Apple TV execs dismiss introducing an ad tier, buying Warner Bros. Discovery

The heads of Apple TV have “no plans” to bring ads to the streaming service, balking, at least for now, at a strategy that has driven success for Apple’s streaming rivals. In its November 2025 issue, British movie magazine Screen International asked Eddy Cue, senior vice president of Apple Services, if there are plans to launch an ad-based subscription tier for Apple TV. Cue responded: Nothing at this time. … I don’t want to say no forever, but there are no plans. If we can stay aggressive with our pricing, it’s better for consumers not to get interrupted with ads. The comments follow reports over the years suggesting that Apple has been seeking knowledge on how to build a streaming ads business. Most recently, The Telegraph reported that Apple TV executives met with the United Kingdom’s ratings body, Barb, to discuss what tracking ads on Apple TV would look like. In 2023, Apple hired advertising exec Lauren Fry as head of video and Apple News ad sales. For Apple, “aggressive” pricing has meant three price hikes since Apple TV’s 2019 launch and a current monthly subscription fee of $13. For comparison, Netflix starts at $18 per month without ads, and Disney+ is $19/month without ads. Introducing ads seems like a natural progression for Apple TV, not only because that’s what the competition is doing, but also because Apple TV reportedly doesn’t make money. Cue and the other Apple executives interviewed for Screen International’s article didn’t discuss revenue or profits or specify how many subscribers Apple TV has (Cue did say that Apple TV is “growing faster” and has more viewers with “more viewing hours in this past year than” ever before). In March, The Information, citing two anonymous people “with direct knowledge of the matter,” reported that Apple TV costs Apple $1 billion per year. The publication’s sources claimed the service had about 45 million subscribers.