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iTunes Video Downloads Top 1 Million

Monday, October 31st, 2005 at 9:15 AM - by

Apple has already sold one million videos on the iTunes Music Store in the 20 days since the October 12 debut, suggesting a strong market for legal video downloads. Videos cost US$1.99 each, and currently there are over 2,000 music videos, along with short films from Pixar, and television shows from ABC and Disney.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement, "Our next challenge is to broaden our content offerings, so that customers can enjoy watching more videos on their computers and new iPods."

Currently, the selection of television shows is limited, but that's likely to change soon. ABC is negotiating to expand its offerings beyond Desperate Housewives, Lost, and Night Stalker. Other networks may show interest, too, now that Apple can show viewers are willing to pay for downloadable programming.

The iTMS is available for Mac and Windows personal computers and works exclusively with Apple's line of iPod digital media devices. iTMS now operates in 21 countries. In the U.S., the service features more than two million songs, and more than 11,000 audiobooks.

May 10, 2005
iTunes Music Store Key Dates
April 28, 2003 Apple Launches iTunes Music Store
May 6, 2003 One million songs sold on iTMS
May 14, 2003 Two million songs sold on iTMS
June 23, 2003 Five million songs sold on iTMS
September 8, 2003 Ten million songs sold on iTMS
October 16, 2003 Apple & Pepsi launch giveaway of 100 million free songs
October 20, 2003 One million copies of iTunes for Windows downloaded in less than four days
November 6, 2003 1.5 million songs sold on iTMS in one week
December 15, 2003 25 million songs sold on iTMS
March 15, 2004 50 million songs sold on iTMS
April 28, 2004 Over 70 million songs sold on iTMS
May 5, 2004 3.3 million songs sold on iTMS in one week
June 15, 2004 Apple launches iTMS in UK, France & Germany
June 23, 2004 iTMS in Europe sells 800,000 songs in first week
July 12, 2004 100 million songs sold on iTMS
August 10, 2004 iTMS catalog tops one million songs
October 14, 2004 150 million songs sold on iTMS
October 26, 2004 Apple launches iTMS in Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain
November 30, 2004 Apple launches iTMS in Canada
December 16, 2004 200 million songs sold on iTMS
January 6, 2005 Apple launches iTMS in Ireland
January 24, 2005 250 million songs sold on iTMS
March 2, 2005 300 million songs sold on iTMS
April 13, 2005 350 million songs sold on iTMS
Apple launches iTMS in Denmark, Norway, Sweden & Switzerland
May 10, 2005 400 million songs sold on iTMS
July 17, 2005 500 million songs sold on iTMS
August 4, 2005 Apple launches iTMS in Japan
August 8, 2005 1 million songs sold on iTMS Japan in first four days
October 19, 2005 Apple launches iTMS in Australia
October 21, 2005 1 million videos sold on iTMS in less than 20 days

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Engine Joe said:

member since 29 Jun 2004 with 413 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Oct 31, 2005 11:13 am

Damn - really? That surprises me. There's such limited content right now that to break 1,000,000 is quite a feat. Plus there can't be that many iPods with video function out in the marketplace yet (sure, I have one, but really - we're only talking about probably sales in the 5 digits after only a couple of weeks). Yet a million videos. Impressive.

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macslut said:

member since 03 Sep 2004 with 61 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Oct 31, 2005 11:21 am

I wonder if that includes video podcasts from the iTMS. I subscribe to RocketBoom and have downloaded about 20 so far from the iTMS, but only one episode of Lost.

Oh, and I don't have a video capable iPod.

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fultonkbd said:

member since 02 Mar 2004 with 123 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Oct 31, 2005 11:27 am

That's beauty of ITMS is that it works on the computer. It's not just for iPod owners.

I own a 3rd generation iPod, but still have downloaded videos and shows to watch on the computer. If (when) I purchase my next iPod the video is a nice feature but not a must have.

But I know people who don't own an iPod who use iTunes everyday to buy, music, videos and more. They just don't take it with them.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Oct 31, 2005 11:55 am

Engine Joe wrote:
Damn - really? That surprises me. There's such limited content right now that to break 1,000,000 is quite a feat. Plus there can't be that many iPods with video function out in the marketplace yet (sure, I have one, but really - we're only talking about probably sales in the 5 digits after only a couple of weeks). Yet a million videos. Impressive.

Its not so weird when you think about it. They only got five major shows now, but when Desperate Housewives and Lost are among them, it's not so hard to do well.

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Mav said:

member since 17 Oct 2003 with 1320 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Oct 31, 2005 3:26 pm

My thoughts exactly, Engine Joe. By my quick back-of-the-napkin calculations, Apple's already created a $36 million market for downloadable video within iTunes (about $2 mil in sales per 20 days x 18, though full-season "bulk-priced" downloads would reduce that number). Just thinking about the growth potential and the huge amount of current and older content that could be added boggles the mind. I have no plans to get a new iPod myself, but I'd definitely think about buying some videos from iTunes when the right content comes along.

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