‘Severance’ gives Apple TV+ another breakout hit. Can it fuel subscriber growth?

Apple TV+ hit series “Severance” received top honors at the 75th Annual Writers Guild Awards, winning Best Drama and Best New Series.
Apple TV+ is riding high with the success of its workplace thriller “Severance,” wrapping up its second season this Thursday night. The big question remains: can Apple capitalize on the buzz surrounding “Severance”? In contrast to Netflix Inc., which boasts a vast library of thousands of titles, Apple TV+—with a lean catalog of about 270 shows—has chosen to focus on quality rather than sheer volume. Despite the breakout success of “Ted Lasso” and glowing reviews for “Slow Horses,” Apple has faced challenges in growing and keeping its subscriber base. But with standout series like “Silo,” “Shrinking,” and “Severance” gaining traction, there’s growing evidence that the tide could be turning.
Hannah Miller for Bloomberg UK:
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Severance was the fifth-most streamed original show across all platforms during the second week of February, racking up 681 million minutes watched, according to the most recent ratings data from Nielsen.
Last October Apple TV+ became available on Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Video as an add-on service for $9.99 a month, exposing the platform to hundreds of millions of subscribers around the world. That move “unlocked a new wave of sign-ups via Amazon Channels, now representing a meaningful portion of the service’s overall acquisition,” according to industry tracker Antenna.
Apple TV+ logged almost 3 million new subscribers in January, when Severance’s Season 2 came out, up 8% from December and more than any other streaming platform except Paramount+, according to Antenna. In February, Apple TV+ had 2.9 million new sign-ups.
“In an era where you have 500-plus original, scripted, entertainment shows every year, Severance really stands out,” said media consultant Brad Adgate… Severance could be a pivotal moment for Apple, Adgate said…
Apple’s strategy and all the hype will be put to the test after the credits roll on Episode 10… [I]t remains to be seen how many of Apple TV+’s new subscribers will stick around.

MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote earlier today after The Information reported that, even though subscriptions grew to about 45 million last year, Apple TV+ is losing more than $1 billion a year:
Apple TV+ is working. It’s just working slowly. it’s quality over quantity strategy is sound and its library of high-value original content is becoming more substantial every day.
Breakouts hits that permeate the zeitgeist like “Ted Lasso” and “Severance” are doing most of the heavy lifting for getting the word out. Apple could certainly do a better job of promoting the service.
Apple TV+ could lose $1 billion annually until the first Tuesday after Infinity and Apple would be perfectly fine; it wouldn’t even notice.
Last year, Apple Inc. generated average revenue of $1.07 billion per day.
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MacDailyNews Note: In the latest episode of “The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott,” Stiller strongly hinted that Apple has renewed (or will be renewing) for season three, at the very least.

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