A new report claims Apple could bundle its Apple TV Plus streaming service with Paramount Plus, as the company saw 7% of its subscribers leave the platform in October.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple and Paramount have discussed “offering a combination of Paramount+ and Apple TV+ that would cost less than subscribing to both services separately.” The report says these discussions are in their early stages and “it is unclear what shape a bundle could take.”
According to the report, it seems a recent wave of subscription price increases, including Apple TV Plus, has led some customers to ditch subscription services, including our own Oliver Haslam who finally caught subscription fatigue last month.
Apple TV Plus subscribers defect
The report also contains figures from Antenna which seem to show that Apple TV Plus lost 7% of its subscribers in October, higher than the 5.7% industry average rate. Apple’s TV Plus subscription service can currently be bundled with other Apple services as part of the Apple One package, and it also comes free with Apple Music for students.
As noted, there’s currently no indication of what shape the bundle could take. However, Paramount Plus’ ad-free tier is currently $11.99, while Apple’s TV Plus recently went up to $9.99. $20 would technically be a saving, although a paltry one at that. However, $15, or even $18 might be enough to sway some people, should it ever see the light of day.
According to JustWatch, Paramount Plus has more than 550 films and 330 TV series, making it larger than Apple TV Plus by an order of magnitude. The former includes some pretty big titles including Twin Peaks, South Park, Frasier, CSI, and more.
Meanwhile, Apple TV Plus is focussing on a quality, not quantity, approach with two new hits in the form of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters and Lessons in Chemistry both landing in the streaming charts with week.
