Apple is Reportedly Losing $1 Billion Per Year With Apple TV+

Steve Jobs used to say that Apple TV hardware was “a hobby.” Well, Apple TV+, the streaming service that the company launched back in November 2019 seems to be an expensive hobby for the company.

A new report from The Information (paywalled) reveals that Apple TV+ is losing over $1 billion per year. The service, which is priced at $9.99/month or $99/year, had 45 million subscribers in 2024.

This number isn’t that bad for a service that has just a fraction of the content of its competitors like Netflix, which announced over 300 million subscribers in Q4 2024. However, competing with juggernauts like Netflix, Amazon, and Disney is hard, and a previous report from Bloomberg last year hinted at cost-cutting measures to make Apple TV+ more sustainable.

Apple has reportedly spent over $5 billion per year on content since the launch of Apple TV+ back in November 2019. According to the report, that investment was reduced by $500 million last year following increased scrutiny from Tim Cook and other Apple executives on the company’s investment in original content.

Last month, Apple claimed that its critically acclaimed original films, documentaries, and series obtained 538 wins and 2,553 award nominations and “premiered more original hits and received more award recognitions faster than any other streaming service in its debut.” That didn’t impress Ted Sarandos, the co-CEO of Netflix who dismissed the influence of Apple TV+ in a recent interview with Variety. “I don’t understand it beyond a marketing play, but they’re really smart people. Maybe they see something we don’t,” the Netflix exec said.

According to previous data from Nielsen rankings, Apple TV+ attracted just 0.2% of TV viewing in the US last year and generated less viewing in one month than Netflix does in one day. Apple TV+ obviously has very good exclusive content, but that’s clearly not enough. It doesn’t help that it took the company almost six years to release an Apple TV app for Android devices.

Overall, Apple still makes far enough money to afford to lose billions of dollars on Apple TV+ content. However, you have to wonder if the company should get its priorities in check when recent product launches like the Apple Vision Pro and Apple Intelligence have clearly missed the mark.