Yahoo Finance Apple (AAPL) Expands Apple TV+ Portfolio With World War II Drama
Apple AAPL is expanding Apple TV+ content with the unveiling of the first images of its upcoming World War II drama, Masters of the Air. The nine-episode limited series will make its global debut on Jan 26, 2024.
Masters of the Air follows the true story of an American bomber group in World War II. The series is executive produced by Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman. These three were also involved in the production of Band of Brothers and The Pacific.
Masters of the Air is based on Donald L. Miller’s book of the same name and the show is scripted by John Orloff. It follows the men of the 100th Bomb Group as they conduct bombing raids over Nazi Germany amid frigid conditions, lack of oxygen and sheer terror of combat conducted at 25,000 feet in the air.
Apple TV+ Gaining From Robust Portfolio
Apple TV+, despite having fewer subscribers than Netflix NFLX and Disney DIS, has been gaining recognition due to its impressive content portfolio that includes shows like Ted Lasso. Its animated movie, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, won an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film this year. Last year, Apple won three Academy Awards for CODA.
Apple’s impressive run at the Academy Awards has been instrumental in driving the recognition of Apple TV+ in the saturated streaming market currently dominated by the likes of Amazon AMZN, Netflix and Disney+.
Apple Inc. Price and Consensus
Apple Inc. price-consensus-chart | Apple Inc. Quote
Apple shares have outperformed Netflix and Disney but underperformed Amazon. Apple shares have returned 36.6% while Amazon and Netflix shares have returned 52.3% and 29.4%, respectively. Disney shares have declined 4.5% year to date.
Apple is expanding its footprint in the entertainment industry with plans to spend $1 billion on producing movies, per Bloomberg. The iPhone maker partnered with Paramount for the distribution of its upcoming movie, Killers of the Flower Moon.
The growing popularity of Apple TV+, as well as services like Apple News and Fitness+, has been beneficial for Apple’s Services business, which has become a major revenue generator lately.
The Services portfolio currently has more than 1 billion paid subscribers and accounted for 25.9% of sales in the fiscal third quarter. Apple’s Services revenues increased 8.2% from the year-ago quarter to $21.21 billion.
For the fiscal fourth quarter, this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company expects iPhone and Services’ year-over-year performance to accelerate from the June quarter. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fourth-quarter fiscal 2023 revenues for the Services segment is pegged at $21.33 billion, indicating 11.2% year-over-year growth.
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