Reuters Insider - Streaming service Quibi launches to housebound audiences
07/04/2020 09:46
Click the following link to watch video: https://share.insider.thomsonreuters.com/link?entryId=0_y3ytqjol&referenceId=tag:reuters.com,2020:newsml_OVC8HZJ3F_930&pageId=ReutersNews Source: Reuters Insider Description: A new streaming service called Quibi launched to housebound audiences on Monday, delivering movies, reality shows and news to mobile devices in chunks of ten minutes or less. Gloria Tso has more. Short Link: https://tmsnrt.rs/34fJzGs Video Transcript: Hollywood's latest gamble - a new streaming service called Quibi - launched to housebound audiences on Monday. Quibi stands for "quick bites," and it delivers movies, reality shows and news in chunks of 10 minutes or shorter but only to your mobile phone. The initial lineup boasts celebrities ranging from Lebron James to Jennifer Lopez. Quibi has been criticized for not making its shows available to watch on TVs or PCs.But founder Jeffrey Katzenberg says the mobile aspect sets the service apart from competitors like Disney+ and HBO Max, which mainly stick to full-length shows and movies. The very thing that differentiates us from all the other OTT stuff going on today is that we are only on a mobile device and using this technology, it looks beautiful on a phone. Quibi is being backed by almost $2 billion from movie studios and other investors. Executives had originally promoted Quibi as on-the-go viewing and considered postponing its launch at a time of social distancing. But they ultimately decided newly stuck-at-home audiences might embrace the new service. The mega-dream here is this becomes the next generation of film narrative, that we had the era for movies and then the era of TV and then I hope we're into the era of the next one, which is the era of Quibi. As for Hollywood hitting some speed bumps this year, Katzenberg isn't too worried. He says Quibi has enough in the pipeline to last until this November