Apple is reportedly looking to join the ranks of streaming services that offer an ad-supported option, with the company exploring the possibility in the US and UK.

Streaming services have increasingly been turning to ad-supported plans to help attract new customers and drive growth in an economy where consumers are looking to reduce costs. Peacock, Amazon Prime, Netflix, and other now offer ad-based plans. In addition, there are services like Tubi that are gaining significant market share offering only ad-supported plans.

According to MacRumors, Apple is in talks with the UK’s Broadcaster’s Audience Research Board (BARB) to understand what it required to collect data to monitor advertising results. The company is reportedly talking with similar organizations in the US.

The revelation lends weight to the idea that Apple is about to make a serious push into ad-based plan options, since it will need to be able to provide data to advertisers that demonstrate the value of advertising on its platform.

Hopefully, Apple will apply its privacy-first approach to this new phase of Apple TV+ and ensure that any data collected protects the privacy of the end user.