Apple is building a truly amazing TV+ production team. What happens next?

Tehran still — well worth watching

Apple has reached yet another first look TV+ deal, this time with Paper Plane Productions, a company led by one of the executive producers of its exciting Tehran series.

The group is growing quickly

This is just the latest of a growing roster of deals as Apple puts together the kind of content and production bench most broadcasters can only dream of.

How else can you see a team that currently includes deals with and contributions from:

• Oprah Winfrey,
• Idris Elba,
• Alfonso Cuaron,
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus,
• The Morning Show‘s Kerry Ehrin,
• Jason Katims,
• Lee Eisenberg (Little America),
• Monica Beletsky,
• Sharon Horgan,
• Alena Smith (Dickinson)
• Simon Kinberg.
• Robert Downey Jr
• Leonard DiCaprio
• Martin Scorsese
• John Ridley
• Carlton Cuse
• Reese Witherspoon
• The Russo Brothers

And a pantheon of others I just didn’t have time to dig out.

Building a compelling position

Now there’s no denying that these deals will be expensive: Apple is quite clearly committing a horde of cash on reaching deals with these content providers even before it begins casting future shows.

After initially stumbling with content, the company is beginning to churn out a series of successes: Tehran is brilliant, Ted Lasso has won lots of love in the U.S., Long Way Up is great TV, Defending Jacob binge-worthy and Greyhound an excellent movie.

Those are just a few examples.

Apple now offers a much wider choice of content that’s worth watching, and is clearly committed to growing this catalog quickly.

Moving forward, Apple continues to push onto other platforms (TV+ is currently in development for Xbox, for example).  Right now, it’s so widely available that a couple of major successes is all it needs if it wants to convince non-Apple users to switch on to its service. (And a unique service offering may also help).

When it achieves this (and if investment is all it takes, that’s just a matter of time), a swift pivot to the provision of ‘all you can eat streaming content’ a la Netflix will make its service a compelling proposition for millions, particularly if Apple can figure out how to make these services available to a broad reach of consumers.

Which is where Apple One may help, as too will its broadening iPhone offering and rapidly improving iPad range.

This is a movie in the making. The hero in this story may soon break out. Tune in.

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