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Apple reportedly has '$1 billion war chest' earmarked for Hollywood shows

17 Aug 2017 | Rasmus Larsen |

Apple is gearing up to spend $1 billion dollars to procure and produce Hollywood content over the coming year. The company could produce as many as 10 TV series, according to a report by Wall Street Journal.

’Game of Thrones’ ambitions

Netflix, Amazon, and soon Apple, if we are to believe the report, are increasing their investments in Hollywood content. Apple has reportedly earmarked $1 billion dollars to spend over the next year. For comparison, HBO spends $2b annually and Netflix spends $7 billion annually.

Apple is planning to procure and produce mainly TV series, according to the Wall Street Journal. It could produce as many as 10 TV series, reports WSJ, with at least one of them being as ambitious as HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’. A single episode of Game of Throne costs $10m to produce.

The company is already producing original content on a smaller scale. ’Planet of the Apps’ is a quiz show available to Apple Music subscribers. The company has also recently released new episodes of ‘Carpool Karaoke’ on its music service.

For the job, Apple has hired two veterans from Sony Pictures as well a former Warner Bros. executive.


Apple TV iTunes


Global distribution

Besides over 1 billion iPhone/iPad devices in active use, the company sells the Apple TV media player. It provides access to content via apps, including iTunes that offer with movies and TV series on a pay-per-view basis. Apple could easily push its original content on a global scale via its devices.

A budget of $1 billion dollars may not sound significant when compared to Netflix’s budget but it is more or less the same budget as Amazon Video operated with in the first year. Apple has over 261 billion in its booming cash pile and more than 210 billion dollars in annual revenue so it can surely ramp up the budget, if necessary.

- Source: WSJ

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