Jan 9, 2020

Everything You Need to Know About Quibi Jeffrey Katzenberg's New Short Form Streaming Service

Cartoon Brew has recently covered the announcement of a streaming service called Quibi. Yesterday, the platform had its first public demonstration at the CES trade show in Las Vegas. Here is what we learned and what we can expect from the product.

A new short-form streaming service and, according to its creators, a whole new way to watch video. Designed specifically for mobile devices, the platform offers subscribers chunks of content that last from 5 to 10 minutes. Quibi is led by veteran tech executive (and former Republican candidate for California governor) Meg Whitman and movie mogul (and co-founder of DreamWorks Animation) Jeffrey Katzenberg, who together have created a platform that is "a marriage of Hollywood and Silicon Valley. touting their product as a marriage between Hollywood and Silicon Valley.

There are three categories of content. The prestige tier consists virtually of movies, cut into short chapters and delivered weekly. There will also be unscripted programs and documentaries on a variety of subjects. Finally, Daily Essentials: news reports and related content (such as horoscopes). Three hours of new content will be delivered every weekday, and 175 original programs will be delivered in the first year.

That's about it. Katzenberg and Whitman state that they are competing more with Youtube and social media than with existing streamers like Netflix. They argue that Quibi stands out for two reasons. First, it has A-list stars and premium-quality programming (budgets run up to $125,000 per minute, which is on par with top-tier movies and TV shows). Second, the turnstyle.

Turnstyle technology was announced extensively at the CES presentation. This patent-pending technology allows viewers to seamlessly switch between portrait and landscape modes. This means that creators will need to make at least two edits and (as in the demo below) can even offer two simultaneous but very different video streams. Early reports indicate that creators are already using this feature in inventive ways, incorporating dual formats into their storytelling.

One show. One screen. two perspectives. Holding the phone horizontally = cinematic point of view. Hold phone vertically = character's phone takes over your phone. #QuibiCES pic.twitter.com/mANwJJKsGU

- Quibi (@Quibi) January 8, 2020

In theory, yes: imagine a character making a call and your phone actually ringing. Indeed, Steven Spielberg's horror series After Dark makes moderate use of viewers' location data, making the show available only after dark. Broader use of the phone is not currently part of Quibi's sales pitch, but it probably will be in the future, as it helps market the platform as qualitatively different from television.

Pretty good - this is very important because Quibi is launching without an established franchise. Among the actors and directors who have signed on so far are Zac Efron, Idris Elba, Kristen Bell, Chrissy Teigen, Kendall Jenner, Tyra Banks, Stephen Curry, 50 Cent, Jennifer Lopez, Reese Witherspoon, Guillermo del Toro, Steven Soderbergh, and The Avengers: Endgame, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo; Quibi does not produce in-house and outsources everything.

To date, four animated series have been announced: the stop-motion show "Gloop World" by Rick & Morty co-creator Justin Roiland, an adaptation of Anthony Piper's superhero comic "Trill League adaptation, Your Daily Horoscope, a series of stories featuring the animals of the Chinese zodiac, and The Andy Cohen Diaries, in which writer and broadcaster Andy Cohen shares anecdotes from his colorful life.

Advertising is expected to account for about one-third of the company's revenue, with the remainder coming from subscriptions. User data is not monetized. The platform has raised $1.4 billion in funding from major investors (including major Hollywood studios) and is targeting 20 million subscribers within five years. Projects will be licensed to Quibi for seven years, but creators may re-edit and sell them as feature films after two years.

Quibi will launch in the US on April 6. Ad-supported subscriptions will cost $5, and ad-free subscriptions will cost $8.

(Top image from Quibi's launch video)