all of Apple’s other products which focus on premium quality (often at a premium price). This premium price extends to the kind of internet connection users need to run such high-bitrate content.
Ms. Depatie noted that Apple TV+ is “trending up with hits like Ted Lasso and The Morning Show and upcoming films with connection to Bill Murray and Sophia Coppola.” Crucially, “Apple has virtually no limit to the amount of cash they can throw at the problem,” she noted. “The challenge going forward will be, can they continue on their current growth trajectory before customers begin to consolidate their spending on streaming in favor of companies with larger content libraries.”
Charlotte:
I believe that keen analyst of human behaviour, and therefore uncertainty, Aesop, weighed in on the relative balance of this proposition with ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’; whose insight is bookended by that modern philosopher, Yogi Berra with, ‘It ain’t over till it’s over’.
Were I running Netflix, I’d start stepping up my game. Now.