Apple is Playing a Different Streaming Game To Netflix

Get me Zack or Jamie! You can bet there was a mad rush among Hollywood agents trying to get Apple TV+ chieftains Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht on the phone today. To imagine the scene, just picture those lines that used to wrap around Apple stores on iPhone release days. Yes, Sunday night’s Best Picture Oscar win for “CODA” will put the iPhone maker on the map for a lot of Hollywood talent who might previously have hesitated before pitching a project to Apple TV+. 

The same thing is true of viewers at home, of course. There’s a long history of Oscar wins giving movies a bump at the box office, and we’d guess the marketing impact will hold true in streaming. Despite the popularity of “Ted Lasso” and the like, Apple’s streaming service is still new enough that there are surely many people who will now be tempted to check it out for the first time. That wouldn’t have been the case if Netflix had won, by the way. Netflix already has so many subscribers, at least in the U.S., that anyone who would be prompted to sign up to watch a Best Picture–winning movie is probably already a customer.