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Report: Prime Video, Apple TV+ grow US revenue

November 1, 2024

In Q3 2024, Netflix jumped ahead of NBCUniversal in corporate demand share in the US — that is, demand for all original TV content produced under a company’s corporate umbrella – according to Parrot Analytics. This is the first time that Netflix has led a legacy studio in the category.

While this is a telling sign of where things are headed, NBCUniversal is in overall solid shape compared to its legacy media brethren — the debt saddled Warner Bros Discovery and ownership-transitioning Paramount Global.

Peacock Post-Playoff Game Churn

Peacock generated positive headlines in Q3 for its handling of the 2024 Paris Olympics — which will likely lead to strong subscriber growth for the quarter. The real question, says Parrot Anaytics, is how will the platform retain those new sign ups? Early evidence suggests one-off sporting events may not drive long term subscriber retention.

Parrot Analytics Streaming Metrics shows that Q2 2024 marked the sharpest quarterly increase in Peacock’s churn rate in more than three years. This occurred in the quarter following Peacock’s exclusive NFL Playoff Game in January, which drove record sign ups (at the time). Watch for post-Olympics Q4 churn as a sign of long term health for Peacock.

One of NBCUniversal’s key moves from the pre-Streaming Wars era is paying off — licensing Paramount Network’s Yellowstone to Peacock. The hit cable series has accounted for nearly 4 per cent of Peacock’s subscriber acquisition in 2024, second among all titles only to the Oscar-winning film Oppenheimer for the platform.

Tech Giants

While Amazon and Apple do not break out metrics from their video streaming divisions, Parrot Analytics provides insight into the black boxes of the performances for both streaming services.

Apple TV+ has carved out an increasing share of Apple’s total global services revenue, more than doubling its share from the launch in Q4 2019 to Q2 2024 (Apple’s Q3 2024). In the quarter ending in June, Apple’s services generated a record $24.2 billion in revenue.

Both Apple TV+ and Prime Video have seen significant ARPU gains in the last year, led by pricing changes and hit seasons of flagship shows like Ted Lasso and The Boys. Both tactics — a price hike and introducing ads — increased ARPU and revenue for these platforms but reduced subscribers in the short term.

Apple TV+ and Prime Video APRU

· Apple TV+’s major price hike and Prime Video’s addition of an opt-out ad tier have driven the most significant jumps in ARPU and revenue for both platforms, despite leading to an immediate uptick in churn.

· Both platforms saw a significant jump in revenue in the quarter in which these changes were implemented. Apple TV+ saw a 33 per cent jump in quarterly UCAN revenue in Q4 2023 after its price hike. Prime Video saw a 19.2 per cent increase in revenue after introducing ads with the option to pay for ad-free at the beginning of the year.

· While the 43 per cent price increase for Apple TV+ led to increased churn, it helped the platform better monetise its subscribers like a traditional SVoD business model and resulted in a substantial jump in revenue.

· Both platforms appear to have executed an effective price increase that boosted revenue in ways tailored to the respective business models.

Yellowstone Driving Subscribers to Peacock

· Yellowstone has accounted for 3.71 per cent of subscriber acquisition for Peacock in 2024. It has been the highest performing TV series on Peacock in terms of subscriber acquisition, surpassing well-known titles like Saturday Night Live, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and the Law and Order franchise — some of Comcast’s most valuable IPs.

· Audience Journeys also provides insight into where Yellowstone’s audience is coming from. Around 18 per cent of viewers came via Max, the same percentage as Netflix, while 15 per cent are drawn from Hulu.

· A relevant share, 8 per cent, came from Paramount+, which has a smaller catalogue than other platforms mentioned. This reflects the high affinity between Taylor Sheridan’s shows, most of which are exclusive to Paramount+.

NBCUniversal slips in Corporate Demand Share

· Corporate demand share assesses the long-term viability of the top media companies as they look to consolidate their original content’s availability exclusively onto their own platforms, and can effectively help value a conglomerate’s legacy and library content in aggregate.

· For the first time, Netflix has overtaken one of the legacy studios in this category, which accounts for demand for all original TV content produced under each company’s umbrella.

· Netflix has steadily cut into NBCUniversal’s fourth place position of late, from trailing by -0.9 per cent in Q1 2024, to -0.3 per cent in Q2 2024, to now leading by 0.6 per cent in Q3 2024.

· In other words, there is more demand for Netflix’s original TV catalogue — which started in 2012 — than that of NBCUniversal — whose original TV programming dates back to the 1940s.

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