If you’d told me at the start of 2025 that a Seth Rogen comedy about a movie studio would be the best thing I’d seen halfway through the year, I wouldn’t have believed you.
The Studio on Apple TV+ is a sharp, inventive workplace comedy co-created by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. On paper, it follows Matt Remick (Seth Rogen) as a new studio head who struggles to balance his love for film with actually doing his job.
I say “on paper” because it’s more than that. It’s a light-hearted satire of Hollywood that touches on its politically correct (and not-so-correct) practices, the human follies capable of ruining movies and the impact studios have on artists.
It’s special in other ways, too. One episode depicts Matt on a film set where the director, under severe time constraints, tries to capture a one-shot at sunset – while the episode itself is a single shot. Or another one that’s portrayed like a ’40s crime noir as he and his right-hand man Sal (Ike Barenholtz) have to find missing film.
Indeed, The Studio highlights Apple’s ongoing commitment to producing high-caliber content. While many other platforms are spraying content like tommy guns and hoping something sticks, Apple is a precise sniper that (usually) hits its target.
Last year, Apple TV+ beat Netflix and Prime Video for our Streaming Service of the Year award and it’s continuing to prove its dominance in 2025.
Quality over quantity
There’s a big reason that Apple flies under the radar.
According to JustWatch, in the USA Paramount+ has 1,325 titles, Disney+ has 2,057, Netflix offers 7,270 and Prime Video boasts an industry-leading 24,184 – more than 20,000 movies and almost 3,000 TV shows (though this number may be boosted by rentable movies and inclusions from other platforms).
Apple TV+ has just 286.
This makes it hard to recommend it as a primary service. It won’t let you watch 10 Things I Hate About You for the 17th time, the 30th spin-off of Real Housewives or every Seinfeld episode while you eat dinner.
I don’t want to bad-talk other services too much. Just this year Disney+ and Max have added new seasons of great shows like Andor, The Last of Us and The White Lotus, while Prime and Netflix added new series in Narrow Road to the Deep North series and Adolescence.
But they’re diamonds in the rough. Where other services spend billions on diverse libraries, Apple spends hundreds of millions on making sure its original content is elite.
And, if you’re yet to subscribe to Apple TV+ (or haven’t explored it since Ted Lasso), there’s such an incredible wealth of content to discover. With shows like Black Bird, Shrinking, Maters of the Air, Bad Monkey, Slow Horses, Dickinson, Bad Sisters and a whole lot more, it could be your primary service – at least for a few months out of every year.
Still, despite it’s quality, Apple TV+ offers a small content library. But, it makes up for that in a key way.
Better and cheaper with no ads
One time I casually mentioned in our guide to the best streaming services that Apple TV+ is the best-value streaming service on the market. My colleague questioned this by asking, “Isn’t Prime Video… free?”
In a sense, that’s true. Prime Video is a free inclusion with a $14.99 / £8.99 / AU$9.99 Amazon Prime subscription. That’s with ads now, mind you – you now have to pay $2.99 / £2.99 / AU$2.99 to go ad free.
If you’re a regular Amazon shopper, that value is hard to beat. But Prime Video also doesn’t have the nicest user experience.
Let’s take a quick glance at the Prime Video app – and it’s a similar setup across many operating systems. There’s the Featured Originals and Exclusives section at the top, followed by Subscriptions You Might Like featuring Apple TV+, MGM+, Bein Sports and many others. Then there’s New Release movies for rent or purchase and Top TV Shows, many of which aren’t even available on Prime.
It’s comparatively overwhelming and cluttered, which is the main reason I hardly ever use it… unless I’m watching a specific series like The Boys, Invincible or something new from The Inspired Unemployed boys.
Meanwhile, Apple TV+ offers a clean, intuitive UI. Items are easy to find, and its library is easy to explore. And – bonus – there’s not thousands of titles to sift through. The store is also clearly separated from subscription-inclusive content.
And it does all this at a price that beats every other service (except perhaps Prime Video, depending on where in the world you live) out of the water.
How much cheaper is it?
An Apple TV+ subscription costs just $9.99 / £8.99 / AU$12.99 with no ads – competing with many competitors’ cheapest ad-based tiers, as you can see below.
|
Service |
US Price |
UK Price |
AU Price |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Netflix |
$7.99 |
£5.99 |
AU$7.99 |
|
Disney+ |
$9.99 |
£4.99 |
Not available |
|
HBO Max |
$9.99 |
Not available |
AU$11.99 |
The price discrepancy becomes even more stark when you look at the prices of a premium subscription from the services above.
|
Service |
US Price |
UK Price |
AU Price |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Netflix (Premium) |
$24.99 |
£18.99 |
AU$25.99 |
|
Disney+ (Premium) |
$19.99 |
£12.99 |
AU$20.99 |
|
HBO Max (Premium) |
$20.99 |
Not available |
AU$21.99 |
And that’s my argument for how its smaller library is offset by access to superior drama, thriller and comedy series at a compelling price point.
Consider recent acclaimed shows such as Adolescence, Baby Reindeer, and Beef from Netflix, or Shōgun and The Bear on Disney+, alongside the best shows on HBO Max. These are as good as TV gets, but such standouts are few and far between on most platforms – with perhaps the exception of HBO.
While Apple might not reach those highs with every new show, it certainly tries to be consistent with the quality it provides.
Even some of the worst series on Apple TV+ by IMDB rating – like Before, Prime Target, Government Cheese and Sunny – still have a maintain a level of quality that is too often absent from other services.
The flip side is that its smaller library is a big reason that its subscriber numbers are dwarfed by its competitors (according to FlixPatrol). And, while many of the best streaming services have recently become profitable (per Forbes), Apple TV+ is not.
However, given Apple is worth almost three trillion dollars – and Netflix is worth $500 billion – it can afford not to be. Which is good for its existing subscribers because, as well as a generally higher quality production, Apple’s budget is most noticeable through its casts.
It’s a star-led league
If The Studio was made by any other service, would it have worked? Probably, but I don’t think so.
We pondered back in 2020 – when Scorsese decided to sign with Apple over Netflix and other services – whether Scorsese signed simply because Apple has more cash to burn on a single director. It certainly has more cash to flash, but that’s not the only reason that it attracts top-tier talent now.
It was a landmark occasion for Apple TV+ when CODA won the Academy Award for Best Picture at the Oscars in 2022. It proved that streaming services could go toe-to-toe with “real” movies if they tried.
It seems clear that people see Apple working with people like Scorsese, Tom Hanks and Ridley Scott – creating films like Killers of the Flower Moon – and want to get involved, even with projects they wouldn’t usually. Just look at the highly-anticipated F1 starring Brad Pitt.
That’s why I don’t think any other service could get Martin Scorsese to have his heart broken in The Studio when he realizes his new movie (Kool-Aid, based on the Jonestown Massacre) has been bought by Matt Remick and will never see the light of day.
Similarly in Brian Cranston’s performance as the completely unhinged and unforgettable Griffin Mill (in one of his best roles ever) for what must be 30 minutes of screentime across 10 episodes.
All you have to do is look at HBO’s The Franchise, which, in a similar way to The Studio, follows the crew of a movie franchise fighting, which was promptly cancelled after one mediocre season.
Masters of the Air stars Austin Butler, Presumed Innocent is led by Jake Gyllenhaal and Gary Oldman heads Slow Horses. Then there’s Cate Blanchett’s fantastic performance in Disclaimer and one of my favorite Colin Farrell roles is as a brilliant private investigator in Sugar. There’s no chance I’d have watched Wolfs or The Instigators if they weren’t led by Casey Affleck, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt and George Clooney.
Admittedly Apple TV+ isn’t for everyone, but I think its very best shows are. So while it might not be a service you subscribe to forever, the value you’ll get in a short amount of time with Apple TV+ is undeniable.
And The Studio should be reason #1 that you check it out. All 10 episodes are out and bingeable, so you can watch it and cancel, only coming back to watch season two.
While you’re subscribed, make sure you at least give the following series a chance: Pachinko, Bad Sisters, Silo, For All Mankind, Black Bird, Dark Matter and Trying.
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