Apple winning Oscar for Best Picture is 'drop the mic moment,' Wedbush says
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Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) became the first streaming service to win the Oscar for Best Picture for CODA at last night's 94th Academy Awards and in doing so, a moment that Wedbush Securities called a "drop the mic moment."
Analyst Dan Ives, who rates Apple outperform with a $200 price target, noted the result is likely to "significantly bolster" its number of Apple TV+ subscribers, while bringing more high-level Hollywood talent to its service for future projects. 
"We view this Oscar win as a game changer for Apple on its content efforts and legitimizes the Apple TV+ as a major streaming platform with much more success ahead and the Street now starting to take more notice," Ives said in a note to clients.
Apple (AAPL) shares fell slightly more than 1% to $172.47 in premarket trading.
Ives notes that Apple likely has 25 million paid subscribers to Apple TV+ and roughly 50 million global accounts, well behind other streaming services such as Netflix (NFLX), HBO Max (T) and Disney+ (DIS).
With the win for Best Picture for CODA, it will likely give Chief Executive Tim Cook and the rest of the company more confidence to double their content efforts, as Ives believes Apple is spending $7 billion on original content per year, a figure that could rise.
The achievement may also let Apple (AAPL) bid for upcoming sports packages, such as NFL Sunday Ticket, Ives added.
Last week, Ives said Apple (AAPL) was seeing "stellar" iPhone 13 demand, while adding that the supply chain is also showing improvements.