Apple Services, Home Of Apple TV+, Has “Well Over” 1 Billion Paid Subscriptions; CEO Tim Cook Salutes Martin Scorsese

Apple Services, the division that includes Apple TV+ as well as Apple Music, Apple News, Apple Arcade, Apple Books, Podcasts, Fitness, the App store, Apple One and other things Apple, saw record revenue last quarter of $23 billion, up 11%, with paid subscriptions continuing to grow in the “strong double digits” and now “well over” one billion, said CFO Luca Maestri.

That’s more than double the number four years ago, he said on a call after quarterly earnings, joining CEO Tim Cook.

Apple Services already had a million subscriptions last year, and doesn’t break out the individual service businesses. But Cook waxed enthusiastic about video in particular, especially Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, which has just boosted Apple’s Oscar nomination tally.

Cook noted early in the call that Killers has “earned more than 200 accolades, including Best Film of the year from the New York Film Critics Circle, nine BAFTA nominations, a Golden Globe win, and ten Oscar nominations, including Pest Picture.”

Apple Original Films’ Napoleon by Ridley Scott, earned three Academy Award nominations, for Costume Design, Production Design & Visual Effects.

“Across all Apple tv+ productions, we’ve now earned 2,050 award nominations and 450 wins since we introduced the service,” Cook said.

He also gave shoutouts to the Apple Super Bowl Halftime Show with Usher coming to Las Vegas on Feb. 11; and the Feb. 21 start of Major League Soccer via the MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app, featuring Lionel Messi’s first full season with Inter Miami.

“We continue to build on the breadth and the quality of our current services, from Oscar-nominated theatrical releases, to more publications on News+…to exciting new games on Arcade,” added Maestri.

The CFO noted that Apple has hit 2.2 billion devices in people’s hands worldwide, calling that a “solid foundation of the future expansion of our services business.”

Apple reported revenue of $119.6 billion, up 2%, beating expectation and up for the first time in a while after four quarters of declining sales. Net profits and iPhone also rose.