Quibi Is Shutting Down Barely Six Months After Going Live

[BUtterfield 8 41,819]

Quibi — the shortform mobile-focused streaming service — is shutting down after just over six months of operation, making it one of the shortest-lived streaming services to date, according to TheWall Street Journal. The company since confirmed that it’ll be shutting down in a Medium post from Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman. 

“We feel that we’ve exhausted all our options. As a result we have reluctantly come to the difficult decision to wind down the business, return cash to our shareholders, and say goodbye to our colleagues with grace,” the announcement reads. 

There is any number of factors that can be pointed to in unpacking Quibi’s demise: the launch of a mobile-only streaming service at the height of a global pandemic when users were stuck at home; the lack of any real breakout content that was compelling enough to tempt subscribers; or the fact that shortform video content has a nearly infinite amount of free competition in the form of YouTube, TikTok, and other platforms.

Quibi itself is chalking up the lack of success because “the idea itself wasn’t strong enough to justify a standalone streaming service or because of our timing.” The company will be notifying current subscribers as to the final date that they’ll be able to access Quibi.

It’s not clear what will happen to the company’s lineup of expensive, star-studded original shows and shortform films after the shutdown. Earlier reports indicated that Katzenberg had courted Apple, WarnerMedia, and Facebook to try to acquire the beleaguered streaming company earlier this year. When those efforts failed, Katzenberg reportedly tried to get Facebook and NBCUniversal to at least pick up Quibi’s content, to no success. Quibi will continue to attempt to sell both the content and the underlying technology used in its apps in the coming months, however.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/21/21527197/quibi-streaming-service-mobile-shutting-down-end-katzenberg

[Fatigay 21,211]

It was bound to happen. Can't say I'm sad though.

[gypsy101 5,453]

huh i meant to check out that show with Jasmine Cephas-Jones

[Curunir 7,510]

I vividly remember watching a video of their two finders talking about it with sky-high confidence 

And if I'm not mistaken, it wasn't some beginners, these were people that have dealt with big businesses/platforms before. How did they not see how useless their idea was? 

[Amidana 4,322]

Nooooooo kirby jennerrrr :!(

[OhHenny2020 2,822]

Sh!t I wanted to watch Nicole Richie’s show

[DontDoubtDavid 1,196]

They did a good job marketing. I remember seeing ads here and there. I was intrigued, but they needed something else to really hook people in. Hopefully one of the big streaming services acquires their content.