Apple reportedly losing $1 billion a year on streaming

The streaming service has produced hit shows including ‘Ted Lasso’, ‘The Morning Show’ and ‘Severance’

Apple is losing more than $1 billion a year running streaming service Apple TV+, according to reports.

The streamer launched in November 2019 and has focused on original content, producing a number of hit shows including Ted Lasso, The Morning Show and Severance.

According to a report published by The Information, citing sources familiar with the business, Apple has spent over $5 billion a year on content since the launch. Last year, they reduced that spend by around $500 million.

It is not unusual for media companies to sink billions of dollars into launching streaming services, and it is relatively easy for a company the size of Apple to absorb such losses, as the company as a whole brought in $391 billion in revenue last year.

The recent success of Severance in particular has been attributed with helping the streamer grow, with research firm Antenna estimating the show helped the service add 2 million subscribers last month.

The Independent has approached Apple TV+ for comment.

The stars of Apple TV+’s ‘Severance’ (Apple TV+)

Meanwhile, Severance director Ben Stiller earlier today reassured fans of the show they won’t need to wait three years for the next season, as they gear up for the finale to drop on Friday.

Severance stars Adam Scott, Britt Lower, Zach Cherry and John Turturro as a group of employees at the murky Lumon company, which the equally suspicious Eagan family runs. All four have undergone a procedure called “severance” in which their consciousness is completely divided between their work selves and home selves in a daring experiment to find a work-life balance.

In an appearance on Jason and Travis Kelce’s New Heights podcast, Stiller shared that the next season will likely not face the same delays that the second did.

“No, the plan is not to [wait three years],” Stiller said. “Hopefully we’ll be announcing what the plan is very soon.”

Filming for the second season was delayed, after the first season began streaming in February 2022, by the 2023 SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America strikes. The second season, which followed the severed employees as they continued to investigate Lumon and what they were really doing at the company, began streaming on 17 January to rave reviews.

In a five-star review of the second season, The Independent’s Annabel Nugent wrote: “Bottling the bolt-from-the-blue brilliance for a second season is infinitely tougher, but Severance pulls it off with style, balancing its various tones as expertly and effortlessly as a waiter during a Friday night rush. Thankfully, it is still one of the best shows on TV – certainly, one worth rushing home from the office to watch.”