Apple (AAPL 0.20%)is aiming to better compete against Netflix (NFLX -0.48%), and Amazon (AMZN 0.01%) in the streaming content market by slowly beginning to acquire older TV shows and movies to expand its catalog.
Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that while the iPhone maker is still mainly focused on original programming for Apple TV+ it realizes it needs to offer a variety of content to take on the leaders.
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According to Bloomberg Apple executives have had discussions with Hollywood studios about licensing content and have already made some purchases of old TV shows and movies. The tech stock hasn’t bought any big TV shows or blockbuster movies to add to its roster, Bloomberg noted.
Apple TV+ has around 30 original shows and movies on its platform, which costs $4.99, which pales in comparison to Netflix, which has thousands of pieces of content users can stream. It does charge more, coming in at $8.99 a month for its cheapest package.
The move may be necessary for Apple. The sources told Bloomberg that about 10 million people have become customers of Apple TV+ as of February, but only around 5 million use it actively. That’s amid the COVID-19 pandemic where shelter in place rules have driven demand for streaming content. At the height of the pandemic, Netflix, Amazon, and Alphabet’s YouTube all lowered the streaming speeds to prevent the Internet from crashing. Apple is also seeing an uptick in usage and has taken steps to make its service more desirable during the pandemic. Last month it started letting users watch certain shows for free.
