Apple wants to bring sporting events to its streaming platform

According to a new report by the investment firm Wedbush, Apple is in the midst of an “aggressive hunt” for potential deals that would allow it to stream live sports content on its streaming platform as part of a broader effort to boost subscription numbers.

In a new note to investors, reported by MacRumors, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said he sees Apple’s decision not to acquire a movie studio yet as a clear indication that the company right now is primarily targeting live sports content, seen as “a key to its future success in growing the audience for its streaming video service”.

Apple did not provide details on the subscriber numbers of Apple TV+ since the digital streaming service began, but Wedbush estimates that Apple TV+ has about 20 million paid subscribers among about 45 million viewers, the rest of whom are enjoying free trials included with other Apple product purchases.

This is a fraction of the number of subscriptions enjoyed by the likes of Disney+ and Netflix. Knowing this, Apple is apparently “ready to spend billions” on live sports content over the next four years to drive the future growth of Apple TV+ and make it a key monetization engine in its burgeoning ecosystem of services, which earned it $80 billion in annual revenue in the last fiscal year’last.