By: Tifanie Jodeh Acosta
Jerusha D’Souza
Viewing content has changed dramatically over the past few years with the introduction of Streaming video on demand (SVOD). Netflix for the longest time dominated this market. However, 2019 saw a boom in Streaming services, it was touted as the year of the ‘Streaming Wars’. We saw new additions such as Disney+, AppleTV, HBO Max, Peacock, Paramount+ and last but not the least Quibi. Every service was battling it out to be number one. Lucky for us, access to content has never been easier.
Unfortunately, in 2020, the entertainment industry took a big hit with Covid-19. It caused a halt in companies and productions. Quibi was one of those companies that did not survive.
Quibi, short for “Quick Bites” launched in the April of 2020. It was developed specifically for mobile devices, instead of watching half-hour TV episodes or two-hour films, you were able to watch short 10-minute bits of content on Quibi on the go. It was supposed to revolutionize and change the way people view content, especially the younger demographic. It was founded in 2018 by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman. Quibi business plan relied on a subscribership of $4.99 monthly or $7.99 without commercials.
The company was set to premiere 175 original shows divided into three categories; Movies in Chapters, Unscripted and Documentaries and Daily Essentials. Some of Quibi’s originals were ‘Most Dangerous’ starring Liam Hemsworth, ‘Survive’ starring Sophie Turner, ‘Chrissy’s Court’ staring Chrissy Teigen, etc. Quibi was also nominated for 10 Emmy Awards and its series, #FreeRayshawn, even won two Emmy Awards.
On its launch day, TechCrunch reported that Quibi saw 300,000 downloads and hit No. 3 in the App Store. The company announced it had seen 1.7 million downloads of its app, from the day of its launch. But soon after, Quibi's app fell out of the list of the 50 most-downloaded apps, a week after it was released. In October of 2020, just six months after its launch, the streaming service had to shut shop.
So, what happened? Why did this revolutionary platform fail?
Before its launch, many critics expressed their concern stating that a paid, mobile only focused service limits access and reach, since it would have to compete with consumers viewing content on well established, free platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Twitch, combined with shows and movies they were paying for already on Netflix, Amazon, and Disney+ which also had large catalogues of content that was already popular with loyal viewers. Shelling out additional dollar bills to Quibi would mean the quality of content would have to be extremely high, which unfortunately was not the case. It is suggested that Quibi should have invested more in content from celebrities its younger audience might actually appreciate, like YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok stars. Instead, it threw lots of money at the kind of names that older executives might imagine young people would enjoy, thus not creating sufficient buzz around its content.
Quibi’s touted its ability to switch in real time between horizontal and vertical viewing also didn't prove attractive enough to incentivize people to subscribe. This technology was also challenged in court by Eko for Patent infringement, which Quibi denied. Whilst the lawsuit didn’t cause it to shut shop, defending a legal conundrum added to its list of challenges.
Other issues that plagued Quibi were: Inability to screenshot content, which meant it was difficult to share on social media and generate potential buzz around shows and inability to watch the content on any other device besides the mobile phone.
Katzenberg blamed the failure of Quibi on COVID-19 pandemic which disrupted everyone’s daily routines because consuming content was no longer restricted to mobile devices during the day given most people were at home consuming content on televisions and computers.
The announcement of Quibi’s shutdown left the fate of existing, upcoming, and planned original programming in "development hell" which is industry jargon for a project being in a state of limbo. The issue was Quibi did not own the rights to any of their programming, as the deals they entered into allowed them to retain the copyright to their content and distribute it in traditional forms only after a few years.
However, in January of 2021 Roku announced a $100 million acquisition with 75 0f Quibi’s shows to be streamed on their platform on free ad-supported channels.
Quibi’s content will live on to see another opportunity for growth and success which is a badge of honor to the fallen victim of the pandemic.
COPYRIGHT & DISCLAIMER
Tifanie Jodeh Acosta is Partner at Entertainment Law Partners dedicated to corporate, business and entertainment affairs. You may contact her at asst@entlawpartners.com.
Tifanie Jodeh Acosta grants column recipients permission to copy and distribute this column and distribute it free of charge, provided that copies are distributed for educational and non-profit use, no changes or revisions are made, all copies clearly attribute the article to its author and include its copyright notice.
DISCLAIMER: Readers should consult with a lawyer before solely relying on any information contained herein.
