Apple reportedly told a union that it had under 20 million TV+ subs in July

Apple TV+ reportedly had under 20 million subscribers in July, according to the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE).

While Apple has never publicly revealed TV+ subscriber details, the TV and movie workers union says it learned of this figure from Apple because it allowed the company to pay production crews lower than most streamers due to its comparatively lower subscriber count. For context, Netflix had 209 million subscribers and Disney+ had 116 million as of Q2 2021.

The IATSE is bringing this up because tens of thousands of its union members could walk off their job as part of a strike to increase wages. As CNBC notes, Apple paying its TV+ production crews discounted rates despite being the world’s most valuable publicly-traded company highlights some of the issues that the IATSE are speaking out against. CNBC reports that an Apple spokesperson declined to comment on TV+ subscribers but said the company’s rates are in line with leading streaming services.

Therefore, it’s unclear how the reported 20 million-odd subscriber count stacks up to Apple’s own internal projections for TV+. It’s also unknown how the release of notable programming like Ted Lasso Season 2 (July 23rd), The Morning Show Season 2 (September 17th) and Foundation (September 24th) may have contributed to Apple TV+ subscriber growth.

Image credit: Apple

Via: CNBC