Apple TV+ Streaming Service Just Got A Big Price Hike, Is It Still Worth It?
For the third time in three years, Apple is raising the price of its Apple TV+ streaming service, and it's a substantial increase. Effectively immediately, the going rate for both new and existing subscribers is now $12.99 per month, up 30% from the previous $9.99 per month rate, and nearly triple the rate of when it launched for $4.99 per month in 2019.
Frequent price hikes are becoming the new reality in the streaming space (even at times during record subscriber growth, as we saw with Netflix earlier this year), and it's killing the vibe for cord cutters. At $4.99 per month in 2019, Apple TV+ felt like a pretty good bargain, given the quality of its content even back then. Then came the first price adjustment, a $3 increase to $6.99 in 2022. Apple raised the price by $3 again in October 2023 to $9.99 per month, and now it's up to $12.99 per month.
In a statement to Variety, Apple justified the latest price hike by pointing out its continually expanded library and lack of ads, both of which are fair points.
"Since it launch, Apple TV+ has expanded its deep library of hundreds of Apple Originals, with thousands of hours of premium programming across genres and brand-new releases weekly—all ad-free. Subscribers can explore a rich offering of thrilling dramas, epic sci-fi, feel-good comedies and live sports," Apple said.
It's also worth nothing that unlike services such as Netflix, Apple doesn't take a tiered approach by charging extra for 4K streaming and other perks. The flip side is that Netflix starts at an affordable $7.99 per month for its basic service with ads, though its ad-free 'Standard' plan runs $17.99 per month and only includes 1080p streaming. If you want to stream Netflix in 4K and HDR, you need to pony up $24.99 per month for its 'Premium' tier.
Nevertheless, from a pure cost-of-entry perspective, Apple TV+ is now more expensive than Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, and Netflix. It's also now more expensive than some combo offers, such as Hulu and Disney+ (both with ads) for $10.99 per month, and it has a smaller catalog compared to Netflix.
Is it still worth it? That's entirely subjective, though from my own perspective, the answer is yes with a caveat. My approach these days is to cycle through streaming services, subscribing to one while quitting another, depending on what I want to watch. It's no longer cost effective to simply cut the cord (which I also recently did, ending a decades long relationship with DirecTV) and subscribe to every streaming service instead, particularly if opting for the more premium, ad-free tiers. Going that route is trading a high cable or satellite TV bill for multiple smaller ones that add up to the same or similar high monthly cost.
What Apple TV+ has going for it is an excellent library of curated content. Some standouts that I've enjoyed include (in random order, including both TV shows and movies)...
- Ted Lasso
- Severance
- Presumed Innocent
- Your Friends & Neighbors
- The Gorge
- Stick
- Chief of War
- The Morning Show
- For All Mankind
- Smoke
- SIlo
- Shrinking
I've found that it's easier to stumble upon an engaging TV show or movie compared to Netflix. There's also quite a bit of notable celebrities within the Apple TV+ universe, such as John Hamm, Jason Sudeikis, Harrison Ford, Jason Momoa, Rebecca Ferguson, Tim Robbins, Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Tom Hanks, and the list goes on.
All that said, I'm bummed that the cost is going up, no matter what Apple's stated justification. On the plus side, if you're a new subscriber, you can claim a free 7-day trial before committing to a monthly fee. Apple TV+ is also included for three months when buying an Apple device. And lastly, its bundled with Apple One, which can be trialed for a month at no cost.
