Apple continues to increase its ambitions for international content. Today, Variety announced a first-hand agreement between Apple and AR Content, the production company run by two BAFTA Award-nominated British Film Academy producer and director Alexander Rodynansky.
AR Content will produce programs in Russian for Apple TV +. Rodnyansky says that Apple is the first global streaming platform to form a strategic partnership with a Russian production company, which suggests that both companies have sought a way to partner or that their content leaves something to be desired.
The Apple TV + catalog is currently dominated by American and Canadian content, mostly in English. Apple’s original content catalog currently has two non-English language titles, Losing Alice and Tehran (both Israeli). However, the company is aggressively expanding around the world.
Currently, Apple is developing several British productions, a French series and several Spanish, and is scheduled to premiere two high-profile Korean titles later this year, including a mini-series adaptation of the web comic Dr. Brain and a big-budget adaptation of the international blockbuster novel Pachinko.
All the major streaming platforms are investing heavily in international content production to attract a broader subscriber base.
Some regions are also imposing production quotas that require a minimum investment of streaming video platforms in national production to be able to comply. In Europe, without going any further, laws are being passed that require at least 30% of the Apple TV + content catalog to come from the old continent.
