Short-form mobile video platform Quibi, has hit a 1.7 million downloads on record in its first week of opening.
Announcing the received 1.7 million downloads, Quibi’s CEO Meg Whitman disclosed that the outcome exceeded their expectations as they were not tuned for such an opening number due to the coronavirus pandemic. She opined, “Turns out, people have in-between moments at home; in between Zoom calls, in between wrangling the kids.”
The recorded 1.7 million downloads are not equivalent to the number of people that signed up for the app. For the meantime, the unknown number of signees to the app will enjoy a 90-day free trial, which when ended subscribers will have to pay $5 with advertising and $8 without advertising.
Programmes stationed at Quibi will run for a maximum of 10 minutes per episode, compared to the half-hour showing on competing streaming platforms such as Netflix, HBO Max, Disney Plus, Hulu and others.
Founded by Whitman and Jeffrey Katzenberg, a Quibi content can only be streamed on mobile devices and can be viewed in either horizontal or vertical video, with the user able to shift to one or the other within the same video. The Hollywood Reporter confirms that, Quibi founders raised a total of $1.75 billion to create a mobile-first streaming video service devoted to offering up bite-sized programming.
Following its launch on April 6, Quibi brought along a catalog of 50 shows such as; ‘Chrissy’s Court’ starring Chrissy Teigen, ‘Kill the Efrons’ starring Zac Efron and his brother Dylan, ‘Survive’ starring Sophie Turner and Corey Hawkins, ‘Most Dangerous Game’ starring Liam Hemsworth and Christoph Waltz and others.
