Apple TV+ price rise hits Australia

Apple is raising the subscription fee of its video streaming service Apple TV+ from $12.99 to $15.99 per month in Australia.

The increase of more than 20 per cent took effect on Friday, 22 August, as the technology giant hiked costs across multiple markets — including the United States, where the price of a subscription rose 30 per cent.

Existing Apple TV+ subscribers would see the higher price 30 days after their next renewal date, Apple said, but pricing for its Apple One services bundle — which includes Apple TV+ — would remain unchanged.

While it still possessed a smaller library of content than most of its competitors, the company said in a statement to Information Age that Apple TV+ had expanded its offerings and remained ad-free.

“Since its launch, Apple TV+ has expanded its deep library of hundreds of exclusive Apple Originals, with thousands of hours of premium programming across genres and brand new releases weekly — all ad-free,” a spokesperson said.

Apple TV+ launched in 2019 at a cost of $7.99 per month in Australia, before raising its monthly price to $9.99 in October 2022 and $12.99 in October 2023.

Apple's video service reportedly runs at a loss

Apple TV+ has reportedly lost the iPhone maker more than $1.5 billion ($US1 billion) annually due to costs outstripping revenue, according to a March report by The Information.

Apple has reportedly spent billions of dollars each year on content, but reduced costs by around $770 ($US500) million last year “as [CEO Tim] Cook and other executives took a harder line on spending”, according to the publication.

However, including the company’s other services such as the App Store, Apple Music, and iCloud, Apple’s services revenue reached a new all-time high of more than $42 billion ($US27 billion) in the three months to 28 June.

_{Hit Apple TV+ series 'Severance' received 27 nominations for the 2025 Emmy Awards. Image: Apple / Supplied}

The company’s video service has been estimated to have around 45 million subscribers globally, although Apple has not released specific numbers or financial results for Apple TV+ and has not commented on reports of running the division at a loss.

Market leader Netflix, by comparison, had over 300 million paying subscribers at the end of 2024 — around seven million of which were estimated to be in Australia.

Amid its latest subscription price hike, Apple touted upcoming new seasons of popular original series such as The Morning Show, Slow Horses, and Palm Royale.

Apple TV+ series Severance received the most Emmy nominations of any television show this year, receiving 27 nods in July ahead of the award show in September.