Apple Encouraged By Early Sampling Data On Apple TV+ Programming, Confirms ‘For All Mankind’, ‘See’ and ‘Dickinson Renewals

Nellie Andreeva

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Apple entered the streaming fray last Friday with the launch of Apple TV+, rolling out a handful of original series, including The Morning Show, For All Mankind, See and Dickinson as well as a couple of kids shows, led by Snoopy In Space.

Days later, Apple has officially confirmed Season 2 renewals for Ron Moore’s For All Mankind, the Jason Momoa starrer See; and the Emily Dickinson comedy Dickinson, starring Hailee Steinfeld. They are joining The Morning Show, which had a two-season order from the get-go. As we reported, some of the shows already are in production of their second seasons. Additionally, Apple’s upcoming anthology immigrant comedy Little America; and the Hilde Lysiak young detective drama Home Before Dark also are believed to have been quietly renewed.

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It is part of a strategy by Apple to get second seasons of most of its scripted series going ahead of lunch, which helps amortize costs and keep the Apple TV+ pipeline of original content going, avoiding lengthy hiatuses.

Like the other SVOD platforms, Apple is not releasing viewership data, though sources close to the company shared a few bits of information.

The curiosity about Apple’s foray into streaming has translated into millions of views of the new shows since their Friday debut, those sources said.

In addition to the viewership totals, also encouraging has been the level of retention, with the average time spent on the platform by a customer said to be well over an hour and the majority of those who sampled the first episodes also checked out Episode 2 and 3. (Apple’s rollout model involves the release of three episodes at launch, followed by new episodes every Friday.)

Additionally, sources report triple-digit viewership increases from Friday to Saturday and from Saturday to Sunday.

The Morning Show, For All Mankind, See and Dickinson are all said to have done similarly well, with kids originals, particularly Snoopy In Space, also drawing audiences. (Apple’s children’s series also have multiple-season orders.)

According to ListenFirst data, Apple had the No.1 and No.3 most talked shows last Friday with The Morning Show and For All Mankind, respectively.

We should note that free yearlong Apple TV+ subscription is included in new Apple hardware purchases, that there is a 7-day free preview period for Apple devise owners and a 2-episode free preview for anyone else. This coming weekend will be the first real test for how many viewers who watched the first episodes will come back for more and how many of those who sampled them in free preview promotions will be converted into paid subscribers.

In terms of response, Apple’s new series have garnered strong to mixed reviews from critics and high marks by regular viewers on Rotten Tomatoes.

Apple TV+ team is led by Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, Matt Cherniss serves as head of programming.

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