The Much-Hyped Short Video Service, Quibi Is Shutting Down

Quibi, a short-form video streaming service that was launched in April 2020, has announced its shutdown. The news was confirmed by the founder Jeffrey Katzenberg and CEO Meg Whitman on a medium post. The service is one of the shortest-lived streaming services, operating for only six months.

“We feel that we’ve exhausted all our options. As a result, we have reluctantly come to the difficult decision to wind down the business, return cash to our shareholders, and say goodbye to our colleagues with grace,” says the announcement post. The shutdown of Quibi could be due to the launch timing, which was just at the start of the pandemic. There were very few options on the platform as it was new. At the same time, other streaming platforms had a plethora of options available.

Apart from that, Quibi also recognizes that “the idea itself wasn’t strong enough to justify a standalone streaming service or because of our timing.” Quibi will continue to attempt to sell both the content and the underlying technology used through its apps in the coming months.

Quibi was launched on April 6th, 2020, just over six months ago, with two plans: $4.99 (with ads) or $7.99 (ad-free). The company distinguished itself by focusing exclusively on mobile devices at launch, complete with an innovative system where each show was filmed and edited in both portrait and landscape formats, allowing it to be viewed in any orientation on a smartphone. There was no free option, outside of a lengthy free trial, and no TV apps until yesterday when the company launched apps for the Apple TV, Android TV, and Fire TV.