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I’ve spoken before in this newsletter about the importance of changing one’s habits. Given that this is a newsletter about the creator economy, and that both the ‘creator’ and ‘economy’ part of that phenomenon revolve around people purchasing things, I’m usually talking about how I’ve changed my consumption habits.
To put it more simply, I talk about the stuff I’ve bought or am thinking about buying. After all, it seems like a pretty foolproof model for all these creators.
For example, when I wrote about Tubi recently, I talked about how for the first time in my adulthood, I had purchased a TV. This really got the people talking! By ‘the people,’ I mean my coworkers. And by ‘talking,’ I mean Slacking me to ask whether I’d really bought a TV.
Well, now I’m back to talk about more stuff to watch on TV, which seems particularly relevant now that there’s a World Cup-sized hole in all of our programming preferences. I’ll be back next week with full highlights from the tournament, including top brands, moments, trends, athletes, and so much more. Catch Part 1 here!
But for now, to keep on-theme, I want to talk about a streaming platform that owes much of its recent growth to soccer. Think of it like a World Cup appetizer before next week’s main course.
So yes, I really did buy a TV, which means that I really can watch…
Launched in 2017, Apple TV (formerly Apple TV+, but I guess they’re trying to fight grade inflation) has reshaped the streaming services game, offering consumers an array of original content, classic programming, and live sports. Whether you’re tuning in for Martin Scorsese’s latest film or an old Peanuts special, Friday Night Baseball or MLS, Apple TV has you covered. But one question remains:
Apple TV Creator Count, 2020 - 2025
Apple TV expanded its global creator pool from 5.4k creators in 2020 to 19.1k creators in 2025, a 3.5x increase over six years. Unlike many new brands that experienced sudden breakouts, and unlike other Apple TV metrics in this very analysis, Apple TV’s creator count demonstrated consistent year-over-year growth throughout these six years, improving steadily. This consistent expansion reflects the platform's ability to continuously attract new fans even as engagement-based metrics fluctuate.
Apple TV Post Count, 2020 - 2025
Similarly, Apple TV’s post count grew every year without interruption. It also grew more rapidly than the streaming platform’s creator count, as evidenced by a dramatic surge in 2025. All told, the standings increased from 19.8k posts in 2020 to 125.5k posts in 2025, a 6.3x surge.
Apple TV EMV, 2020 - 2025
This is where things get a bit choppier, as seen from that drop between 2023 and 2024. Apple TV’s Earned Media Value (EMV), a metric that reflects share of viral conversation on social media, followed a similar pattern, climbed from $94.6M in 2020 to $614.4M in 2025, a 6.5x increase on par with the brand’s post count growth. While this progress wasn’t uninterrupted, 2025 delivered a dramatic rebound. Later, we’ll get into the factors behind that momentum.
Apple TV Impressions, 2020 - 2025
And here we have Apple TV’s most impressive growth during this timeframe. The brand’s impressions expanded from 1.4B in 2020 to 12.3B in 2025, an 8.6x increase that also took Apple TV’s count in this metric from ‘everyone in China’ to ‘everyone on Earth and then some.’
Notably, we have two declines on the books here: one in 2022, and another in 2024. While 2025 is once again a dramatic rebound, it’s further proof that more creators and more posts don’t necessarily yield wider reach. That said, Apple TV appears to have cracked the code last year.
Apple TV Engagements, 2020 - 2025
Finally, Apple TV’s engagements increased from 73.2M in 2020 to 414.9M in 2025, a 5.7x surge. While annual engagement fluctuated alongside impressions, dropping in 2022 and 2024, the long-term trend remained positive, largely thanks to that boffo 2025 I keep talking about. Fortunately, I’ve looked at H1 2026 numbers, and it seems like we’re not due for another even-year curse.
Apple TV's Share of Impressions by Platform, July 2025 - June 2026
While you might think bite-sized TikTok clips or YouTube’s podcast- and recap-oriented media space are key to Apple TV’s impressions growth, the real driver turns out to be good ol’ Instagram.
Instagram overwhelmingly leads Apple TV's impressions breakdown, eating nearly two-thirds of the pie. YouTube does end up serving as Apple TV’s primary secondary platform, while TikTok provides some incremental reach.
Apple TV's Share of Engagements by Platform, July 2025 - June 2026
As for engagements, the picture is a bit more even. Instagram generates nearly as many interactions as YouTube despite the impressions gap, highlighting Instagram’s strong engagement efficiency. TikTok provides meaningful additional engagement, while even Facebook reasserts itself as a key contributor.
I told you there was going to be a World Cup tie-in, right? Well, here it is.
Apple TV's creator ecosystem is, at its core, just as much about sports media as streaming. The MLS Season Pass partnership has turned Lionel Messi's presence in American soccer into an ongoing content engine of extraordinary scale. From July 2025 to June 2026, some of Apple TV’s top EMV-drivers included owned social accounts for the MLS ($28.9M EMV, +76% YoY growth), ESPN FC ($26.6M, +159%), ESPN Deportes ($4.3M, +134%), Los Angeles Football Club ($5.3M, +129%), Liga BBVA MX ($3.3M, +4%), and Nashville FC ($1.7M, +428%).
To be clear, much like the World Cup itself, or the entire nation of Argentina, this coverage is resting almost entirely on the back of Lionel Messi. ESPN FC's top posts ($297k and $248k on Facebook) are titled "Suarez thought he won it off the Messi free kick" and "Messi's 901," respectively. Meanwhile, 433 Football's leaderboard posts are almost entirely Messi commentary. All of this soccer discourse is amplified by an active traditional media layer: Sports Center, La Gazzetta dello Sport ($1.46M new), and soccer journalist Fabrizio Romano round out a halo effect stretching from the MLS to Europe.
With Apple TV recently launching Formula 1 programming, look for even bigger growth in the future as the brand continues to roll out new, creator-friendly sports coverage.
Nobody, not even Messi, drove more Earned Media Value for Apple TV between July 2025 and June 2026 than netflixnmovies: $86.2M EMV, +547% YoY growth, and 165 placements in Apple TV’s leaderboard of top 1000 EMV-generating posts. Despite the name, this account isn’t a Netflix property, which would be weird, given how much momentum it’s driving for a competitor. Instead, it’s a massive Instagram clip aggregator that posts short movie and TV scene excerpts with commentary. Its captions reveal a compelling, repeatable content formula: a reaction hook, followed by a brief plot synopsis of the film or show.
But as anyone who’s been on social media recently is aware, the clip economy extends well beyond netflixnmovies. MovieLuxeShorts ($10.1M EMV) is the purest version of this format, and the most concentrated: its top 10 posts are nine of the highest individual-post EMV entries in the leaderboard, each pairing a short reaction caption with a scene excerpt. IGHT ($8.5M EMV, +6.4k% YoY) follows the same formula, but with a nostalgia tilt, featuring clips from Mr. Bean, Xiaolin Showdown, Tiny Toon Adventures, The Smurfs. Send Memes ($3.8M EMV) and Recap+ ($16.2M EMV) add Portuguese and multilingual content, while Alur Singkat Cerita Film ($4.8M EMV) and buscandobuenaspelis ($14.2M EMV) operate in Indonesian and Spanish respectively. This global clips ecosystem has emerged as one of the defining features of Apple TV's earned media landscape, constituting much of the brand’s recent surge.
Beneath the sports and clips layers, Apple TV original series are producing celebrity-driven earned media at a massive, with several shows emerging as clear standouts.
The biggest individual show story is Imperfect Women, with Kerry Washington ($2.3M EMV) proving the most active celebrity talent in the data, posting episode-by-episode updates directly to her audience. Jamie Lee Curtis ($1.3M EMV) and Jennifer Garner ($1.3M EMV) display similar breakout patterns: Curtis tends to highlight a new show or major press moment, while Garner leans on personality-driven content tangentially tied to Apple TV projects, referencing moments like her daughter's French lessons. suggests organic, personality-driven content tangentially tied to Apple TV projects.
Other crossover social media stars include Reese Witherspoon ($1.8M EMV) and Jennifer Aniston ($926k EMV), both of whom have repped Apple TV for a long time. Meanwhile, Rhea Seehorn ($1.5M EMV), fresh off Better Call Saul, enters the community as a new advocate, with her content confirming awards-circuit activity around a new Apple TV role.
Soccer, clip-sharing, and celebrities make for a potent mix that elevates Apple TV to the top of the streaming game. With that F1 partnership rounding the track, look out for even more momentum to come.
*All data, unless otherwise specified, stems from CreatorIQ's public-facing brand leaderboards. We will never share performance metrics from a customer's CreatorIQ profile, or any brand's private information.
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