Report Overview

Quibi – Adjusting expectations

For an unproven service to attract 1.3 million active users in its first five weeks is impressive. But by its own account, Quibi’s launch underwhelmed

Sizeable subscriber targets—7 million by year one and 16 million by year three—justify a level of spend never seen in short-form video, but are ambitious for an experimental start-up with limited brand equity

The service’s failure to recognise the social side of mobile media, restricted use case and, critically, lack of a hit show increased scepticism of product/market fit. Now Quibi must adapt the product with knowledge of user preferences and reassess its targets, provided it can afford to do so

Contents

The consumer need for premium short-form on mobile

The content slate: no success without hits

Downloads are likely, subscriptions less so

List of charts/tables

Figure 1: Quibi app downloads and active users (m)

Figure 2: Reach of activities on mobile by age group, UK, 2015 versus 2019

Figure 3: Reach of video activities on mobile by age, 2017 versus 2019

Figure 4: Type of content watched on YouTube/Snapchat/Facebook by age, 2018

Figure 5: Quibi’s content strategy

Figure 6: TV set use by week in 2020, 18-44 (avg. daily minutes)

Figure 7: Increase in TV set use during lockdown by daypart, 18-44 (avg. daily minutes)

Figure 8: Value of free trial for basic monthly tier, US ($)

Figure 9: Most important media subscription by age, 2019