After a rocky start, Apple's streaming service is becoming harder and harder to ignore

• Apple TV+ has become a must-have streaming service after a shaky start.
• It reflects the growth of Apple's services business in recent years.

Apple TV+ has evolved to become a must-have streaming service.

When Apple first jumped into the streaming space in November 2019, it touted prestige originals with big-name stars, but the shows landed with a whimper, and there were only a select few of them. Even at just $5 per month, I called it a terrible deal ahead of its launch.

Then "Ted Lasso" came along. The comedy series landed in August 2020 and gradually became a word-of-mouth sensation, even winning the Emmy for best comedy series last year — achieving in a little over a year for Apple what it took Netflix nearly a decade to do.

It's been riding that momentum ever since with more Emmys love, a huge Oscars win, and critical acclaim for shows like "Severance" and "For All Mankind."

Whip Media released a survey in June of 2,460 consumers in the US that found that Apple TV+ was the major streaming service that had made the biggest gain in satisfaction from 2021 to 2022, 62% to 76%.

Apple hasn't broken out subscriber numbers for Apple TV+, but the subscription-analytics firm Antenna estimated that it has over 16 million, according to The New York Times. That would put it far below other new streaming services like Disney+ (138 million) and Paramount+ (40 million), but ahead of Peacock (13 million).

But Apple TV+ is unique compared to most other streaming services.

Apple TV+ reflects CEO's commitment to its services business

Apple's bread and butter is in its products, and its services are more of an extension of those. If Apple can drive customers through its products to its services — which also include iCloud, Apple Music, Apple Arcade, and more — then that's an added bonus.

The growing strength of Apple TV+ reflects Apple CEO Tim Cook's commitment in recent years to growing its services business, which enjoys a cushy gross margin topping 70%, far higher than Apple's overall gross margin. In 2020, services accounted for 20% of Apple's total sales.

In its earnings report on Thursday, Apple reported 12% year-over-year revenue growth for services and that the business has 860 million subscribers, up from 825 million in the previous quarter.

It was slower year-over-year growth compared to the previous quarter, but when zooming out, was still a bright spot for the company.

Apple has impressed with acclaimed TV shows and movies — and it has its eye on sports next

Apple didn't exactly make a splash in the streaming waters when it first launched its streaming service.

"The Morning Show," arguably its flagship series at launch with the star power of Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steve Carell behind it, was initially a miss with critics. "See," a big-budget fantasy series, fared even worse, and its first season received a 44% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes.

It had other shows with potential, like the space-race drama "For All Mankind." But overall, its lack of an extensive library of licensed titles, along with a limited collection of exclusive originals, didn't do much in persuading me to subscribe.

But Apple TV+ seemed to be gaining momentum with its post-launch wave of original programming.

• Even its derided launch shows like "The Morning Show" and "See" have grown on critics. "For All Mankind" is now one of the best shows on TV (don't just ask me, ask the likes of Rolling Stone and Vox).
• It became the first streaming service to win the Oscar for best picture earlier this year, for its film "CODA," beating Netflix to the honor.
• It gained 52 Emmy nominations this year, led by "Ted Lasso" and the drama series "Severance," which was named one of the best shows of the year so far by Rolling Stone, The AV Club, and more.

It's not stopping at TV and film, though. Apple TV+ is the frontrunner to win the rights for NFL Sunday Ticket, which shows out-of-market NFL games, according to The New York Times.

Tech giants like Apple, Amazon, and Google see sports as the next frontier in dominating the streaming space (and every other facet of consumers' lives). Apple also landed a streaming deal with Major League Baseball earlier this year.

Apple TV+ still has to build a catalog of licensed content, and in that regard it can't compete with the likes of Netflix, HBO Max, and others. But it has a solid ratio of originals I watch compared to the amount it actually has — and it's inexpensive at that.