Apple TV sure looks like the new HBO

Industry insiders have been talking about it since its launch in 2019, Wired declared it in 2024, and this year's Emmy show seems to have cemented it: Apple TV is the new HBO.

Since the turn of the millennium, HBO has been synonymous with great series. You could highlight The Sopranos, The Wire, Succession, Band of Brothers, True Detective and Game of Thrones, but there are many more.

Since the merger with Discovery, however, HBO has started to lose its way. HBO Max has increased its focus on reality programming, which has come at the expense of drama. There are still great series such as House of the Dragon, Hacks and The White Lotus, but HBO no longer shines quite as brightly in the sky. HBO Max has gone mainstream.


HBO's position is under pressure
HBO is unique, but the role it has occupied for so long is under pressure. In Netflix's early years, Ted Sarandos – now co-CEO – famously said that Netflix's goal was "to become HBO faster than HBO can become us".

For a while, it seemed that Netflix had the ambition and will, but in recent years the great series have become more few and far between. Netflix has gone mainstream. Sarandos has since said that he regrets the comparison.

In 2019, Apple entered the fray. It did so with Apple TV+, which launched with just eight series. The mission of the streaming service, which today is simply called Apple TV, was to become "the new home for the world's most creative storytellers", it said.

Eddy Cue, who has overall responsibility for Apple's media services, said shortly afterwards that the strategy was to create the best content, not the most – quality over quantity.


Apple TV as the new HBO
Despite lots of skepticism at launch in 2019, the comparison with HBO began to circulate among industry insiders and the press as more series landed on Apple TV.

CNBC wrote in 2020 that Apple was positioning itself as the next HBO. For example, it struck a deal with former HBO chief Richard Plepler.

In January 2024, respected tech culture publication Wired proclaimed that "Apple TV+ is the new HBO". Perhaps premature, or perhaps Wired – as so often before – was simply ahead of its time. In June this year, The Verge asked the question "Is Apple TV the new HBO?", which it answered itself yesterday with a blunt "Yes".

The occasion was Apple TV knocking HBO off the top spot at this year's Emmy Awards. Apple took home 29 Emmy awards compared to HBO's 21. Since the turn of the millennium, HBO has only been matched or surpassed a few times as measured in Emmy wins – by Netflix and Disney's FX – but the consensus is that Apple has proven its worth after a string of fantastic series in recent years.

If Apple TV can maintain the pace over the next 3 years, for its 10th anniversary, the last remaining critics will likely start singing the same tune.


HBO comments on the development
Hollywood media are increasingly embracing the idea and in the wake of this year's Emmy Awards, Deadline asked about the power struggle:

- "Look, we've had very formidable competitors in going back to Showtime, FX, AMC, Netflix, Amazon, so  Apple, everybody, keeps us on our toes, I think we do our best work. It's a little scary that they're a trillion-dollar company, but we'll continue to do what we do, which is put out the best shows that we can," said Casey Bloys, Chairman and CEO of HBO and Max Content, to Deadline.

It is a reference to the new reality in which HBO's dominant position is being challenged by tech giants such as Amazon, Apple and Netflix rather than traditional TV channel networks.

Eddy Cue, SVP for Services and Health at Apple, also commented to Deadline following the Emmy show.

- "We're trying to create the best shows we can, that tell the best stories that you can to get human emotion, and we do that. If we can do that, then everything else, will come. I've been at Apple for 38 years, and we're trying to make the best product. If I knew how to make 200 great TV shows, we would."


What to watch on Apple TV
It was the horror-comedy series Widow's Bay from Apple TV that emerged as the big Emmy winner with 14 awards, followed by HBO's DTF St. Louis and The Pitt with 7 awards each. Hot on their heels was Apple's Pluribus with 6 awards.

Other popular and critically acclaimed titles on Apple TV include sci-fi series Silo, Severance, For All Mankind, Star City, Dark Matter, Murderbot and Foundation, drama and comedy series such as Ted Lasso, Shrinking, The Studio, Pachinko, Mythic Quest, Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed and Trying as well as crime series such as Slow Horses, Sugar and Black Bird.

As for HBO, it is preparing to roll out Harry Potter as its next major flagship series. The series premieres on December 25 this year.

Apple TV costs $15/month after a 7-day trial. All content on the streaming service is available in 4K Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos at no additional cost.

All that's left to ask is: Do you agree?