Apple TV+ reportedly has spent $30 billion on original films and shows, but gets fewer views in one month than Netflix gets in a day.

Now Apple is planning to cut spending, but the decision has social media users questioning why the company seems to have put no effort in promoting its expensive productions.

Based on interviews with former employees, current employees and business partners, Bloomberg reports Apple internet software and services senior vice president Eddy Cue has met with Apple TV+ chiefs Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht.

He reportedly pushed the pair to exert more control over project spending, prompting Van Amburg and Erlicht to tell their top creative partners they want to change their reputation as the biggest spender in town.

Since launching in 2019, Apple TV+ has dedicated much of its budget to original productions.

This includes a reported combined spend of more than $762 million on films from famed directors Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott and Matthew Vaughn, and $30 million per episode for the second season of psychological drama Severance.

Many Apple TV+ projects have rave reviews, multiple award nominations and wins, along with star-studded casts – think George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Saoirse Ronan and Octavia Spencer.

But apart from exceptions such as Ted Lasso and Killers of the Flower Moon, they suffer from a noticeable lack of promotion, and not for lack of funds; Apple hit more than $4 trillion in market value last year.

Although competitors such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+ spend big on months-long marketing campaigns, Apple TV+ offerings seem to fall under the radar.

“Apple TV+ spends tens of millions of dollars on cast and production and about $5.72 per season on marketing,” one person wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Apple TV+ is so funny they’re like oh, shit, yeah, we have an amazingly talented, Oscar
-winning, hot hot hot, actress in a 1960s murder mystery thriller but ah shit we forgot to tell you, my fault

— Ashtyn Butuso (@lil_buts) July 24, 2024

The exact size of Apple TV+ audience numbers are unknown because, like other streaming platforms, the company is cagey about the data.

“So, you get these graphs and charts … that have like peaks and valleys. But you don’t know what the baseline is. I guess could be like, based on 100 people or could be like, 200 million people. We don’t know.

“They basically say, ‘Yeah, this is doing well’. You’re trying to interpret what they’re saying.”

Apple puts tech first

Victoria University senior lecturer in screen media Marc C Scott told The New Daily while other streaming services put media first, streaming content merely supplements Apple’s main output: Technology.

“Whilst many may argue [Apple] are producing their own content, but they’re producing it in a way that the technology is primary, and then they’re using the media as a way of using that technology,” he said.

“So when you buy an Apple product, there’s always some sort of incentive to utilise those other elements, whether it be software, or in this instance, Apple TV.

“The issue always is going to be that the majority of people who are engaged with Apple TV have an Apple product.

“Very different to someone who’s engaging with Netflix and the screen or the device they use come secondary.”

C Scott said Apple may try to differentiate itself by coming at the video streaming market from different angles, such as watching media content through VR headset devices.

But he said the company will always put technology first, media content second.