AllianceBernstein analysts have suggested that the on-demand streaming subscription service YouTube TV is the television service Apple should have built.
They point to how YouTube has persuaded many to become cord-cutters, using the service to replace their cable subscription – and they present an interesting theory about why Apple has made such little progress with its own TV plans …
Business Insider has seen the report.
They note that Apple was reportedly close to launching its own 25+ channel service back in 2015, but three years later, that service still doesn’t exist, and very little visible progress has been made. So far, Apple has simply toyed with a few TV shows and documentaries as a bonus for Apple Music subscribers.
While Apple reportedly struggled to sign deals with networks, YouTube apparently had no difficulty in doing so.
He suggests that Apple may have felt the service wouldn’t be sufficiently profitable, or may have played hardball with networks and failed to do deals, but he thinks part of the issue may be the Cupertino company’s culture. In particular, that its famed perfectionism may be a hindrance in this case.
AllianceBernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi based some of his research on his own cord-cutting habits and YouTube TV subscription. He argues that YouTube TV now offers as many channels as some cable providers. According to him, YouTube TV wins in any kind of bang-for-the-buck contest.
“YouTube TV was not hardware,” Sacconaghi wrote. “It was a service, and that meant it could be remotely updated, iterated upon, and constantly improved. And that’s exactly what Google did… so now they have the lead. The takeaway here? If Apple truly wishes to become a ‘services’ company someday, it might have to think differently about its product design philosophy and culture.”
If AllianceBernstein is right, it would be ironic at a time when many feel that Apple is adopting the ‘start somewhere then iterate’ approach with both hardware like HomePod and services like Siri (the latter perhaps somewhat lacking in the iteration department).
If you’ve tried YouTube TV yourself, let us know what you think – along with your take on AllianceBernstein’s theory.
