iTunes Movie Trailers site stops downloads: Today in Apple history

May 24, 2013: Apple is beginning to phase out the ability to download movie trailers from its once hugely popular iTunes Movie Trailers website.

The move signals a major shift in the way people consume digital content as the internet evolves, with downloads set to continue to decline while streaming services like YouTube and Netflix gain traction.

iTunes Movie Trailers: Made for the Internet

Apple launched its iTunes Movie Trailers website (archived version here: trailers.apple.com) in the late 1990s along with its QuickTime 5 software. In the days before streaming video services like YouTube, Apple's site quickly became the go-to place for fans who wanted to see movie trailers in higher resolution than was available anywhere else.

Shortly after the launch of the Internet-enabled iMac (the “i” stood for “Internet”), the iTunes trailer site demonstrated Apple's commitment to the Internet in a way that had rarely been done before. Around the same time, Apple launched its online Apple Store, which was based on Dell's successful retail model.

1999s Star Wars, Episode 1: The Phantom Menace Trailer became the first big hit for Apple's website. (The iTunes Movie Trailers site was created, according to Apple employees, after Cupertino was concerned about the poor quality of the encoding of the dark threat Trailer hosted by Lucasfilm.)

After arranging a meeting with the movie studio, Apple began hosting trailers that looked far better than the RealVideo alternative available at the time. Apple did not pay for the new content it hosted. However, Apple did pay for the bandwidth. This arrangement was mutually beneficial, as was the profit-sharing arrangement that Apple CEO Steve Jobs negotiated for iTunes shortly thereafter.

The rise of YouTube encourages the switch to streaming video

The technology demonstrated Apple's technical prowess and boosted QuickTime downloads while also giving movie studios free advertising. But a little over a decade later, the landscape had changed.

YouTube, which launched in 2005, had become a household name, offering its users instant access to streaming movie trailers. The only remaining appeal of the iTunes Movie Trailers site was for people who wanted to download 1080p copies, rather than the 720p versions that streaming sites were offering at the time.

The exact reasons for Apple stopping downloads of movie trailers were never disclosed, but it marked a significant turning point in the decline of downloads and the continued rise of streaming. In 2015, music streaming revenue in the US exceeded downloads for the first time.

Streaming leads to Apple TV+

More than a decade after it stopped allowing downloads from the iTunes Movie Trailers site, the landscape has shifted almost exclusively toward streaming. Apple dismantled the venerable iTunes and moved its features into three different apps in 2019 — Apple TV, Apple Music and Apple Podcasts. And the company pulled the plug on the Windows version of iTunes in 2024.

While Apple continues to sell full movies for download via the Apple TV app, streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+ are now market leaders. Apple is following the same path and producing content for its subscription service Apple TV+, launched in 2019.

As Apple's streaming video service continues to add new original content, it finally seems to be finding an audience. In 2021, Apple TV+ became the first streamer to win an Oscar for Best Picture thanks to an indie flick ŠKODA. New shows like Ted Lasso, Severance pay and silo also became real hits. And today, films like Argyll and shows like Dark matter quickly rise to the top of the streaming charts.

What was the first movie trailer you remember downloading from Apple's iTunes Movie Trailers site? Leave your comments below.