Apple Rebrands Streaming Service as ‘Apple TV,’ Dropping the ‘+’
Apple has officially rebranded its streaming service from Apple TV+ to simply Apple TV, a move intended to streamline its brand identity despite potential confusion with its existing hardware and app.
Eddy Cue, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Services, explained the decision yesterday in an interview on The Town podcast, stating the “plus” symbol was initially used to differentiate paid tiers from free versions of other Apple services like iCloud+ and Apple News+. “We stayed consistent because of it, but we all called it Apple TV, and we said, given where we are today, it’s a great time to do it, so let’s just do it,” Cue said. The change comes as Apple continues to invest heavily in original content to compete in the crowded streaming landscape.
While acknowledging the potential for overlap with the Apple TV 4K hardware and the Apple TV app used across devices, Cue dismissed concerns. “Our hardware is called Apple TV 4K for your TV,” he clarified. “I think that’s fine, and the app is called Apple TV. It’s been called Apple TV on our third-party products as well, so I don’t think that’ll be a problem at all.” He also indicated the service is performing well, though he declined to confirm specific subscriber numbers, stating they are “significantly more” than the reported 40 to 45 million. Statista provides ongoing tracking of streaming service subscriber numbers.
Cue also addressed the impact of recent industry disruptions, including the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes, noting they caused production delays. “The service is doing fine,” he said. “It’s a lot harder than it looks… Our content has never been better.” Apple launched Apple TV in 2019 with original series including The Morning Show and For All Mankind.
Apple officials stated they are focused on continued growth and delivering high-quality content, and will not be releasing subscriber numbers at this time.
Eddy Cue, Senior Vice President of Services at Apple, is giving insight into the rebrand of Apple TV+ into simply Apple TV.
Apple quietly rebranded its streaming service into Apple TV and dropped the plus sign, but in the process created some confusion.
Apple TV is also the name of their streaming media player hardware, and the app name within the device. The plus helped distinguish the streaming service from the other two, but in a recent interview, Cue explained why they decided to rename it.
“We put the plus in there because we’ve used it in our other services like iCloud+ and [Apple] News+, but we do that when we have a free service and then there’s a paid version,” Cue said on The Town podcast.
He continued, “We stayed consistent because of it, but we all called it Apple TV, and we said, given where we are today, it’s a great time to do it, so let’s just do it.”
Although Cue makes a good point about the plus being a paid version of services that have a free tier, that has not always been the case. Take, for example, Apple Fitness+, the workout service, which has no free tier. Similarly, Apple Music, a paid service, doesn’t offer a free tier, and its name doesn’t include a plus, similar to Apple Arcade.
Cue also clarified the confusion some users were now debating about Apple TV being both the streaming service and the streaming device.
“Our hardware is called Apple TV 4K for your TV,” he said. “I think that’s fine, and the app is called Apple TV. It’s been called Apple TV on our third-party products as well, so I don’t think that’ll be a problem at all.”
The Apple TV streaming service launched in 2019 with eight original series, including The Morning Show, For All Mankind, See, Servant, and Dickinson.
In the interview, Cue also hinted at its subscriber numbers and whether he feels it’s profitable.
“The service is doing fine,” Cue said. “It’s a lot harder than it looks, as always, because when you try to do things that are great, it takes longer than you want.”
Cue recalled “being out of production for a year and a half,” adding, “I didn’t predict a nine-month strike from that standpoint. So we were a little further behind than where I’d like to be, but where we are today is great. Our content has never been better.”
Although Apple has not revealed its exact subscriber numbers, Cue was asked about reports suggesting they have about 40 to 45 million subscribers.
“We haven’t said what our numbers are, but we’re significantly more than that,” Cue said. “We’re not going to say what our numbers are. We’re happy with where we’re growing, but we’re trying to be successful.”
