So long Quibi, we hardly knew ye. The little streaming service rose up out of the shadows to smack down the naysayers and prove that their quirky, ten-minute, phone-exclusive concept could compete with the likes of Netflix. They attracted nearly $1.75 billion in investment, spent millions on advertising and swiftly and decisively proved the naysayers correct by collapsing in on themselves in less than a year. The company announced that the service would be shutting down today, December 1st, and indeed it seems that the app is no longer usable to anyone who still has it downloaded.
It won’t delete itself, but users will no longer be able to log in to Quibi or access any of the service’s content. Those who would like to keep the app around as a fun reminder of the collective fever dream America shared will appreciate having the icon on their phone, but it won’t serve any real function. In a world where big corporations seem to survive constant missteps and huge businesses rarely go under, it’s rather bizarre and surreal to see a company attract so much hype and crash so quickly.
Despite the massive ad campaigns and heavy investment, Quibi’s biggest problem seems to have been the one everybody pointed to right away: there just wasn’t much market for premium, ten-minute shows. Whether that’s because services like Youtube had already cornered that sector, or that people were more than happy to just binge larger shows in small chunks, Quibi never found a foothold into widespread adoption. The company continually shifted marketing strategies in order to push new content with big stars over the initial sales pitch of the unique format, but neither strategy could save the service.
When Quibi shut down it was both a shock, but also not really. The fact that the company was considering closure was widely known, but the sudden nature of the closing, coupled with the number of projects that were suddenly without a home was a shock for many. Rumors have circulated that those in charge of Quibi will be keeping their heads down to wait out the storm, but hopefully those working on Quibi projects will find new work/projects quickly, allowing them to survive the transition unscathed.
Source: Variety
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