Apple TV: Brand Strength and Growth Opportunities

Leaders from the world’s largest companies, equity research firms, hedge funds, and the Federal Reserve rely on Morning Consult’s 30,000 daily survey interviews in 45 countries covering more than 5,000 brands, economic indicators, and risk metrics. Schedule a demo to access the always-on consumer signal.

Category Advantage measures the drivers of brand strength by capturing both mental availability (likelihood a brand comes to mind) and emotional closeness (how strongly consumers connect with a brand) among all competitors. Schedule a private briefing on this research. .

The bottom line up front  

Apple TV is the category’s most selective streamer. After controlling for brand size, Apple TV shows no broad CEP ownership, but it does overperform modestly in premium, interruption-free viewing (+4) and intentional, quality-led consumption. It underperforms across most everyday, habitual, and utility-driven entry points. Apple TV does not win by being everywhere. It wins by being chosen deliberately — and ignored otherwise.

Apple TV’s Role in the Category Today

• Apple TV functions as a boutique service. Viewers retrieve Apple TV when they are looking for a specific title, when they want fewer interruptions, or when they are in a “quality over quantity” mindset.
• Apple TV is not a default, not a utility, and not a habit engine. It is episodic, intentional, and selective. This makes it structurally different from every other major streamer in the category.

Where Apple TV Wins Mentally

1. Avoiding interruptions from advertisements

Apple TV shows positive Mental Advantage (+4) on avoiding interruptions from advertisements—behind Netflix (+10) but notably positive in a category where most services are neutral or negative on this moment.

Why this matters: This reinforces Apple TV as premium, controlled, and low-friction. It is one of the few brands with permission to play this role credibly.

2. Switching to free ad-supported streaming (selective edge)

Apple TV shows a modest positive (+3) on switching to free ad-supported streaming.

Interpretation: This reflects Apple TV’s perceived flexibility within the Apple ecosystem (free trials, bundle inclusion) rather than volume-led value positioning.

Apple TV Mental Advantage: Narrow Wins, Broad Gaps

Where Apple TV Participates—But Does Not Differentiate

Apple TV is near-neutral on watching new and exciting movies and shows (0), finding something entertaining to watch (0), unwinding after a long day (0), and weekend binge-watching (−2). People do watch Apple TV this way—but it is not mentally preferred. Apple TV competes here without winning.

Where Apple TV Is Structurally Weak

1. Habitual and settling moments

Apple TV underperforms on background viewing, binge commitment (−2), and re-watching nostalgic classics. Apple TV is not built for passive or repeat-heavy consumption. Its library is too small and too curated for habitual use.

2. Live and utility moments

Apple TV under-indexes on live sports, news, and cable-replacement moments. Apple TV is not mentally coded as a utility. It is positioned for deliberate, quality-seeking occasions—not everyday TV replacement.

3. Family and kids viewing

Apple TV underperforms on entertaining the kids (−4)—far behind Disney+’s dominant +45. Apple TV lacks a family-safe mental shortcut. That role is structurally owned by Disney+.

Why Apple TV Is Choice-Sensitive

• Apple TV’s usage is highly sensitive to friction. If the viewer can’t immediately find something premium, or if the perceived quality gap narrows, they leave.
• Apple TV benefits when discovery is guided and finite, not expansive. Its value proposition depends on curation—the moment it feels like “just another streaming service,” it loses its reason to exist.

Why This Matters Now

• As streaming fragments, services with unclear roles are most vulnerable. Apple TV is protected by its intentionality—but constrained by it.
• Growth depends on maintaining premium distinctiveness, not broadening usage occasions. Apple TV cannot compete on volume, habit, or breadth. It must compete on being worth choosing deliberately.

Strategic Implications

1. Defend premium, interruption-free viewing. This is Apple TV’s clearest mental edge. The +4 on ad-free viewing is modest but meaningful in a category moving toward ad tiers.

2. Avoid competing on breadth or habit. That territory is structurally owned by Netflix, Prime, and Hulu. Apple TV cannot win by being bigger; it can only win by being better.

3. Lean into curation, not volume. Apple TV should feel edited, not endless. The library’s smallness should be positioned as selectivity, not limitation.

4. Accept narrowness as a strength. Apple TV does not need to be daily to be valuable. It needs to be the service people choose when they want something worth watching—not the service they choose when they don’t know what to watch.

Core Insight: Apple TV wins when viewers choose quality on purpose—not when they’re casually deciding what to watch. That is the narrowest role in the category, but in a fragmenting landscape where premium distinctiveness is rare, it is also a defensible one.

About this research

Morning Consult conducts over 30,000 daily proprietary surveys in 45 countries covering more than 5,000 brands and 50 economic indicators. 

Our category advantage research is aimed at understanding the needs driving consumers in your category — and how your brand can own more of them. This research is built on validated principles of brand-driven growth and powered by Morning Consult’s industry-leading sampling technology.

Measure the true drivers of brand strength

Capture both mental availability (the likelihood your brand comes to mind when consumers face a need or occasion) and emotional closeness (how strongly consumers connect with your brand), benchmarked against competitors.

Uncover Category Entry Points (CEPs)

Directly tied to mental availability, see the specific needs, occasions, and triggers that drive purchase decisions in your category, and how strongly your brand is linked to them.

Pinpoint growth opportunities

Direct investment toward the moments and consumer segments with the greatest potential to grow your brand.

Turn insights into action fast

Get survey results in 4–5 days through a centralized dashboard and short-form memo that equips stakeholders with clear direction on where and how to win.

Learn more