Tim Cook announcing Apple TV+ in 2019
US subscribers to Amazon Prime Video will shortly be able to add on Apple TV+, extending the reach of Apple’s streamer.
A year after it hiked the price of Apple TV+ from $6.99 per month to $9.99 per month, Apple is now trying to get it into the hands, and onto the remote controls, of more viewers. Amazon has announced that subscribers to its own streamer in the US will be able to add on Apple TV+ — for the same $9.99 per month.
“We want to make Apple TV+ and its award-winning library of series and films from the world’s greatest storytellers available to as many viewers as possible,” Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Services, said in a statement. “We’re thrilled that Prime Video will now offer Apple TV+, giving viewers an incredible breadth of viewing options.”
There may still be some smart TVs that have an Amazon Prime Video app but not an Apple TV+ one. Otherwise, just about everywhere viewers can get Amazon Prime, they can already get Apple TV+.
So given that there is no cost saving to the viewer, Amazon is presenting it as a benefit that they don’t have to download a separate app.
Even so, Apple is right that this puts its shows in front of more viewers because it’s estimated that Amazon has 115 million viewers in the US. But Amazon itself says that Prime Video viewers have the option of “more than 100 add-on subscription options in the US.”
Consequently, Apple TV+ is still going to be a small player amongst many other options. Arguably, the move also goes against Apple’s ambition to make the Apple TV app one central hub for all streamers, although Netflix has continued to resist that.
Amazon Prime video starts at $8.99 per month, so the total charge for the two services is $18.98. Amazon says that Apple TV+ will launch on its platform by the end of October 2024.
