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Short Form Video Service Quibi Shutting Down
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Short form video streaming service company Quibi
When you got it for free and still didn’t watch it you know it’s bad
I always thought it wouldn't last. Not sure if we can get it here in the UK.
There was only 1 thing they had coming that I wanted to see, which was Slugfest, which they have finished and ready to go. Wonder what will happen to that.....?
There was only 1 thing they had coming that I wanted to see, which was Slugfest, which they have finished and ready to go. Wonder what will happen to that.....?
They should have been Ad supported, with a subscription option.
There are too many subscriptions nowadays: iCloud, Dropbox, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu... and people are starting to realize they can't afford them all, so they are being more selective.
Also, there are free alternatives appearing, like VUDU, Peacock, iMDB, Xumo and more.
But if they got into a legal battle over patents and technology, that's another story... Leave before you lose it all in a lawsuit.
There are too many subscriptions nowadays: iCloud, Dropbox, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu... and people are starting to realize they can't afford them all, so they are being more selective.
Also, there are free alternatives appearing, like VUDU, Peacock, iMDB, Xumo and more.
But if they got into a legal battle over patents and technology, that's another story... Leave before you lose it all in a lawsuit.
True to their business model, everything was short and over quickly.
Quibi was meant for people on the move, and were supposed to be consumed in quick five minute chunks while commuting on the train, on break, stopped at the coffee shop etc. That’s not the world we live in now so it’s hard to say whether or not Quibi would have worked if launched any year other than 2020.
Personally I don’t think it would have given how gimmicky the approach was and the fact that people are clearly just sick of and disinterested in signing up for yet another streaming service.
Lower resolution, but higher quality 🙂
It was a bad excuse. But the reasoning behind it was that they thought they would sell their service to folks that wanted to watch something on their morning commute on public transport. That was one of the reasons they only launched on the phone. You'd have time to watch a 10 minute show before you got to your stop. But since suddenly everyone was home and always within reach of their TV, being phone only at launch was made an even worse idea. FYI, podcasts are also finding their audience radically decreased due to folks not commuting.
Of course nothing was going to save Quibi. But it was an at least plausible excuse initially. You don't immediately admit failure after you've gotten a bunch of folks to spend a billion dollars or so.
So much for that T-Mobile Tuesday promo of six months free subscription to Quibi.
I tried the service -- it was not appealing to me at all. "Wireless" was decent, but it's certainly not a service I would keep with so little content that I'd want to watch.
I tried the service -- it was not appealing to me at all. "Wireless" was decent, but it's certainly not a service I would keep with so little content that I'd want to watch.
Please don't think it was money laundering. There are multibillion dollar companies that invested in this, not actual billionaires. And it won't launder money.
This was just an entrepreneur talking a bunch of companies into an investment. It happens all the time. Just in this case the investment was something we saw in public and it had a clear launch and fail dates that were quick. It is unusual to happen at this scale, but no particular reason to think that the Quibi executives were swindling the investors. And definitely no reason to think that the investors were laundering money.
I got 6 months of it free with T-Mobile Tuesdays and I haven’t even opened the Quibi app.
The following is valid but what I got from other news articles, the pandemic also stalled new content (i.e. filming). But let’s face it, Netflix seemingly started filming every script that landed on their doorstep and it’s evident how many quality shows and movies came out of that bulk producing.
I'd say that was a surprise, but it's really not. The whole concept was a disaster from the start, and ended predictably.
You've got to admit, the whole thing sounds exactly like what you'd expect from the Hollywood mega-blockbuster peddlers that came up with the idea.
Develop a streaming service, spend ungodly amounts of money on content right out of the gate, advertise it like crazy, and leave absolutely no runway at all so that if it isn't an instant smash hit it crashes and burns. It's the same basic logic that causes studios to spend $200 million on a movie and expect to make it back on opening weekend or try again next year.
"Let's do a short form serial video entertainment subscription service!"
Well, there's an awful lot of free short-form video content already available, and you could also just pause your Hulu or Netflix show after 5 minutes (or at the commercial break point, if it was formatted for broadcast), but sure, it might work if you get creative and slowly build a subscriber base. Maybe start with indie groups that are already good at producing short-form content and...
"We'll get big name acts and spend a BILLION DOLLARS making shows for it!"
Uh... okay, that sounds doomed to fail, but I guess if the content is really good and you also package it as a regular streaming service...
"It's smartphone only! No TV watching for you until it's been out for at least six months!"
Okay... that sounds like a really bad idea, but maybe if you give it enough time for word-of-mouth spread and to build up a library...
"It's the moon or bust! We'll spend money so fast if it's not a hit within six months we shut it down! What could go wrong?"
You've got to admit, the whole thing sounds exactly like what you'd expect from the Hollywood mega-blockbuster peddlers that came up with the idea.
Develop a streaming service, spend ungodly amounts of money on content right out of the gate, advertise it like crazy, and leave absolutely no runway at all so that if it isn't an instant smash hit it crashes and burns. It's the same basic logic that causes studios to spend $200 million on a movie and expect to make it back on opening weekend or try again next year.
Hey, that's not fair. I've actually seen Segway users in the real world.
The same people who thought the CueCat was going to revolutionize the advertising industry.
