Seven months after the launch of the first mobile platform, with investments of $ 1.75 billion

"Quibi" will stop broadcasting the video as of next December

"Quibi" attributed its lack of success to bad timing due to "Corona" and the insufficient strength of the idea.

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The "Quibi" video broadcasting platform, the exclusive short live video via mobile phones and tablets, announced the failure of its business and its closure seven months after its launch, confirming to stop broadcasting the video as of December 1, until the end of the first giant video platform, whose investments amounted to 1.75 billion dollars. It appeared to work only on mobile devices, outside of televisions.

This came in an open letter addressed to the platform's customers and subscribers, issued recently, by each of its founder Geoffrey Katzenberg, and its CEO Meg Whitman, and published on its website "quibi.com".

Causes of failure

The founders of the platform said that "(Quibi) was a big idea when it was launched last April, and there was no one who wanted it to succeed more than us, and our failure was not due to not trying, we have studied and exhausted every option available to us, and we have not given up on this idea."

They explained that “(Quibi) did not succeed for two reasons: the first is that the idea itself was not strong enough to justify an independent broadcast service, and the second is poor timing, due to the Corona epidemic, which is to blame for everything that went wrong.”

«Quibi»

"Quibi" is a platform designed to provide live video broadcasting, via mobile phones and tablet computers only, and its architecture was engineered and built to fit this goal in three ways: The first is related to the content, and here the platform worked to ensure that the presented video matches the nature and tastes of the users of these devices. The video content is designed to be short, focused, not exceeding 10 minutes, and at the same time exclusive and original, that is, it is produced specifically for the platform, and the user cannot access it through any other platform.

The content consists of dramatic films, television series, talk shows, documentaries, news feeds and analysis programs, service programs about weather, cooking, etc., and sports programs, all produced specifically for the "Quibi" platform.

programming

As for the second aspect, it relates to the programming side, and in this context "Quibi" relied on the technology known as the "Transformation Mode" or "Turn Style", which is specially designed to display video on mobile phone screens and tablet computers, in both vertical and horizontal modes, on the entire screen, smoothly and quickly. , Without the user noticing any differences or interruptions in the video display while changing the position of the device in his hands, as well as relying on low to medium video resolution, definition and clarity, taking into account wireless lines, and the capabilities of phones and portable computers.

Pricing

As for the third aspect, it relates to pricing and the business model, where the price model was designed to include subscriptions of five dollars per month, for broadcast services that include ads for a period of two and a half hours per day, and subscriptions of eight dollars per month, to obtain broadcast services without ads , And there are no annual subscriptions.

In both cases, a package of services is provided that includes broadcasting movies, programs, documentaries, etc., according to various addition and update schedules, some of which are conducted on a daily basis, some several times a day, and some of them weekly.

Investments

The "Quibi" platform project was met with clear enthusiasm from investors and original content makers in the field of entertainment, cinema and television broadcasting. The project managed to attract investments of one billion and 750 million dollars within a period of less than two years. It also won the support of all major "Hollywood" studios, and a group Endless movies, TV, music, sports and entertainment stars, who give shows.

It even comes down to the support of some famous filmmakers.

The launch

On April 6, 2020, the platform was officially launched, and began broadcasting original and exclusive videos in all these areas, and then expanded its operations to operate on Apple Air Fly devices, starting from May, then on Chromecast TV sets. From Google in June, and in July it added the feature to capture screenshots of its shows, which would allow viewers to share and personalize its programs more easily, and in early October it added its services to Apple, Amazon and Android TVs.

Incorporation

The "Quibi" platform was founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg, who was the head of the "Disney" films in the 1980s and 1990s, and co-founded the company "Dream Animation", along with Meg Whitman, the former president of "eBay", who developed a strategy. The platform, to be the main alternative to broadcasting exclusive live video on mobile devices, as opposed to "YouTube" on the Internet, and "Netflix" and "Apple TV" and "Disney Plus" service on televisions.