Apple Quietly Just Put Every Streaming Service on Notice

On Monday, at the end of a press release announcing that F1: The Movie would be coming to Apple’s streaming service in December, the company quietly slipped in a sentence explaining that “Apple TV+ is now simply Apple TV, with a vibrant new identity.”

I’m not really sure about the vibrant new identity part, but—as you might expect—Apple is taking some heat. It makes sense considering the company now has a streaming service called Apple TV that lives inside an app called Apple TV, that runs on a hardware device called, well, Apple TV.

At first, it seems like a small, if not confusing, change. But make no mistake—this is Apple quietly putting every streaming service on notice.

Look, we all lived through the phase where every streaming service (except, I guess, Netflix which has no reason to care what anyone that isn’t YouTube is doing), added Plus to the end of its name. Disney Plus, Paramount Plus, ESPN Plus. If it wasn’t a plus it was a Max. Apple was no different.

Look, Apple’s naming problem has been obvious for years. There was the Apple TV hardware, the Apple TV app, and the Apple TV+ streaming service. They were three different things that all sounded exactly the same. Even Apple’s own marketing had a hard time making clear the difference.

And yet, the strangest part was that consumers had already solved the problem. Almost no one ever said “Apple TV Plus.” They just said “Apple TV.” Apple, for all its control over language and design, finally caught up to the way people actually talk.

I actually think there’s something else happening here. This isn’t just Apple renaming a service—it’s reframing what Apple TV means altogether. This, of course, is helpful considering that it has meant a lot of different things previously. Until now, the physical streaming box has always overshadowed the service. The device was the “real” Apple TV, while the streaming platform was a nice little bonus.

Apple, however, wants to change that narrative. I think that, for whatever reason, Apple very much wants to make its high-quality, if not small, collection of original shows something everyone has to have. This move is an attempt to make the service the main act.

I don’t think it takes a brand strategist to realize that the thing Apple wants you to care about isn’t the box—it’s the streaming service. Apple doesn’t care whether you’re watching Apple TV on an Apple TV or in the Apple TV app on a smart TV. It just wants you to pay attention to its small collection of high-quality shows and movies.

This rebrand unifies Apple’s video ecosystem under one identity and gives the hardware a purpose beyond specs and price. It turns the Apple TV 4K into a premium gateway for Apple’s growing catalog of originals and licensed content. More importantly, it shifts the conversation from a box you buy to a brand you subscribe to. That’s important, because Apple isn’t just competing for attention anymore—it’s competing to become a habit.

There’s also a not-so-subtle message to every other streaming service.

By dropping the “+,” Apple is signaling that it thinks it no longer needs the qualifier. It doesn’t need to be “plus.” It’s a statement of confidence—and a reminder that Apple TV isn’t an app or a box—it’s Apple’s entire entertainment platform. The “+” era is over.

Look, I know that it seems confusing, and I have to admit that at first, I thought it was absurd. Apple now has three things that all have the same name.

I also know that it would be dangerous to read too much into what could easily be passed off as a branding tweak. But I don’t think Apple is nearly confused about its strategy as the naming might seem. And, I suspect this is just one step in an attempt to reposition its streaming service regardless of what device they watch it on, whether that’s on an iPhone, MacBook, PlayStation, or Roku. The device doesn’t matter.

The subtle genius of this move is that it tells the world that Apple’s streaming ambitions aren’t a side project—they’re the core of its media strategy. It’s not chasing Netflix or Disney+ anymore. It’s building what it hopes is the default entertainment platform for all of its users.

That’s why I think every other streaming service should be paying attention. Apple has spent real money building up its content library, and has mostly focused on high-quality shows like Ted Lasso, Severance, Shrinking, and The Studio. For what it’s worth, Apple has a lot of money, and eventually it’s going to spend enough of that money to build up a catalog people are willing to pay for.