With so many contenders in the ring, entering the Streaming Wars at this point is a dangerous move. Some of the newcomers, like Peacock, have a decent angle that gives them a fighting chance. Others were doomed before they even launched, and there’s no better example of this than Quibi. The short-lived streaming service launched in April of 2020, and officially shut down on December 1st of 2020. Quibi has gone down in history as one of the greatest failures in recent entertainment history, and the Streaming Wars has become one of the most exciting chapters.
The things that led to Quibi’s downfall also demonstrate the importance of some universal lessons and concepts that actors should be mindful of as they advance their career in the film industry. How? Let’s dive in and find out!
What Was Quibi?
Quibi, which stands for ‘quick bites’, was founded in August of 2018 by Jeffrey Katzenburg, a co-founder and former CEO of DreamWorks Animation, under the name NewTV. He partnered up with Meg Whitman, a board member of Proctor and Gamble, who became the CEO. Its new name came from the brevity of its content; episodes lasted only 10 minutes and were geared towards younger audiences.
After its launch Quibi ranked pretty high on the list of apps downloaded worldwide, but this only lasted a week or so. This alone was concerning, because another part of Quibi’s appeal was their emphasis on creating mobile-friendly content. Everything was formatted for viewing on a smartphone, and some described it at ‘Netflix for your phone’. That was part of the problem, Netflix already had a mobile app, as did many other streaming services. While the angle was something new and different, it didn’t give them a competitive edge.
They experimented with a free, ad-supported version of the app in August, but only in Australia and New Zealand. They also brought down the price of the paid version. This wouldn’t be enough to help them keep up with the competition.
If Quibi was going to bring in enough active users, they would have to rely on the content in the library, which eventually reached 75 titles. It even received a few Emmy nominations, and one of its shows did win an Emmy in September of 2020. This looked pretty promising.
They seemed to realize their error in restricting themselves to mobile-only content, because they added casting features, AirPlay and Chromecast specifically. In October, Quibi became available on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Google TV. By October it was far too late, however. In October of 2020, they announced they were ending their service that December.
What Went Wrong?
Like I mentioned earlier, Quibi wasn’t really capable of keeping up. Not only were there other mobile apps already available, TikTok and YouTube have an abundance of shorter content that’s much easier to access – after all, it’s free.
Money was a huge part of Quibi’s downfall. It wasn’t a lack of funding though, the streaming service’s budget was used poorly. It was intended to appeal to a younger audience, but a lot of the talent they brought on for their original content were older actors who were more popular with Gen X and Baby Boomers. They clearly didn’t understand what their audience was interested in – apparently ‘kids being on their phones too much’ was enough for a basis of a sustainable business model?
Another part of Quibi’s end was, unsurprisingly, the pandemic. It was designed to be watched anytime, anywhere, except most people weren’t even leaving their homes…where the TVs and computers are. Since it was impossible to predict when the quarantines would end, people preferred long-term content which could keep them entertained for an extended period of time.
Then there’s the content itself. Quibi’s original content was not well-received by audiences or by critics. Over $1 billion was put into bringing big name actors and studios on board; it didn’t draw in a crowd, and even if it did there wasn’t much worth watching. People were even more critical of the price as a result, since there was tons of free awesome content elsewhere, and giants like Netflix had the library needed to justify their prices.
How Could Quibi Have Succeeded?
First, it’s important to note that we can never know for certain if Quibi could have sustained itself. Business mistakes aside, there are rumors of behind the scenes drama that, if true, would have had a pretty negative impact on the company as a whole. These ideas are speculative; plenty of people will agree with them, others will disagree with them. But I do want to share my two cents, so I can better demonstrate why their story is one that actors should pay attention to.
First and foremost, get rid of the ‘mobile only’ angle. The pandemic was a terrible time to release that kind of service. If it was accessible on other devices, people would have been more likely to explore the content.
Something else Quibi could have tried was leverage their would-be competitors. They had no existing audience or fanbase for either their content or the streaming service. If Quibi had instead released some of their content on YouTube first, they could’ve gained the momentum they needed.
Quibi didn’t purchase their content, they licensed it. After a two year period the content would become the intellectual property of its original creator. This hurt the money they had coming in, and forced them to spend more money as they needed to continually seek out other people whose content they could license. It would have made more sense for them to use their budget to create content of their own.
They hurt the potential for fans and users to contribute to their marketing plan, because there was no easy way to share their content on social media. Not to mention there was nothing ‘memeable’, because the app didn’t allow for taking screenshots. Millennials and Gen Z are all about making and sharing memes as a form of connection and expression. Someone trying to appeal to a younger audience should take their social media habits into consideration, since they’re so active online.
Quibi could have potentially used the pandemic to their advantage. Many people lost their jobs and had to be a lot stricter with their personal and household budgets. This led to many people cancelling subscription services. Quibi prided itself on a three month free trial, and it could have advertised itself as the (relatively) free alternative to the streaming giants, rather than using it as a simple gimmick.
Where Is Quibi’s Content Now?
The 75 titles on their roster migrated to Roku in May of 2021, but they’ve been repackaged as Roku Originals. Sweta Patel, Roku’s VP of Engagement Growth Marketing wanted to be considerate of Quibi’s original fans after acquiring the library. She was quoted saying that “…we will be engaging with them and messaging slightly differently to them to be able to tell them, ‘Hey, we have your shows. We’ve got that and more, and by the way, you can watch it on the big screen and it’s free.”.
Still, we should at the very least give Quibi credit for trying something new. It had big ideas and lofty goals, but it was very disorganized and didn’t understand the people it was trying to reach. They also didn’t understand the potential their product had, and by the time they made the appropriate changes, it didn’t make a difference. Quibi could have stuck to its original ideas but catered to a more appropriate audience, or stick to their intended audience and adapt their model to what that specific audience wanted.
That kind of creative thinking and ingenuity is exactly what we as pursuers of creative independence should aim towards when embracing entrepreneurship – just be smart about it.
What Can Actors Learn From Quibi?
Now, the part you’ve all been waiting for! Let’s pretend that Quibi is an actor, and the creator and CEO are Quibi’s talent representatives.
Quibi didn’t have a brand. Without an identity and some unique strengths to draw on, how would they know the roles it’s best suited for? How could they pitch their client to casting directors? How could Quibi know the content it needs to create helpful assets, like a demo reel or headshots? Just imagine if Helen Mirren tried to land the leads in Jessica Jones, Legally Blonde, and Changeling; the more focused your portfolio is the better.
Quibi didn’t understand its audience. It decided to appeal to a specific demographic, but it did nothing to build up that demographic’s interest. If Quibi was going to successfully develop a fanbase of Millennials and Gen Z, it would need to get roles on the types of shows and movies that they’re into. Actors can’t just pick a demographic that they want to have as their main fanbase and then take on random roles, hoping their fans will keep up with their career – that’s not how brand loyalty works. Imagine if Adam Sandler made all of his comedies while trying to establish himself as the next Hollywood heartthrob…the thought alone is pretty cringey.
Quibi didn’t have a strategy, it had an idea. And when Quibi realized it wasn’t doing so hot, it got desperate and started trying new things. There’s nothing wrong with trying something new, and some of the ideas were pretty good, but they didn’t make sense in the context of Quibi’s career. A strategy isn’t ‘It’s been two months and this isn’t working, let’s try this completely different thing instead because it sounds good’. Strategies need to be adaptable, but not so easily replaceable.
There’s a reason I talk about strategies, branding, and assets so much. The ideas behind them aren’t exclusive to actors, they’re universal. Understanding that does more than just advance your acting career and improve your acting skills, it helps you develop and scale a side hustle to support your own pursuit of creative independence.
Ready to apply that knowledge to your acting career? Check out my online acting career advancement program to learn how!