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What is Quibi? A look at Hollywood’s $1 billion mobile video gamble

What is Quibi? A look at Hollywood’s $1 billion mobile video gamble
Ben Bowman

Ben Bowman

  • Updated:

Next year, a premium video service called Quibi will be available for your mobile devices. Hollywood is betting big money that this will be a hit. But will you be willing to pay? Here’s what we know…

Quibi

What’s different about Quibi video?

Quibi is sort of like if Netflix and Vine had a baby. A subscription will get you access to short videos that are exclusive to the Quibi platform.

  • 7,000 episodes produced in the first year
  • Episodes no longer than 10 minutes
  • Paid subscription
  • Lower tier subscription means you’ll see one non-skippable pre-roll ad between 6-15 seconds

The videos will only be available on your mobile device, though you will be able to cast episodes from your phone to your TVs.

Quibi has exclusive rights to those videos for seven years. After two years, the creators can shop film-length versions of their stories to other platforms.

What will Quibi cost?

You’ll have to pay $5 a month if you’re willing to sit through ads. You can pay $8 per month to get rid of the ads entirely.

Quibi’s talent

Steven Spielberg

This is where Quibi really hopes to make a dent. Some big-name creators will be producing video that can only be accessed on the Quibi platform.

  • Steven Spielberg
  • Guillermo del Toro
  • Antoine Fuqua
  • Sam Raimi
  • Steven Soderbergh
  • Anna Kendrick
  • Doug Liman
  • Laurence Fishburne
  • Tyra Banks
  • Chrissy Teigen
  • Don Cheadle
  • Idris Elba
  • Stephen Curry’s Unanimous Media

The most intriguing project that’s been floated is Spielberg’s horror series called “After Dark.” Quibi will only allow you to watch the show after the sun has gone down in your area. Spooky! Cool! Slightly annoying!

Fuqua and Fishburne are working on a project called “#Freerayshawn” that will be two and a half hours long with a $15 million budget. Remember, that will be broken into at least 15 episodes. It tells the story of an Iraq War vet who gets set up by the police and barricades himself in his house with his girlfriend and child. As police surround the building, a social media movement erupts in Rayshawn’s defense.

Tyra Banks

Tyra Banks will star and executive produce a documentary series titled “Beauty.” It’s supposed to examine and challenge the concept of traditional physical beauty.

Don Cheadle and Emily Mortimer will star in the sci-fi drama “Don’t Look Deeper.” The series is set “15 minutes into the future” and focuses on a high school senior who starts to think she’s not human.

Quibi will also feature a remake of MTV’s “Punk’d.” Neat.

Quibi’s leadership

Jeffrey Katzenberg

Quibi’s talent extends beyond the filmmakers. You’ll know Quibi’s founder Jeffrey Katzenberg as the former chairman of Walt Disney studios during its late 80s/early 90s renaissance. Katzenberg was also the “K” in “Dreamworks SKG.”

Quibi’s CEO is Meg Whitman, one of the most accomplished executives in technology. Her eye-popping resume includes leadership of Hewlett Packard and eBay. Forbes called her the 20th most powerful woman in the world in 2014.

Katzenberg and Whitman have already assembled $1 billion in funding. All the major movie studios are invested. They’ve already sold two-thirds of their first-year ad inventory.

When will Quibi come out?

Quibi is set to launch April 6, 2020.

Will Quibi succeed?

Streaming video

That is literally the $1 billion question. We know that mobile video consumption is on the rise, so maybe a premium product makes sense there. But there’s a huge difference between watching a goofy YouTube video on your phone and investing in a multi-part series with plotlines and character arcs.

The kind of content Quibi is offering almost demands a large screen. Yes, you can cast to the screen from your phone, but that is a giant pain. Will you use your phone while casting? What happens if you get a text in the middle of an episode? We know that 88% of Americans use a second device while watching TV. Scrolling through social media while watching a boring show has become a national pastime. But what if the Quibi show gets boring? Do you whip out a second device to entertain yourself?

The other issue is the sheer volume of competition. Alongside traditional network streaming options, there’s Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, YouTube, and a dozen smaller players, all of which will work on mobile devices and TVs. We’re also anticipating launches of Apple TV+ and Disney+ this year. Gamers also spend a lot of time playing and watching Twitch. Sure, Quibi could get a foothold with people looking for a quick break between those other services, but being stuck on a mobile device reduces the likelihood anyone’s going to binge these stories.

Also, paying $5/month to be forced to watch ads is unlikely to work with today’s audiences. People are willing to accept ads for free content, and they don’t mind paying for really good ad-free content, but that middle ground leaves everyone unhappy. Expect Quibi to pivot to a totally free version with more ads if the model doesn’t catch on quickly.

We are producing more video than ever, but we’re also headed for an absolute bloodbath where a handful of providers destroy the smaller players. Quibi has an interesting lineup, but time will tell whether users think it’s worth their money.

Ben Bowman

Ben Bowman

Ben Bowman is an Emmy Award-winning journalist who led Softonic.com's editorial team in 2018 and 2019. Before joining Softonic, he was the Head of Content for Curiosity.com and a news producer for NBC, Fox, and CBS. He is an award-winning filmmaker and director of sketch and improv comedy, and a contributing writer for the Pitch comedy app.

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