Apple products are generally found in the high-price segment. For example, the current Macbook Air 15 M3 costs $1,099 at Best Buy and the Apple TV 4K is not exactly cheap at $200. The fact that the US tech giant is offering its streaming service for free is thus somewhat unusual.
Apple TV+ free for one weekend
On X (formerly Twitter), Apple has released a teaser of its free weekend offer of Apple TV+. According to the video, the promotional period applies to January 4-5 and appears to be available worldwide. However, the teaser does not reveal any further details or anything about the conditions.
As Variety claims to have discovered, the entire catalog will be available free of charge. Registration takes place via an Apple ID, which users receive after registering for free at apple.com. The free weekend is not expected to be linked to specific hardware or other conditions, as is the case with the free 3-month subscription. In the latter case, Apple TV+ is free for three months provided an iPhone, iPad or Apple TV product is purchased in advance.
What Apple hopes to achieve with this
2025 has begun and quite a few households have taken the days off between New Year's Day and the weekend. Apple is thus cleverly taking advantage of the timing by appealing to a large number of customers still in holiday mode, thereby potentially expanding its market share.
In the third quarter of 2024, Apple TV+ saw its market share in the US drop slightly to 8%, having lost ground to Paramount+ after overtaking it in the preceding quarter. It remains far behind the top dogs Amazon Prime Video and Netflix with 22% and 21%, respectively. JustWatch provides a full list of the market share rankings:
- Amazon Prime Video: 22%
- Netflix: 21%
- Max: 13%
- Disney+: 12%
- Hulu: 10%
- Paramount +: 9%
- Apple TV+: 8%
- Peacock: 1%
- Others: 4%
Source(s)
X, Variety, Apple, JustWatch via 9to5mac
Image source: Pixabay / Jankuss