Apple sells a million video downloads in 20 days

Apple just sent out a press release announcing that they've sold more than one million video downloads through the iTunes Music Store (they know as well as we do that sooner or later they're going to have to change that name). They don't break it down by type — we'd be curious to know how well TV shows are selling compared with music videos — but they do say that their best-sellers so far have been music videos from Michael Jackson (?!), Fatboy Slim, and Kanye West, Pixar's "For the Birds" and "Boundin'," and episodes of "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives." So is a million video downloads in just under three weeks any good? There isn't really anything else to compare it to, since no one else sells downloads of network TV shows online. (We should note that it only took Apple a week to sell a million music downloads in the week after they launched the iTunes Music Store back in 2003, though that was with a larger catalog of content and, of course, a lower purchase price.) Hopefully the movie studios and networks will consider this enough of a success to start offering more of their content for download online. We only hope they don't learn the wrong lesson: just because some people are willing to pay two bucks for a DRMed, 320 x 240 res download of "Lost" doesn't mean that there aren't people who want to download the show in high-def. A lot of those potential customers are already downloading the show — in high-def — for free using BitTorrent, and if you're going to convince a lot of them to pay, you're going to have to offer higher-resolution downloads at lower cost and with less cumbersome DRM; otherwise, why would they bother? Man, we're just wasting our time, aren't we?

[Thanks, Tom & Dave]

[Jacob Varghese @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I think it's a great way for networks to promote shows. I DLed 2 episodes of LOST, got hooked and ended up DLing the rest. Considering the limited amount of content, 1m DLs is great. I'm expecting them to increase content offerings in January at the expo if not before.

[Saffy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I think you have to take into consideration that most of these purchases are likely first time buyers who have the new iPod and just want to get a couple videos to play around with. I think Apple will have to wait about 6 months or so to see how many people are buying and returning to buy more, before they can really determine how successful this is. One million people logging on to check out a new feature of there gadget, does not a success make.

And how many of these purchases do you think came from journalists (like you guys) buying a couple vids to test and review the service?

Give it a few months. Then we'll really see. These numbers are only proof of the Apple hype machine, which we already know to be pretty good at what it does.

[Frankg @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

if people stay buying online videos at this rate it wont take too long before they launch the video ipod with bigger screen; at least they created a market which may be attractive enough for other movie companies to join

[Pedro @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I just wish the music videos (guess videos in general) would play over the airport express speakers and not just be confined to the computer speakers.

[Yorkslad @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Its a shame that there are no TV shoes available to UK iTunes stores. I think that the range of music videos is very limited at the moment, hence the Michael Jackson thing! More content, more TV shoes please!!

[Quentin @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

It's going to take more than shows like "Lost" and "That's So Raven" to get me to buy videos from there. Until they become more diverse, I will depend on converting my existing videos as a source for videos.

[tvshoe @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Tv shoes never look that good because they're interlaced. Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot.

[retsel @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

is u guys cant see the shift i can... i would have started downloading cartoons and discovery channel shorts from limewire.. :} and i have not even gotten my new ipod yet... (black 30 gig should be here tommorow...) this is taking off... i would be cool... if u could search for show etc and download it in 10 mins... for a monthly fee... so if apple wants to become my content provider they can... i will pay them 40 bucks a month to do this for me... bye bye tivo and hello to the real "on demand"... and all the neiche products that they can will bring.. and make it add free too... "this can be heaven"

[SteveJ @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

How many of those 1 million downloads were of the "I'll try it just for the heck of it" variety? Will we see an increase or drop off in the coming months? I know I purchased and downloaded one and only one - the pixar short Red's Dream. IMHO, Red's Dream sure wasn't worth $1.99 itself, but it was worth it just to try it once.

Since then I've downloaded some shows via torrent, currently just The Daily Show, for playback on my vPod. I'd love to be able to get automated downloads of current Daily Show from iTMS and I'd be willing to pay for it, but not $1.99 per episode! For The Daily Show that would be $10 a week, about $40 per month, $520 a year, just for one show. That doesn't make any sense at all.

Further, one of the big shortcomings of purchasing shows from iTMS is that you have to manually do it every time and download times aren't fast. It's not crazy long, but it does take time. Clearly these videos should be available via subscription via video podcast so they'd download over night without our need to even initiate it, ready to sync to our iPods in the morning. If they charged, say, $5 per month for the Daily Show video podcast, I'd do that, no question about it. I love to watch it on my vPod on the bus and train on my way to work in the morning. I'm not about to pay $60 a month for cable TV just to get one show, so torrents are my only option at the moment. Bring subscriptions and The Daily Show to iTMS and you've got a sale.

[James M. @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I bought a video iPod and indeed I downloaded a video just to see how it worked. Many will do that the first week. The screen is nice and bright, but frankly, it's too damn small. I'm disappointed and plan to sell it on eBay and take a loss. I'll perhaps buy the next generation.

[matt t @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Those of you who are suprised about poplarity of michael jackson have (obviously) never seen the Thriller video. Masterpiece. Its my alltime favorite, and im 15.

[ab @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Out of interest, how big is an episode of Lost?

[bah @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

This might be ok for the odd show you miss.. but if it's to end up paying more than the price of the DVD boxset for the entire season at a crappy 320*240 resolution, its a no thank you for me.

[Blue Balloon @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Time to push more high-speed available at home!

[BoomBoom @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I think 1 million is pretty damn good. How many iPod videos can be in the wild?

[josh @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

#8... so you have no use for an MP3 player? also, why did you buy in in the first place if you weren't sure you wanted it...?

[homer @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

personally I watch music videos for free with winamp. Of course is not compatible with Mac$

[Scott @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I don't even have an iPod and I downloaded a show just to see how it worked. Until the iPod fairy drops a 5G in my lap, I wouldn't purchase any more TV shows unless they up the the resolution. I've also downloaded a free video podcast from a local news station. Hopefully, there will be plenty of free content through iTunes. Wishful thinking.

ab-

Losts "Orientation" came in at 197 MB.

[Jake @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

This market could be huge. Right now, Apple is making available far less than 1% of the available video content out there. I think it's reasonable to guess than once the studios start selling more stuff (old TV shows mostly, some movies and first-run TV), Apple & others could easily sell 100 million episodes every 20 days, or 1.8 billion episodes a year. That's over $3.5 billion a year! Given that this the only content available now is low-def, no one besides Apple is in the game big-time, and it's US only right now, I think this could be a $10-20 billion market within 5 years. That may sound like a lot, but it's probably about $10-20/person (Europe, US & Japan). And most of that is just gravy for the studios since most of the stuff is already bought & paid for.

[Michael Moll @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I seem to be one of the few who are for Apple's video download service. At $1.99 a music video, I think you're being ripped off, but $1.99 for a 45 minute (they cut out the commercials!) episode of LOST is a steal, especially when you think your only paying double for what you'd pay for a 4 minute song.

This is also cool for people who don't have DVRs. I for one have had many of the various incarantions of the iPod, but will wait before I buy the new 5G version. I can't stand to buy a 2 hour battery life for video when I'm sure the battery will be upgraded at Mac World. I was one of the first to own a 4G iPod and also the ifrst to be disappointed when the photo came out 3 months later.

HOWEVER... I am a PowerBook user and enjoy watching the episodes of LOST on my laptop on my busride or during my breaks. And the videos look quite alright when played back in fullscreen mode on a laptop. Yes, they're not HD, but they look comparable to a TV.

I also bought the first boxed set of LOST, but for those who missed an episode, or, if you've ever seen LOST, like to go back and rewatch, you'll understand why iTunes selling videos is a good thing

[yardman @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Why in the world would you want to buy videos.

Apple can package sh!t in a nice box and you all will runout and buy it.

[Steve @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I've already set ups a system to convert my recorded shows to iPOD - the format is mpeg4 and 1 hour show takes up about 250 Megs. The downloaded shows (I downloaded Lost) has a much better quality than the ones I've recorded off the cable TV. I will probably continue to buy shows that I've missed, since my SnapStream's programming guide sometimes misses some shows. Overall, it's great to catch up on these recordings (I've already transferred over 24 hours of unwatched material, saving tons of disk space) when you are waiting, and it is not at all uncomfortable to watch in cafes, etc because it does not stand out like laptop screen (no embarrassment factor). It works great for me.

[DG @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I don't know what it will take for the large television syndicates to put old episodes on iTMS like Seinfeld or Simpsons. People would gladly pay $1-2 to buy a low-resolution, easily searchable, portable version of the their favorites. And considering that people will pay $40 for a boxed set of DVDs of shows still aired for free on TV (i.e. Seinfeld), it would appear a given to offer those shows on iTMS. Why haven't they done this yet?

[mouseman @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

go michael.

[Bluebird @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

What a rip off!

You can get music vids free from an artists website or fansites!!

[Paul @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

DG, Apple is supposed to be working out deals with other networks to provide additional shows. Seinfeld is NBC, and Simpsons is FOX... so that is reason #1 why they haven't provided this content yet.

I hope it happens soon. Somethign like The Simpsons would be a goldmine. Sure, you can see reruns every day on TV, but when you are reminded of a certain scene in a particular episode, you want to see it right away (even if it costs 2 bucks).

And since Fox won't have the more recent episodes out on DVD for another 10 years.. why not profit off of downloadable low-quality content in the mean time?

[meccanikal @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

"We should note that it only took Apple a week to sell a million music downloads in the week after they launched the iTunes Music Store back in 2003, though that was with a larger catalog of content and, of course, a lower purchase price."

How about counting how many people have the iPod with video? 20 million in 3 weeks is a lot.

[mikey @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

#20 nice. i'm glad i can watch videos for free and don't need binoculars cause my screen is twice as big. psp>ipod video

[KevinFreitas @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I agree with Peter -- the first thing I found myself asking when Jobs announced video was at what resolution? 320 doesn't cut it at all. Toss vids up there at 640+ still at $2 and I might consider it.

[Dave Nadig @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I mean this in the nicest possible way, but to that first poster: If you paid 2 bucks an episode to get the entire first season of lost in anything less than a better-than-DVD hi def, then you need an economics class. You can buy the DVD (with extra bits) for around 90 cents an episode off ebay. That's what I did, and I can watch it anywhere I want. I can compress it myself and carry it around in my laptop, or drag-and-drop it into Divx for playback on my PocketPC or Palm.

I love Apple, I love iPods, I love TV. I still think the business model is terrible here.

[deuce @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Here's another idea if you want music videos in quicktime for your vPod. Just buy quicktime pro (about $25 bucks) then you can save every video you watch in it. Plus on most artist sites you can get the video resolution much better than 320x240.

[Mac User F @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Hold your tongue.
Do not joke any further.

[T.H. @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

#19 That is the biggest load of bullcrap ever. I'm sure you think you're the living embodiment of impartiality. Your comments pretty much cement you as what I call the "anti-fanboy" who are the exact opposite of a fanboy. Instead of rabid loyalty to a company the anti-fanboy has a rabid (usually unfounded) hatred of a company.

The truth is Apple makes a very good MP3 player. It doesn't have all the features to suit everyone but it doesn't need to judging from iPod sales. I do agree some of the iPod sales are because it's the most popular device but a lot of DAP buyers are quite intelligent and bought the iPod because it suited their needs. Just because it doesn't suit your needs or wants doesn't mean it should automatically be labeled as a turd.

For everyone saying you can download TV episodes off BT and other P2P services or you can Tivo it, understand that you do not own TV episodes even though they are freely available and that it is illegal (or at least a grey area) for TV episodes and music videos to be distributed in such a fashion.

I do agree that 320x240 is too small and it should be at least 640x480 (DVD is 720x480) for me to even think of buying the videos myself. The other area of concern is the pricing for these videos which are more expensive than buying them on DVD. Sorry but videos full of DRM at lesser resolution than a DVD and costing more than a DVD is not exactly tempting me to buy videos.

[consumer @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Selling one million of ANYTHING (at $2/per)in 20 days is pretty impressive.

[KG @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

How do these videos officially iTunes bought look on a computer monitor? Can you fullscreen it with decent resolution on a 20"?

[Peter @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

slightly off topic, but mentioned in this post, so i'd like to ask. is downloading of tv shows using torrents legal?

[Navie @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I know it would be extra-keen to download HiDef programming. But think of the bandwidth and the time needed to download such episodes.

Remember, the iTMS exists only to provide software for the iPod hardware. Since the beginning of time, the software always sells the hardware. Always keep that in mind. How would Apple benefit from selling HiDef TV shows?

[KG @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I could see Apple benefiting if these videos were viewable both on the iPod AND a computer monitor.

[Mike Manzano @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I downloaded all episodes of Lost because (1) it was easy (2) it was fast and (3) it was more than watchable even when blown up full-screen.

Beyond that, and probably the biggest reason I did it is because it was easy to find. I didn't have to search long to find what I wanted.

I suppose I could have used BitTorrent to do it, but (1) I know how easy it is to do with iTunes because I've downloaded music before and (2) know almost nothing about BitTorrent.

So, there's $0.02.

[mikataur @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Why do they have to change the name?

Radio Shack sells more than radios, and is not even a shack!

[mikataur @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

#26 "don't need binoculars cause my screen is twice as big. psp>ipod video"

Actually, you'd be surprised. I have both a PSP and a video iPod 60GB, and I've been doing some tests:

Because of Sony's infernal limitations on keeping the full resolution unavailable for self-encoded video, you have to encode the PSP's MPEG-4/AVC 29.97fps videos into either 320x240 (4:3) or 368x208 (16:9).

Viewing a 320x240 video on the PSP at native resolution (less blurry without scaling) occupies 3.1" diagonally. The same video on the video iPod occupies 2.5" diagonally. Not a huge difference, and the iPod screen actually "feels" larger because it has a smaller bezel and less stuff around it (joystick buttons etc).

For a 16:9 movie, scaling up the 368x208 video on the PSP then physically putting an iPod ON TOP OF IT while playing the same movie at 4:3, shows the vertical height is actually identical - it looks like you're looking through the iPod screen onto the PSP!

Conclusion: the PSP's screen is bigger, but with the current limitations Sony impose on the resolution of home encoded content (as opposed to UMD discs which cost $$$), the actual result means that binoculars are not quite appropriate in the comparison.

[Lars Groeger @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

They will name it itunes media store

itunes itself is a too strong brand to just drop it

[MrFloppy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I'm totally agree with "Mike Manzano".
I live in Spain, and the only way I can see USA TvShows is BitTorrent.
I'm really tired of low-speed, propers, LOLs, TCMs, bad versions, look for subtitles...
It's very frustrating, and requires a lot of time.

I'd love to download TvShows from iTunes Store.
Fast, easy, just one version.
But no widescreen, and just 320x240 is pretty lame.
HD would be great, but very difficult too.
I think 640 is great, right now.

And the price... They're very expensive.
You can buy Lost Season 1 (burned, with covers, pamphlets, better resolution) for $35 = about $1.50 per episode.
1.99 with that handicaps it's not fair.

[aprodite @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Simple maths, how many iPods (5G/video) sold, vs 1 million downloads in the same time period. I love apple, but we need to compare the figures to see what the trend is.

[mannyv @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I downloaded the Brazilian Girls mini-concert video. Very nice, and just as much as buying the 5 songs by themselves. That's sneaky pricing, but the 5 songs were well worth it.

[mike @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

if people stay buying online videos at this rate it wont take too long before they launch the video ipod with bigger screen;

---

Um.. sub $1000 iBook?

[JRM @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

are you saying I can't tape my fav. program off of the TV and watch it on my ipod? why did VCRs make timers then if it's illegal to record a show?