Is Quibi The New Netflix?
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VOICE OVER: Rebecca Brayton
WRITTEN BY: Michael Wynands
Out with the Netflix, in with the Quibi. Today we're counting down all the reasons to try out the newest streaming app, Quibi. Whether you like reality shows, documentaries or comedy, Quibi has you covered. What do you think of this new streaming platform? Let us know in the comments!
Top 10 Reasons to Give the Quibi Streaming Service a Try
The streaming wars just got a bit more crowded! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the Top 10 Reasons to Give the Quibi Streaming Service a Try.
For this list, we’ll be looking at the new streaming service, Quibi, which is offering a 90 day free trial in most markets, and the various reasons you should consider trying it out for yourself.
The streaming industry is becoming an increasingly crowded one. As such, new contenders need to find creative ways to distinguish themselves - and that’s just what Quibi aims to do. Rather than compete for your evening or weekend binging hours, they want to help fill smaller gaps in your day with content that comes in at less than 10 minutes per episode. A subscription-based streaming service intended to be used on mobile devices, Quibi stands for “quick bites”. The idea is that by offering short-form programming with new instalments daily, Quibi needn’t be an Netflix alternative, but something else entirely.
According to Quibi’s founder, the “bull’s-eye is a 25-to-35-year-old, multicultural, diverse millennial audience”, and extends to a broader range of “18-to-44-year-olds”. While the major streaming services like Netflix, Hulu and Prime Video try to appeal to a wide range of demographics, Quibi isn’t producing content intended for kids and family. And when you scroll through the available launch titles, this quickly becomes clear. Addressing the lack of family-oriented content or children’s shows, the founder has said ““Some day, maybe we will be that, but we’re not tackling that going in, because it’s just a whole other audience… and we frankly don’t have the bandwidth to try and be all things to all people.”
The industry standard for a trial period of a new service is usually between 7 and 30 days. 90 days, by contrast, gives you a whole lot of time to get familiar with the platform and its content. And Quibi is betting on the fact that after those 90 days, their service will have become such an integral part of your routine that you’ll be willing to pay for it. Acknowledging that short form content might not feel as valuable, Quibi is trying to keep the subscription costs to a minimum with a 2-tiered system. For $5/month you get an ad-supported version and an ad-free one for $8/month. It’s worth noting that the ads tend to be much shorter compared to many other ad-supported streaming services.
We know what you’re thinking. What does it matter to you, as a consumer, how Quibi goes about getting content? Simple… their approach further reinforces that fact that they’re thinking outside the box. Quibi isn’t interested in building a library of exclusive titles. While the shows debut on Quibi, creators are given the rights to repackage and bring their content to other platforms or networks after two years. After seven years, the creators are given full ownership over the content - which is almost unheard of in television and film. By taking this unique approach, Quibi can attract big name creators and maybe even convince them that this is the perfect platform for their passion project. Furthermore, it ensures a constant stream of fresh new content.
Quibi’s commitment to compact content might seem limiting, but their launch titles (and the plethora of other forthcoming projects) proves that’s anything but. They’re covering the gamut of both scripted and unscripted content. In their launch titles alone they’ve got dramas, action thrillers, comedies, horror, competition shows, true crime docuseries, and various weather, news, sports and culture shows. The content is broken down into three general categories: “movies-in-chapters”, which are scripted series broken down into roughly 8 minute episodes, “Unscripted and Docs” which encompasses competition shows, reality tv, game shows and documentaries and “Daily Essentials”, news programs dedicated to various aspects of news from politics to entertainment and everything in between. In short, Quibi covers all the bases for its core demographic.
Earlier, we made reference to the founder of Quibi; now it's time for a proper introduction. Jeffrey Katzenberg was the chairman of Walt Disney Studios during the Disney Renaissance, which spawned some of its most beloved animated films. He then went on to co-found DreamWorks. Suffice it to say, he’s got a history of hugely successful media endeavors. And with Quibi he’s managed to attract similarly big name talents to produce content for his streaming service. Guillermo del Toro, Jon Favreau, Antoine Fuqua, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Doug Liman, Michael Hirst, Andy Cohen, Jason Blum, Sam Raimi, 50 Cent, Ice Cube, the Farrelly Brothers, and many more. Quibi even has a Steven Spielberg-created horror series that (wait for it…) it’s only available after dark.
Few streaming services have been able to boast such star-studded programming. Chance the Rapper hosts a new iteration of Punk’d. Chrissy Tegan hosts a court show. Will Forte and Kaitlin Olson star in a home renovation comedy. Liam Hemsworth and Sophie Turner star in scripted dramas, while Lebron James and Jennifer Lopez host feel-good documentaries and reality shows. Reese Witherspoon narrates a nature program and Offset explores the world of cars. And that’s just a handful of the launch titles. Forthcoming productions will include Idris Elba, Tom Cruise, Eric Andre, Will Arnett, Tyra Banks, Naomi Watts, Bill Burr, Cara Delevigne, Laura Dern, Zac Efron, Dakota Fanning, Bill Murray, Laurence Fishburne, Don Cheadle, Kevin Hart, Anna Kendrick, Trevor Noah and more. We could honestly go on all day.
Katzenberg and CEO Meg Whitman (who serves on the board of Dropbox and was previously CEO of Hewlett Packard) are sparing no expense with Quibi. Speaking with Vulture, Katzenberg estimated that they’re spending up to $100,000 per minute of content for their top tier programs. And watching dramatic series like “Survive” and “Most Dangerous Game”, it shows. The studios in which programs like “Singled Out” and “Dishmantled” are being shot are on par with their network equivalents. But hey, they can certainly afford it! Quibi reportedly managed to raise over $1.75 billion in funding. WarnerMedia, Disney, Alibaba, Sony, NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS - everyone wants in on the action. And over $1 billion of that is going straight to content in the first year alone.
High quality content is all well and good, but for a streaming service to maintain its subscriber base, it needs to keep the content coming. This is arguably the biggest issue that other contenders, like AppleTV+, have struggled with. Well, Quibi seems committed to keeping its audience engaged. Rather than releasing entire seasons or series in one fell swoop, or releasing episodes weekly, it’s uploading new episodes daily and new shows weekly. Over the course of its first year following the launch of the platform, it will release somewhere in the ballpark of 7,000 individual “pieces of content”. This includes up to a dozen daily quick bite news segments each and every day. So yeah… you’re unlikely to run out of content to watch.
One of the things for which Quibi has received criticism is that its a mobile-exclusive streaming platform. It can’t be watched in-browser, nor is there an app for smart tvs. The app doesn’t have the ability to be cast natively to another screen - though there are third-party workarounds. There is a reason for this though; Quibi content is specifically designed for mobile-viewing. Typically, streaming services are meant to be watched in landscape. But Quibi content is notable in that it's been shot, framed and edited in such a way as to look good in both landscape and portrait. You can switch back and forth at your convenience - instantly. And while that might seem like a minor perk, it’s totally unprecedented and a major innovation in the world of mobile streaming.
The streaming wars just got a bit more crowded! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the Top 10 Reasons to Give the Quibi Streaming Service a Try.
For this list, we’ll be looking at the new streaming service, Quibi, which is offering a 90 day free trial in most markets, and the various reasons you should consider trying it out for yourself.
#10: The Concept
#10: The ConceptThe streaming industry is becoming an increasingly crowded one. As such, new contenders need to find creative ways to distinguish themselves - and that’s just what Quibi aims to do. Rather than compete for your evening or weekend binging hours, they want to help fill smaller gaps in your day with content that comes in at less than 10 minutes per episode. A subscription-based streaming service intended to be used on mobile devices, Quibi stands for “quick bites”. The idea is that by offering short-form programming with new instalments daily, Quibi needn’t be an Netflix alternative, but something else entirely.
#9: The Demographic
#9: The DemographicAccording to Quibi’s founder, the “bull’s-eye is a 25-to-35-year-old, multicultural, diverse millennial audience”, and extends to a broader range of “18-to-44-year-olds”. While the major streaming services like Netflix, Hulu and Prime Video try to appeal to a wide range of demographics, Quibi isn’t producing content intended for kids and family. And when you scroll through the available launch titles, this quickly becomes clear. Addressing the lack of family-oriented content or children’s shows, the founder has said ““Some day, maybe we will be that, but we’re not tackling that going in, because it’s just a whole other audience… and we frankly don’t have the bandwidth to try and be all things to all people.”
#8: The Cost Post-Trial
#8: The Cost Post-TrialThe industry standard for a trial period of a new service is usually between 7 and 30 days. 90 days, by contrast, gives you a whole lot of time to get familiar with the platform and its content. And Quibi is betting on the fact that after those 90 days, their service will have become such an integral part of your routine that you’ll be willing to pay for it. Acknowledging that short form content might not feel as valuable, Quibi is trying to keep the subscription costs to a minimum with a 2-tiered system. For $5/month you get an ad-supported version and an ad-free one for $8/month. It’s worth noting that the ads tend to be much shorter compared to many other ad-supported streaming services.
#7: A Bold Licensing Model
#7: A Bold Licensing ModelWe know what you’re thinking. What does it matter to you, as a consumer, how Quibi goes about getting content? Simple… their approach further reinforces that fact that they’re thinking outside the box. Quibi isn’t interested in building a library of exclusive titles. While the shows debut on Quibi, creators are given the rights to repackage and bring their content to other platforms or networks after two years. After seven years, the creators are given full ownership over the content - which is almost unheard of in television and film. By taking this unique approach, Quibi can attract big name creators and maybe even convince them that this is the perfect platform for their passion project. Furthermore, it ensures a constant stream of fresh new content.
#6: A Wide Variety of Content
#6: A Wide Variety of ContentQuibi’s commitment to compact content might seem limiting, but their launch titles (and the plethora of other forthcoming projects) proves that’s anything but. They’re covering the gamut of both scripted and unscripted content. In their launch titles alone they’ve got dramas, action thrillers, comedies, horror, competition shows, true crime docuseries, and various weather, news, sports and culture shows. The content is broken down into three general categories: “movies-in-chapters”, which are scripted series broken down into roughly 8 minute episodes, “Unscripted and Docs” which encompasses competition shows, reality tv, game shows and documentaries and “Daily Essentials”, news programs dedicated to various aspects of news from politics to entertainment and everything in between. In short, Quibi covers all the bases for its core demographic.
#5: There Are Big Names Behind the Scenes
#5: There Are Big Names Behind the ScenesEarlier, we made reference to the founder of Quibi; now it's time for a proper introduction. Jeffrey Katzenberg was the chairman of Walt Disney Studios during the Disney Renaissance, which spawned some of its most beloved animated films. He then went on to co-found DreamWorks. Suffice it to say, he’s got a history of hugely successful media endeavors. And with Quibi he’s managed to attract similarly big name talents to produce content for his streaming service. Guillermo del Toro, Jon Favreau, Antoine Fuqua, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Doug Liman, Michael Hirst, Andy Cohen, Jason Blum, Sam Raimi, 50 Cent, Ice Cube, the Farrelly Brothers, and many more. Quibi even has a Steven Spielberg-created horror series that (wait for it…) it’s only available after dark.
#4: The Star Power
#4: The Star PowerFew streaming services have been able to boast such star-studded programming. Chance the Rapper hosts a new iteration of Punk’d. Chrissy Tegan hosts a court show. Will Forte and Kaitlin Olson star in a home renovation comedy. Liam Hemsworth and Sophie Turner star in scripted dramas, while Lebron James and Jennifer Lopez host feel-good documentaries and reality shows. Reese Witherspoon narrates a nature program and Offset explores the world of cars. And that’s just a handful of the launch titles. Forthcoming productions will include Idris Elba, Tom Cruise, Eric Andre, Will Arnett, Tyra Banks, Naomi Watts, Bill Burr, Cara Delevigne, Laura Dern, Zac Efron, Dakota Fanning, Bill Murray, Laurence Fishburne, Don Cheadle, Kevin Hart, Anna Kendrick, Trevor Noah and more. We could honestly go on all day.
#3: Production Value
#3: Production ValueKatzenberg and CEO Meg Whitman (who serves on the board of Dropbox and was previously CEO of Hewlett Packard) are sparing no expense with Quibi. Speaking with Vulture, Katzenberg estimated that they’re spending up to $100,000 per minute of content for their top tier programs. And watching dramatic series like “Survive” and “Most Dangerous Game”, it shows. The studios in which programs like “Singled Out” and “Dishmantled” are being shot are on par with their network equivalents. But hey, they can certainly afford it! Quibi reportedly managed to raise over $1.75 billion in funding. WarnerMedia, Disney, Alibaba, Sony, NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS - everyone wants in on the action. And over $1 billion of that is going straight to content in the first year alone.
#2: How Much Content?
#2: How Much Content?High quality content is all well and good, but for a streaming service to maintain its subscriber base, it needs to keep the content coming. This is arguably the biggest issue that other contenders, like AppleTV+, have struggled with. Well, Quibi seems committed to keeping its audience engaged. Rather than releasing entire seasons or series in one fell swoop, or releasing episodes weekly, it’s uploading new episodes daily and new shows weekly. Over the course of its first year following the launch of the platform, it will release somewhere in the ballpark of 7,000 individual “pieces of content”. This includes up to a dozen daily quick bite news segments each and every day. So yeah… you’re unlikely to run out of content to watch.
#1: Content Designed for Mobile
#1: Content Designed for MobileOne of the things for which Quibi has received criticism is that its a mobile-exclusive streaming platform. It can’t be watched in-browser, nor is there an app for smart tvs. The app doesn’t have the ability to be cast natively to another screen - though there are third-party workarounds. There is a reason for this though; Quibi content is specifically designed for mobile-viewing. Typically, streaming services are meant to be watched in landscape. But Quibi content is notable in that it's been shot, framed and edited in such a way as to look good in both landscape and portrait. You can switch back and forth at your convenience - instantly. And while that might seem like a minor perk, it’s totally unprecedented and a major innovation in the world of mobile streaming.
