Did You Know the new iPhone Comes with its Own TV Network in November?

Apple has fired the latest shot in the OTT wars…and it’s a big one.
Among the many interesting announcements from Apple is the official schedule for Apple TV Plus. Apple’s original streaming service, will launch in about six weeks on November 1st. Apple also announced that it will cost $4.99 per month, that’s two dollars below the monthly cost of Disney+ and roughly half the cost of Netflix.
Apple will include a year-long subscription to Apple TV Plus for free if you buy a new Apple product, including new iPads, iPhones, laptops, or desktop, which will help it ramp up.

This year, 182.5 million people in the U.S. will view content via subscription Over the Top Television (OTT) services, representing 55.3% of the population. That doesn’t mean they are all cord-cutters, but it does show that the OTT concept has a majority share now.

Netflix is currently the most popular subscription OTT service in the U.S. with 158.8 million viewers this year and it’s projected to grow to 177.5 million by 2023. New contenders like Disney+ and Apple could be significant players eventually, but remember they are starting from zilch. It will take a considerable amount of time for them to have even a fraction of Netflix’s reach.

In 2019, Amazon Prime Video will remain the second-largest subscription OTT provider by viewers in the U.S. (52.9% penetration). In total, Amazon will have 96.5 million viewers, which is 8.8% higher than in 2018. By 2021, the number of Amazon Prime Video viewers will reach one-third of the U.S. population.
Besides its existing size, and its library of popular original TV and film content, Netflix will continue fight for market share with a strong slate of original content, including Martin Scorsese’s highly-anticipated film The Irishman.

Disney+, for example, will also have a very strong slate of movies but there is a catch. With Disney+, there is a large catalogue of movies but unfortunately, many of those have already sold to other streamers and those contracts can last a few years. So, Disney+ won’t have access to its full catalogue initially.
And, Netflix is keeping up the pressure by putting a lot of money into its original movies. The Irishman is a perfect example of this. Netflix has reportedly spent between $173-200 million to make the star-studded mob drama with a cast that includes Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. This could be Netflix’s shot at its first-ever Best Picture win at the 2020 Oscars.

Right now, it’s not necessarily about other platforms taking subscribers from Netflix as much as stopping its growth in subscribers. OTT continues to put pressure on traditional broadcast, satellite and cable, but the competition within OTT is now generating more pressure inside the new medium than outside.