Quibi in talks over Fire TV and Roku support
David Farnor | On 21, Jun 2020
Quibi is reportedly in talks with Amazon and Roku to bring the streaming service to their respective devices.
Quibi – short for “Quick Bites” – launched in April this year as a mobile-only streaming servce, with movies and TV shows divided into 10-minute chunks and drip-fed to subscribers on a daily basis.
The launch couldn’t have come at a worse time, though, as instead of our on-the-move lifestyle that inspired the service, the coronavirus lockdown has left viewers indoors looking for things to watch on a bigger screen then their phone. And so, within two months of launching, Quibi has already added support for AirPlay and Chromecast to cast its content to TVs.
That step, however, only highlights the underwhelming performance of the app to date, with TikTok and Snapchat notably not suffering from its users being in lockdown, rather than out and about. Indeed, Quibi is now racing to try and expand its potential reach, with talks now underway with Amazon for its Fire TV devices.
Variety also reports that Quibi is in talk with Roku, which, alongside Fire TV, makes up the two dominant forces in the streaming media device market. Roku’s talks, though, are reportedly facing an obstacle of agreeing a revenue-haring model, as Quibi currently is on course to have fewer than 2 million subscribers in its first year, far below its initial forecast of 7.4 million.
Quibi adds Chromecast and Airplay support
13th June 2020
Quibi is now available to stream on Chromecast and to Apple TV devices.
The platform, founded by DreamWorks veteran Jeffrey Katzenberg, launched in April this year as a mobile-only streaming service. Its content was shortened accordingly into “Quick Bites” (hence the name), with movies divided into 10-minute chunks and drip-fed to subscribers on a daily basis.
The launch couldn’t have come at a worse time, though, as instead of our on-the-move lifestyle that inspired the service, the coronavirus lockdown has left viewers indoors looking for things to watch on a bigger screen then their phone. And so, about a month after launching, Quibi announced that it would backtrack on its defining, signature USP and add support for casting to TVs. Now, it’s arrived: Quibi can be streamed to your telly via Airplay (for those with iOS and Apple TV devices) and Chromecast, for anyone with one of Google’s smart TV-enabling dongles. Viewers can now tap the Airplay or Casting icon when watching a video to cast to a nearby device.
The move comes as Quibi’s pipeline of new releases has slowed down, with only a few originals on the way in June. For what’s coming soon to Quibi, click here.
Quibi to add TV-casting feature as downloads near 3m
28th April 2020
Quibi will add a TV-casting feature in May, the new streaming platform has announced.
The platform, founded by DreamWorks veteran Jeffrey Katzenberg, aims to differentiate itself from Netflix by focusing on short-form content, with “movies” divided into 7-to-10-minute chunks that can only be streamed on your mobile device. The idea of on-the-move streaming at a time when the country is locked down in their living rooms might seem strange, and, indeed, the service was met with backlash for the idea.
That doesn’t appear to have stopped people signing up, though, with 2.7 million downloads of the app recorded in its first two weeks after launching. In its first week, it racked up 1.7 million downloads.
The figure, which could include re-downloads or multiple devices covered by the same Android or Apple account, does not equate to active users, but does indicate interest in the concept of the new platform, which launched with 50 shows.
Now, Quibi is looking to capitalise on that interest, breaking its mobile-only principle almost immediately with plans to launch a new casting feature in May.
The feature will support casting to compatible TVs, although there have been no further details on how that would work, whether it will be via Google Cast, AirPlay or another method.
The most popular shows on Quibi to date include Most Dangerous Game, starring Liam Hemsworth and Christoph Waltz, Chrissy’s Court, Flipped, starring Will Forte, Punk’d and Survive, starring Sophie Turner and Corey Hawkins.
For a guide to what’s available on Quibi, click here.