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Quibi short-form or “fast bits” video viewing services are shutting down.
Raising $ 1.75 billion was not enough for Quibi to be a success. Nor was it a massive spending on advertising.
The short-form video startup had a short lifespan of six months during which it spent at least $ 63 million on TV, web and print ads, according to advertising intelligence firm MediaRadar. While that’s a significant amount of money in marketing, it’s only good for fifth place in the streaming video category behind four other players: Amazon Prime, Disney +, Hulu, and Peacock.
According to MediaRadar, that $ 63 million includes a major spend on a Super Bowl ad, plus a large launch spend in March and April.
Hear this story on the TechFirst Podcast:
Founders Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman blame Covid-19 for at least part of Quibi’s problems in an open letter to employees and partners, but MediaRadar CEO Todd Krizelman attributes Quibi’s failure to competition.
“Many feel that it was not the right time, that it was launched at the beginning of a pandemic,” says Krizelman. But this narrative doesn’t quite fit. Due to COVID-induced lockdowns in April, travel times were eliminated, people had more time available than ever to try out new services, such as Quibi. We also learned that people were willing to pay for video content. For example, Disney + subscriptions increased much faster than expected. What was and is a real limitation is the degree of competition. It is more severe than ever. Disney +, Apple TV +, HBO Max and the introduction of Peacock around the same time made it hard to break through the noise. “
Other challenges for consumer time include TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube and Triller, says Krizelman.
However, media analyst, former journalist and now VC Josh Constine, blames Quibi’s content and technology platform. Constine followed the start from the start, and find four key questions:
- Old-school Hollywood approach: not mobile native creators
- No ability to share (no screenshots) so limited virality
- Slow content and weak discovery
- No social or second screen features
My personal opinion: short form video is great on your phone, but “short” means short: 10-60 seconds like TikTok. Longer format videos are relaxing and work best on larger screens. And having to wait for episodes is … very 80s.
Plus, yes – the competition is extreme right now in streaming media and short-form videos.
“We created a new form of premium storytelling for mobile devices,” say Katzenberg and Whitman. And yet Quibi is not succeeding. Probably for one of two reasons: because the idea itself wasn’t strong enough to justify an independent streaming service, or because of our time. “
Whatever the real reason, Quibi is shutting down.
Apparently some of that nearly $ 2 billion in cash remains. The founders say they will return it to investors.
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