Apple has high hopes for its new streaming service. Unfortunately, harsh criticism and mounting competition may take the steam out of Apple’s new video streaming effort.
By Chand Bellur
November 3, 2019 at 2:44 p.m. PDT
Critics Pan Apple’s The Morning Show as Dull
Produced by Jennifer Aniston and starring Steve Carell, Apple had high hopes for The Morning Show. The new drama attempts to look at the behind-the-scenes reality of morning news shows. Similar to HBO shows such as The Newsroom and The Larry Sanders Show, its attempts at realism haven’t delivered a compelling narrative.
The Morning Show has already earned a lackluster 59% Rotten Tomatoes score. Although this isn’t horrible, most HBO original series fare much better. At $15 million per episode, this show has proven to be a poor investment, which could affect subscriber behavior.
Fortunately for Apple, the public audience seems to love the show, with a Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 94%. In the end, it will be consumers who make or break Apple TV+, not TV critics.
Critics seem to feel Apple threw a lot of money at this project, and it comes off as frivolous:
“Flashy, but somewhat frivolous, The Morning Show often feels more like a vanity project than the hard-hitting drama it aspires to be — but there is pleasure to be had in watching Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon give it their all.”
Lukewarm Response to The Morning Show Won’t Kill Apple TV+
Critics aren’t impressed with The Morning Show, however, this is not the death knell for Apple TV+. Actual viewers seem to love the show, which may indicate some external influence on TV critics. After all, streaming is a competitive field and companies like Netflix will be most affected, as they struggle to grow a saturated market.
Unfortunately, Apple must also compete in this aggressive streaming market. With more video streaming services popping up every day, Apple faces a great challenge.
Unlike Netflix, however, Apple earns revenues by selling devices. Services, such as Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade, are an emergent strategy to compensate for declining iPhone sales.
Apple only needs their streaming service to earn revenues. They don’t need to beat Netflix and don’t seem to be positioning the service as a Netflix-killer. If anything, Apple TV+ is an inexpensive adjunct to other, more comprehensive, streaming services.