According to a new report from investment firm Wedbush, Apple is on an aggressive hunt for deals that would allow it to broadcast live sports content on its TV+ streaming service as part of a wider effort to boost subscription numbers.
In a new investor note, seen by MacRumors, Dan Ives said that Apple's decision not to acquire a movie studio was a clear indication that it now sees live sports programming as a key piece of its future success for growing the audience of its video.
Apple has not provided details on Apple TV+ subscriber numbers since the digital streaming service began, but Wedbush estimates that Apple TV+ has around 20 million paid subscribers among roughly 45 million viewers, the rest of which are seeing out free trials included with other Apple product purchases.
That's a fraction of the number of subscriptions that Disney+ and other companies enjoy. Apple is ready to spend billions on live sports content over the next four years to drive future growth of Apple TV+ and make it a key monetization engine in its burgeoning services ecosystem, which earned it $80 billion in annual revenue in the last financial year.
With Apple spending $7 billion annually on original content and having $200 billion of cash on its balance sheet, we believe the company is geared up to bid on a number of upcoming sports packages coming up for contract/renewals in future years. Upcoming sports packages that Apple can be involved with over the next four years are: Big Ten, Big East, Big 12 and NASCAR.
Apple TV+ doesn't offer live TV support, so if it does get a deal, it will need to build a sports section with live TV streaming.
The New York Post reported earlier this month that Apple is in talks with Major League Baseball about broadcasting games next season, which would be a major step into the world of live sports content.
Its lack of live sports access is a serious hole in Apple TV's programming. Amazon will be airing 20 live English Premier League soccer games in the next two years, and the company will also be airing "Thursday Night Football" games this fall, for which it paid more than $1 billion.
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