Yahoo News Quibi: Twitter users call for a ‘10-part Netflix series’ into streaming service's demise
Twitter users have already started lobbying for a TV series about Quibi’s demise as the streaming service shuts down after just six months.
Quibi launched in April, specialising in 10-minute TV episodes designed to be watched on subscribers’ phones while they commuted to work.
However, on Wednesday (21 October), the company announced that it would be winding down operations, citing both the pandemic and the weakness of the platform’s central premise as reasons for their failure to attract customers.
The news was met with little surprise online, with many social media users joking that they’d assumed the app had already closed after failing to make a commercial splash.
“Quibi is a beautiful example of olds thinking they can crack into the digital space with massive amounts of money and previous success on other mediums,” one Twitter user wrote.
“They don’t get it. Never will. Never have... and ‘internet people’ have all passed them by.. and they have no idea.”
“Say what you will about Quibi, but while many media companies stagnate, they innovated the bold strategy of acting like they invented the web series and expecting people to pay them money for that,” another echoed.
However, the main question on everyone’s lips seemed to be the inevitable “10-part series” that would be written about the app’s interesting backstory and eventual demise.
“What streaming service will make a documentary or scripted drama about Quibi?,” one Twitter user questioned, while another said that they couldn’t wait to watch “the future Netflix show on what happened to Quibi”.
“The irony is that I *would* watch almost infinite programming ABOUT Quibi,” another wrote.
Damn. I can’t believe Quibi is shutting down. Not only was the concept flawless, but they had an unparalleled understanding of storytelling.
(This is a real photo from their office. I wish I’d written it myself.) pic.twitter.com/I3ah5kd26N— Ana Fabrega (@anafabregagood) October 21, 2020
I would pay a lot of money for an 8-part, high production value, documentary video series with 10min episodes that I can watch on my phone but can’t share on social that explains what went wrong with Quibi
— Michael Kolberg 👺🤳 (@mikeykolberg) October 21, 2020
Netflix should commission a ten part series into what went wrong with Quibi.
— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) October 21, 2020
Before it launched, Quibi raised $1.75bn (£1.3bn) from investors, with the likes of Steven Spielberg, Reese Witherspoon and Chrissy Teigen signing up to create video content for the app.
In its first week, the app amassed 1.7 million downloads, but quickly dropped out of the top 40 free apps on US iTunes altogether, even after offering viewers a 90-day free trial for the usually paid-for videos.
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