Quibi CEO Meg Whitman has conceded that the launch of the mobile-first streaming service has come in “slightly below expectations” due in part to the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking with Deadline, Whitman says the service’s initial performance has been ‘solid’ but they’re optimistic as a gradual emergence from lockdown has made the company optimistic: “We were designed for a different use case, no question about it. But we’re pretty pleased about where we are.”
The comments follow a differently toned New York Times interview earlier today with co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg who has put the blame of the disappointing launch entirely on COVID-19.
Katzenberg told the paper: “I attribute everything that has gone wrong to coronavirus. Everything. But we own it… Is it the avalanche of people that we wanted and were going for out of launch? The answer is no. It’s not up to what we wanted. It’s not close to what we wanted.”
The service says they have had 3.5 million downloads and just 1.3 million active users since April 6th. Within one week of launch it fell out of the list of the 50 most downloaded free iPhone apps in the United States and now sits at No. 125 behind the game “Knock’em All” – and that’s despite a lengthy free 90-day trial offer.
The subscriber shortfall has led to a revision of projections for the first full year which aimed to snag 7 million subscribers and $250 million in revenue.
Those targets seem less certain now, even though the company has plenty of resources with $1.8 billion in funding and one-year contracts with advertisers. Quibi will reportedly make a renewed pitch to advertisers this Fall even as marketing budgets across the board are being pulled back for the near future due to the economic downturn.
There has also been an additional threat in the form of a legal battle with startup Eko over the use of Quibi’s ‘Turnstyle’ interface which changes the aspect ratio of shows depending upon how a phone is held.
Quibi is still planning to implement versions suited to a TV set with a “lean-back app” expected to be available via Apple devices by the end of May and Android devices coming a few weeks later. The aim is also to soon allow the service to share some of its content on social media platforms.
