Apple could be working on plans to offer an ad-supported subscription tier to its Apple TV+ streaming service if recent hires by the company are any indicator.
Business Insider reports that Apple recently hired Joseph Cady, who spent more than 14 years as an ad executive for NBCUniversal. Cady’s job was focused on data-driven and targeted advertising, and he had responsibility for the Comcast subsidiary’s partnerships with Amazon, Google, TikTok, and others, according to the report.
Cady is expected to work alongside Winston Crawford, Apple’s head of global ad sales. Apple’s TV+ team reports to Crawford. He had helped lead Apple’s Major League Soccer ad sales pitch with Todd Teresi, lead of Apple’s ads division.
There have been several other recent hires to Apple’s advertising team, including former Peacock video ads account manager Chandler Taylor, Jacqueline Bleazey from FanDuel’s ad sales team, and Jason Brum, who has been employed by DirecTV, NBCUniversal, and more.
While Apple has not officially announced that they are working on an ad-supported tier for Apple TV+, it seems only logical that Apple will join Netflix, Disney+, and Max in joining a lower-priced ad-supported tier to its streaming service.
Since Apple in October increased Apple TV+ subscription prices to a month from $6.99 a month, increasing the annual subscription price from $69 per year to $99 per year, the addition of an ad-supported service tier competitively makes sense.
