Apple Just Took Another Bite Out of Your Paycheck: Apple TV+ Price Increases by 43%

Tony Maglio
·3 min read

Updated on Wednesday, October 25 at 1:50 p.m. ET with a statement from Apple.

Apple TV+ has quietly jacked up its monthly price from $6.99 to $9.99. The new price is listed on its signup website. That’s a whopper of an increase, +43 percent, but it keeps Apple’s streaming service among the cheapest in town. At least, it does for the ad-averse.

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Discovery+, AMC+, Starz, Amazon Prime Video (all without ads) are each $8.99 per month. To stay ad-free on Prime Video early next year, users will have to pay an extra $2.99.

Amazon, like Apple, currently runs promotional spots for its original programming ahead of series and films. There are ads on sports programming — for Prime Video, that’s namely “Thursday Night Football” and for Apple TV+, it’s “Friday Night Baseball” and its Major League Soccer (MLS) service.

Netflix no longer allows new users to access its $9.99 “Basic” plans, making its cheapest ad-free tier (“Standard”) $15.49/month. Disney+ Premium (without ads) is $13.99. Commercial-free Peacock costs $11.99/month, as does ad-free Paramount+ (with Showtime). Ad-free Hulu is $17.99; even ESPN+ is more than Apple TV+ at $10.99. Ad-free Max is $15.99.

“The subscription prices for Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, and Apple One will increase in the U.S. and select international markets beginning today. Existing subscribers will see these price increases 30 days later, on their next renewal date,” an Apple spokesperson told IndieWire. “We are focused on delivering the best experiences possible for our customers by consistently adding high-quality entertainment, content, and innovative features to our services.”

Apple One (TV+, Music, Arcade, News+, Fitness+, and Cloud+) is now $19.95/month, up from $16.95.

Apple TV+ (slightly) raised rates a year ago. It is far from the only streamer raising subscription rates in 2023. Revenue and profits by any means necessary.

The Apple price hike sure feels like the latest move toward Apple TV+ adding an advertising-supported tier. The new rate leaves more room for a lower-priced option with commercials.

Apple, again like Amazon, already has a successful ad-sales infrastructure for its other segments. Apple’s existing ad-business, showing ads on your phone, brings in $4 billion of revenue each year, per Bloomberg. Earlier this year, as The Information first reported, Apple hired Lauren Fry, a TV and digital-video advertising executive, to help build a video-advertising business.

Both Apple and Amazon treat their video-streaming services as loss leaders. Apple’s money comes in from iPhones, Amazon takes a cut of the dog food and diapers (and the other millions of products) you buy online.

The increase is also incentivizing users to bundle Apple’s many services. Like the Disney Bundle (Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+) or the overall Amazon Prime membership (free, fast shipping!), there is a value to the user in the Apple One bundle. That is, if you want all the services.

Apple is the last-remaining major streamer without an advertising option. It’s easy to hold out when you’re the biggest company in the world by market cap. (Amazon is no. 2; there are no coincidences.)

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