SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Quibi Picked the Worst Time to Launch a Streaming Service for Short Attention Spans - Or maybe the best? (archive)
For months, Quibi, the phone-based streaming service that launched Monday, has been getting roasted by the small group of people whose professions require them to know about the existence of Quibi. The gist of the jokes has been that Quibi sounds like a 30 Rock fiction come to life. The brainchild of billionaire boomers Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman, it's predicated on the idea that no one can pay attention any more, so if anything is going to lure the scattered, cellphone-obsessed youth away from the free and varied YouTube content with which they seem generally satisfied, it's high production values that you can't really see on a cellphone and the imprimatur of celebrities grandparents have heard of. Quibi has gone on a buying spree for every famous person in Hollywood's leftover ideas, which have been turned into "quick bites" of six to 10 minutes apiece. The company has already raised $1.75 billion dollars, on the strength of that idea and a slate that includes a reality show called Murder House Flip.
As someone who has not been above a Quibi joke herself, I am disappointed to report that Quibi is neither a glorious embarrassment nor a surprising triumph. It is, instead, expensively competent. The dozens of star-studded series it debuts with are, in general, solid and professional, and tend toward uplifting but brief documentaries I could totally imagine spacing out to in a waiting room. (The fact that almost no one on the planet Earth is spacing out in a waiting room right now is another Quibi punchline.) The implicit assumption of Quibi is that no one has any time anymore, even, say, for a 22-minute sitcom. And yet it is arriving at a moment when a majority of Americans have more time than they had weeks ago—if also, perhaps, even more shredded attention spans.
Quibi review – shortform sub-Netflix shows aren't long for this world
The problem is that for an initial line-up, there's nothing particularly buzzworthy. The ones that almost work (Funny or Die's Flipped coasts on the comic appeal of the stars Kaitlin Olson and Will Forte while Murder House Flip stands out because of its barmy premise: a home makeover show for a house where a spate of killings took place) don't work enough to demand a subscription. The 90-day free trial will surely attract some curiosity but unless there's a steep uptick in quality, most will probably drop out before paying.
In short, as Quibi seems to prefer it, the majority of its initial lineup consists of shows we don't need right now on a platform we don't really want. It's an idea born in an LA conference room that will probably die in the real world, content for content's sake, teasing something bigger and better that doesn't seem to come. We might all have more time than ever right now but there still isn't enough time for Quibi.
Quibi's Mobile-Only Viewing Is Already Frustrating Some People (archive)
A few hours into Quibi's much-hyped debut, people have expressed irritation over something that's supposed to be one of the streamer's key differentiating features: You can only watch its lineup of original movies and shows on a mobile device.
Can't you just screencast (or screen mirror) a smartphone to a TV?
Also at AndroidPolice.
Related: Fox Could Buy Tubi While NBCUniversal Eyes Vudu
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 07 2020, @08:11PM (3 children)
This is the woman who ran against Jerry Brown for governor when California was experiencing a fiscal crisis. She out-spent Brown by a wide margin, and I voted for Brown almost on that basis alone--she spent like a drunken sailor. Brown managed his more limited campaign funds by staging an ad push closer to election day. In a state experiencing fiscal issues, that's exactly what you need! LOL, I'm not sure if she had any chance of winning; but the whole myth of fiscally conservative Republicans was perfectly illustrated by her campaign.
I think she had one great company that she rode up. She had enough skill to do that, but it was mostly luck that got her on that one rocket ride.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 07 2020, @08:42PM (2 children)
Quibi sounds like a failure all on its own. Throw Meg Whitman in there? Epic failure.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by edIII on Tuesday April 07 2020, @09:58PM (1 child)
They're going to fail most likely. Youtube works for one reason, and that's Google bought it. That allowed them growth, and then the advertising allowed an actual profit (I think). In any case, it's far more about data mining and advertising than it is about the content. Nonetheless, content flocks to Youtube like flies on shit. I've even found reason to watch it because of all the podcasts and actual television shows on it. It seems lately that the thought is to work with Youtube and the advertising dollars instead of playing DMCA whack-a-mole. So Youtube content is increasing rather impressively in both count and quality with a lot of official channels and HD content. All for FREE.
Other than Netflix, there isn't a real competitor in the subscription arena. Not really, and platforms that require a cable subscription don't count. Amazon Prime is the only real competitor in terms of content and pricing, and again, it has Amazon backing it. Both of them have high quality programming that keeps attracting viewership.
Blockbuster bit the dust, I'm not seeing a whole lot of Hulu success either. Only other platform I even know of is Vimeo, and I rarely come across a video on it.
Quibi wants $4.99 for the privilege of their premium content with ads? $7.99 without? They're on fucking crack. Only way they're going to pull that off is absolute epic content, of which I'm dubious of in such a short form. All of this hinges on the premise that the target demographic is so scatterbrained and unable to concentrate, that they'll choose Quibi for short and stupid videos versus Youtube which is free. Does it have a comments section too? Maybe they can hope for a real good troll infestation or something.
I'm going to enjoy watching this either way. Mega rich boomers plunging billions into reaching the youngest generation (whatever letter or symbol assigned to it). It's like financial Nascar, we come for the crashes :)
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by takyon on Tuesday April 07 2020, @11:30PM
Quibi is only one player in the Streaming Wars. Billions of dollars are being thrown around to create services that will almost certainly die a horrible death (including mergers at a fraction of previous valuations). Netflix will be around in 10 years, but Tubi? Vudu?
Some other players: Apple TV+, Disney+, AT&T TV, HBO Now, CBS All Access... Peacock [wikipedia.org].
The fragmentation helps "pirate" services flourish since many people don't want to drop cable only to pay for 5 streaming platform subscriptions. Which leads into the next story [soylentnews.org].
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]