Research firm Ampere Analysis estimate that there may be 33.6 million Apple TV+ subscribers in the US alone. This puts it ahead of Hulu+ and Disney+.
But, here is the caveat on that:
Ampere Analysis have gotten this figure through determining how many devices are in the market along with its own internal polling data. The problem with that as a source is that Apple has given away a whole bunch of free subscriptions with phones. Free subscriptions aren’t an issue in itself (the business model of Apple TV+ is to use the streaming service as a lure to buy new hardware - the free subscribers is what Apple mostly want). But are they active subscribers. Just because a person is given a free subscription, it doesn’t mean they have loaded up the TV app to watch a show.
Active viewers is the metric to look for.
Source: Variety
Brisbane newsreader for Channel Seven Kay McGrath has finished up on TV after 40 years. The video package they’ve put together celebrating her time on air is really fantastic:
I only ever met McGrath once - it was while I did work experience at Channel 7 during high school. I’d spent a week at the TV station and she stopped me on the stairs to say hello and see how I was enjoying it. An absolutely lovely gesture that was one of the highlights of my time that week.
New TV shows based on relatively obscure Marvel characters, Tigra and Dazzler, and Howard The Duck, have been cancelled. I was kind-of looking forward to them both.
Source: Hulu
And finally…
I know that I have mentioned it a couple of times in the newsletter before, but one of my absolute favourite places in the world is the Warner Bros Studio Tour. It’s an awesome experience for TV/movie nerds (like myself) to connect with the rich history of Warner Bros productions. The tour is about 90 mins/2 hours long as I recall and a tour guide takes you around the studio lot showing off iconic sound stages, permanent outdoor sets, and through museums of memorabilia/costumes/props. If you know your TV and movies, it is an over-stimulating experience.
By the time you hit the end of the tour, you are already exhausted. But… at the end of the tour is where you walk through a proper museum of iconic props and other items. Here I saw the cape from the 1978 Superman film and I held an Academy Award. It is also a real kick at the end to be standing on the Central Perk set from the TV show Friends.
Which brings me to this video of Jennifer Aniston guest hosting Ellen on Friday last week. Because it films on the Warner Bros lot, they shot a video with Aniston surprising fans on the Central Perk set. It’s fun in its own right, but when you consider that these are fans who have just spent the past 2 hours surrounded by the real world locations of TV shows and movies they have spent their lives watching, only to be surprised by Jennifer Aniston on the set of her long-cancelled TV show… there were a lot of brains being broken in this video.
