Quibi Video Streaming App Shuts Down After a Span of 6 Months

Quibi, short for “Quick Bites,” is an online video streaming service. It offers short video content of 5-10 mins for entertaining its users. However, the platform has now fallen victim to the tough competition in the present market of online streaming platforms.

The streaming website was launched in April 2020. After a struggle of only six months, it was forced to leave the competitive field.

According to the latest announcement, Quibi is shutting down. A date for the shut down has not been announced yet.

Quibi had required a $1.8 billion start-up capital. They are currently seeking to sell the content available on the website or service as a whole.

Although the shut-down has been announced, the process itself will take several months. The users will be notified about the decision within that time.

An estimate of 200 employees will find themselves in a helpless situation due to the service shutting down.

The OTT service was founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman in 2018. It specialized in 10 min short videos called “quick bites” and served the younger demographic. It is an app that is suited for smartphone usage.

Although the app saw a download of 1.7 million within the first week of its launch, the figures slowed down very quickly. Quibi lost its launch hype very quickly and fell out of ranks.

Jeffrey Katzenberg blamed the coronavirus pandemic for issues relating to the launch. Its user numbers had fallen far below the expected numbers (2 million active users in June, in place of an expected 7.4 million.)

According to Katzenberg, it was already predictable that Quibi had reached its limit and couldn’t proceed anymore. Trying to keep it going would have costed unnecessary capital.

Source: Wall Street Journal

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