NETFLIX rival Quibi has shut down after just six months – after failing to woo watchers.
The $1.75billiuon platform offered short films or TV shows lasting 10 minutes or less, but is now being scrapped.
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Top Hollywood talent like Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Spielberg helped create content for Quibi.
And the hope was that short-form content would capture the same crowd that loves snappy TikTok and YouTube clips.
But Quibi’s launch was met with poor reviews and a low subscriber count, making it unsustainable.
“The world has changed dramatically since Quibi launched,” said Jeffrey Katzenberg, who co-founded the project.
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“And our standalone business model is no longer viable.
“I am deeply grateful to our employees, investors, talent, studio partners and advertisers for their partnership in bringing Quibi to millions of mobile devices.”
As well as short content, Quibi was designed to be mobile-only, with subscriptions from $4.99.
And it promised to distribute new content every single day to keep fans hooked.
In the early days, Quibi attracted as many as 7million subscribers – a figure that has since fallen to just 500,000.
To make matters worse, Quibi was also suited by another tech firm called Eco over IP theft.
Quibii’s founders blame much of the failure on coronavirus.
But it’s also extremely difficult to launch a streaming service in 2020, even with billions in funding and big-name stars.
The industry is dominated by giants like Netflix, Amazon Video, Disney+ and Apple TV+.
Hard-up customers are also forced to make difficult decisions about where to put their money.
With dozens of subscription services across music, TV, gaming and more all vying for monthly payments, there’s little room for new contenders.
Quibi doesn’t own rights to any of its programming, and this content will be returned to its original creators after a seven-year distribution contract ends.
Quibi: The streaming service designed for your phone that promises new episodes everyday
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In other news, Netflix is making some content available to watch for free.
Sky boxes have been updated to make Netflix look way better on some TVs.
And Samsung has released an “outdoor” 4K TV called The Terrace.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
