Jeffrey Katzenberg blames the COVID-19 pandemic for Quibi’s muted launch

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Time to play the blame game. Quibi, the new micro-streaming service featuring short-form programming you can view on your phone, launched on April 6 after a pretty massive marketing campaign. The service was launched with original programming featuring high-profile names such as Chrissy Teigen, Sophie Turner, Idris Elba, Liam Hemsworth, Jennifer Lopez, and Anna Kendrick, but the launch was also met with little fanfare. In terms of its competition, the service hasn't attained the early reach of something like Netflix or Disney+ and now Quibi founder, Jeffrey Katzenberg, is giving his two-cents as to why.

While speaking to "The New York Times" about the disappointing launch, Katzenberg was pretty blunt and to the point but he's putting much of the blame on the current state of affairs in the world:

"I attribute everything that has gone wrong to coronavirus. Everything. But we own it"

Quibi has really failed to gain much traction with consumers. Not long after its launch, the service fell out of the 50 most downloaded free iPhone apps where it now sits at 125 as of this writing. They did everything to really sell Quibi, even offering the service for 90 days for free at launch with T-Mobile customers also being offered a free year-long subscription if you had their unlimited plan. This was done to accommodate the turn of events with the coronavirus as Katzenberg and his team thought the extra time sheltering at home would make Quibi a go-to option for media consumption. Katzenberg is honest about expecting better results during the pandemic:

"My hope, my belief was that there would still be many in-between moments while sheltering in place. There are still those moments, but it’s not the same. It’s out of sync."

It seems like they're trying to right the course so to speak as Quibi moves forward. They're allowing users to watch their programs on TV rather than just their phones and they've even put some of their shows on YouTube for free. The app has been downloaded by 2.9 million customers, while Quibi itself claims that number is closer to 3.5 million but the app only has 1.3 million active users. Katzenberg is encouraged by the data that shows 80% of Quibi's active users complete every episode they watch but it's clear that he was expecting a much better outcome.

Katzenberg, in my opinion, seems to be using the pandemic as an excuse and isn't really taking on some of the blame that perhaps the idea behind the service was a bit out of touch. I'm personally not interested in 10-minute long episodes that I can only watch on my phone. I think he figured that since most of us are on our phones quite frequently that we would look for enhanced content to watch on our devices but I know, for me, I'd rather watch a TV show or movie on my television. If that's not an option I'd go for my laptop or IPad. I don't think the masses were interested in viewing the content in the way he envisioned and now he's trying to figure out why it's not working, even though it seems pretty obvious why it's not. 

Have YOU explored Quibi or did the service never gain any of your interest?