Quibi chief executive officer (CEO) Meg Whitman has announced that the short-form video streaming app was downloaded 1.7 million times in its first week
In an interview, Quibi CEO Meg Whitman said that the video streaming app, which launched on April 6 and streams video clips 10 minutes or shorter, reached 1.7 million downloads in its first week.
Whitman claimed she didn't believe the launch had been affected by coronavirus pandemic. The former HP chief said: "It turns out people have in-between moments at home. We don't actually think it hurt us."
Previously, analysts forecast that the app would find it difficult to attract users because of the coronavirus lockdown since viewers were expected to choose longer videos that could be watched on larger devices as they are stuck at home.
Quibi can only be used via smartphones and tablets, but the firm said it is pushing for plans to allow the app to play on TVs too. The app, which derives its name from the phrase "quick bite", offers videos that had been advertised as being ideal for short breaks or commuting.
However, the firm is planning to fast-track its development to allow Quibi videos to play on larger devices and make it easier for groups to watch shows together.
While the company originally said it would not enter other markets until later in the year, countries including the UK and Germany already have an ad-free version available to them.
The Quibi app
The shows available on the app are 10 minutes or shorter while movies are broken into segments.
The service boasts its feature called Turnstile, which allows viewers to keep the image full-screen, whether they hold their phone in landscape or portrait mode.
Show creators for Quibi have also  framed their shots so that they can suit either aspect ratio, and in some cases, reveal a different point-of-view.
Quibi was announced at the Consumer Electronics Show 2020 in Las Vegas.
The company offers the streaming service at $4.99 per month for basic access and $7.99 for an ad-free version. Whitman and founder Jeffrey Katzenberg announced the details of the service at CES 2020.
Whitman previously served as CEO of eBay and Hewlett Packard Enterprise while Katzenberg produced some of Disney’s best known animated movies before heading up Dreamworks Animation.
Among those involved with Quibi are directors Steven Spielberg, Sam Raimi and Guillermo del Toro, models Chrissy Teigen and Tyra Banks, and actors Bill Murray, Idris Elba and Reese Witherspoon.
According to Whitman, the company has partnered with Steven Spielberg to create a horror series called After Dark, which can only be watched after sunset. Whitman explained that to be able to do this, the app will check the user’s location and the local time to check it is indeed dark where they are.
The demographics
According to Whitman, the average Quibi user is in the early 30s. While 1.7 million is slightly better than what analysts projected at 1.5 million new users, this was remotely smaller than the 10 million signups rival Disney+ reported on its first day.
Whitman and Katzenberg have previously expressed that the Quibi app is aimed at competing with TV and movie streaming services like Disney Plus and Netflix and social media video platforms like YouTube and Tiktok.
