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Quibi streaming platform closes six months after launch

2020-10-22T01:40:14.847Z


The service launched six months ago in North America is already looking for a buyer for its assets and its catalog, made of short videos to watch on your smartphone.


A little tour and then the short videos of Quibi go: the streaming service launched six months ago in North America is already looking for a buyer for its catalog and its assets, because of the pandemic but also of its economic model.

"The world has changed radically since the launch of Quibi and our economic model is no longer viable on its own,"

said Jeffrey Katzenberg, a former Disney boss (1984-1994) and the founder of the platform, in a statement. had seduced stars to produce films and series, such as Steven Spielberg and Jennifer Lopez.

Read also: Quibi, streaming mini version thinks big

The videos of ten minutes maximum were designed as “bites” (Quibi is the contraction of “quick bites”) to watch on your smartphone, horizontally or vertically, during a trip, for example.

But the containment measures have instead favored platforms on all screens and traditional long formats.

"We had in mind to create the new generation of narrative formats"

, recall in an open letter Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman, the general manager of the company.

"It is therefore with heavy hearts that we are announcing today that we are going to slow down our activities and seek to sell technological content and assets

,

"

they continue.

Rumors had already been circulating since September in the American press.

According to The Information site, Jeffrey Katzenberg would have already tried to canvass Eddy Cue, a vice president of Apple, Jason Kilar, boss of WarnerMedia, Fiji Simo, the head of the Facebook application, or even NBCUniversal, for their sell the catalog.

To no avail, according to the publication's sources.

Read also: French cinema has had to deal with the streaming platforms that it hates

Quibi had bet big, with 50 programs available from day one and feature films paying up to $ 100,000 a minute, like the big Netflix productions.

Since its launch in April, the app has released over a hundred original series in all.

It is present on millions of mobiles, according to the press release.

But the success is not there, because of a

"conjunction"

of two reasons, according to the two leaders:

"The idea was not strong enough to justify a full-fledged streaming service"

and the

"calendar"

.

“Our failure is not for lack of trying.

We have considered and exhausted all available options ”

.

To take into account the financial difficulties linked to the health crisis, the platform had reduced its trial offer from two weeks to 90 days.

The price of the subscription - five dollars per month with advertising or eight dollars without - is comparable to that of the giant Disney +, which has catalogs Marvel, Pixar, etc.

Beyond the pandemic, Quibi came out when the streaming landscape had already become very dense, with Disney + and Apple TV +, which entered the scene with significant resources a year ago.

HBO Max (AT&T) and Peacock (Comcast) entered service last spring.

Read also: The end of the lockdown slows the growth of Netflix

The pioneers and giants of entertainment have benefited greatly from the pandemic: in less than a year, Disney + has won more than 60 million subscribers worldwide.

Netflix, for its part, is approaching 200 million, including 28 million new members gained between January and September, this is more than during the whole of 2019. But the market-leading platform has seen its growth slow this summer. , especially in the United States, where experts are starting to talk about “saturation”.

As for short formats, Quibi was also in competition with YouTube, whose counters exploded in the spring, and which aggressively pushes its paid formula to its users.

"We continue to believe that there is a market for short, quality content,"

said Meg Whitman in the statement.

“Over the next few months, we will work hard to find buyers who can showcase our assets to their full potential.”

Source: lefigaro

All business articles on 2020-10-22

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