Quibi Should Not Be Ignored
5 reasons the mobile-streaming service just might work
Ever since Quibi was first announced in 2018, the most common sentiment from journalists, consumers, and even many industry insiders has been skepticism. Critics have ridiculed the startup for raising nearly $2 billion before ever launching a product publicly, for charging too high of a price in the middle of the “streaming wars,” for running an advertisement during the Super Bowl without having a live product, and everything in between. These criticisms actually reveal how little those critics understand the premium video industry. If Quibi does not succeed, it will not be due to the company’s execution, it will be because their thesis was wrong from the outset — and the only way to prove a thesis wrong is to test it in the best possible conditions.
Quibi is a premium subscription video-on-demand service led by Hollywood veteran Jeffrey Katzenberg and tech veteran Meg Whitman. The service launches on April 6, 2020, and will be available only on mobile phones. The idea behind the product is that consumers are glued to their smartphones more than ever and that there’s a lack of high-quality, short-form native content for these devices. We may spend time flipping through TikTok videos, viewing Instagram stories, or even watching YouTube clips — but is there an appetite for…
