Eddy Cue explains Apple’s original video content strategy
Apple SVP of Internet Software and Services Eddie Cue appeared onstage at SXSW on Monday, and discussed a range of topics, including their just-announced acquisition of magazine app Texture. Cue also made some comments regarding Apple’s recent moves in original video content, where it’s been acquiring a number of TV series from high-profile creators.
Cue said that Apple’s historical pattern has not been to buy up big companies, like Netflix and Disney, in response to a question about those media giants as potential acquisition targets, per Cheddar’s Alex Heath on Twitter. Instead, Cue noted that Apple does believe a shift is coming regarding how people get their media content, and noted that it’s being strategic and picky about its content buying.
“We’re not after quantity, we’re after quality,” Cue reportedly said. Even so, the company has acquired the rights to around a dozen new shows thus far, and also renewed its existing Carpool Karaoke series based on James Corden’s Late Late Show segment.
Cue admitted that Apple is now “making big investments” financially speaking in original content, adding that spending cash “isn’t an issue” for the tech company, which is sitting on one of the largest available cash piles of any company in the world. He added that around 40 people are now dedicated to building out its Apple TV content business.
The Apple exec drew comparisons between the company’s approach to content and Pixar’s, meaning it has a focus on quality storytelling, and also suggested there will be some “surprises” in store for how the programming is viewed once available. He also added that it’s not going to focus on acquiring sports streaming rights in the near-term, at least, and suggested that its original content ambitions face fewer hurdles than those from rivals, including Facebook and Google, because it’s not also an advertising-based business.
Apple has a lot of content coming down the pipeline, but it doesn’t sound like the company is interested in a spray-and-pray approach, which seems to be where Netflix’s original programming is heading lately.
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