I think Apex is fine not being in first, and any BR trying to take out Fortnite has its work cut out for it, but Apex is doing well for itself. Getting into matches is blazing fast, so that's all I care about. I've never found it particularly interesting as a spectator game though.
I feel so alien when I see the big complaint levied towards it currently is the battle pass. It's lackluster for sure, but it's never my driving motivation for playing a game. The idea that people want Fortnite style challenges concerns me because all the meta objectives that come from it shift how I would play the game, as well as how everyone else would, to the detriment of the core game in my experience. Eventually Fortnite stopped actually feeling like a battle to being the last person standing and more about filling out the checklist of random tasks. While the contents of Apex's pass are bland at best, I love that it doesn't layer on a lot of annoying things to do to progress through it, I just play, and I get things. That's how I'd prefer it.
But there's also the idea of playing a game solely for its progression that weirds me out. I still load up Team Fortress 2 on the reg for nothing more than it being fun to play. I also play Apex when I do and make whatever progress I do when I play, but that's all a background consideration for me. I know games have conditioned their audience with this stuff since Modern Warfare, but I can't help but look at it and find it all a pity?