Quibi Streaming Service for Phones Launches April 6 – Will You Check Out The 90 Day Free Trial?

One new, micro-sized streaming service that we haven’t talked about here yet is Quibi. The title stands for “Quick bites.”

Official website: https://quibi.com/

It will be original TV shows delivered in 10 minutes or less episodic chunks specifically formatted to our cell phones. The brainchild of Meg Whitman and Jeffery Katzenberg, it’s not a completely original idea that seems to be targeting YouTube and Netflix in an unusual way.

Though Quibi touts its approach as unique, it’s been done before. Snap Originals, for example, tried shows with five-minute episodes in 2015 and again in 2018. It’s still going, but Verizon’s similar Go90 service couldn’t cut it. Today, the short-form video leaders are undoubtedly TikTok and Instagram, and they’re both free.

What Is Quibi? Everything You Need to Know About the ‘Quick Bite’ Streaming Service | PCMag

They are going to have 50 shows at launch including a mix of movies, news and assorted other content. Here’s a trailer for one called, Survive:

This service has my curiosity piqued, but not in a huge way for a few reasons:

1. My eyesight sucks, and watching on a small cell phone screen (I’ve got a Note 10+ and that’s on the bigger side) is not a desirable viewing experience (for me). I’ve done it, can do it when nothing bigger is available, but a tablet screen is pretty much the minimum (see: Where Do You MOST Watch Movies? (Theater, TV, Computer, Tablet, Phone))
2. Not sure I will like 10 minute edited clips at a time, forming a larger creative work. 10 minutes is a couple scenes really, maybe one really long scene. Then again, maybe this length is enough to keep one engaged and interested? 10 minutes feels like a good length for a movie review (most of ours are 5 minutes or less, but a small few have approached 10 minutes).
3. What demographic is this targeting? Doesn’t seem like people over 50, but the founders are both in their 60s. See #1.
4. 2 billion invested in this idea? Probably the street cred of Whitman and Katzenberg helped, as well as the promise of advertising on a cell phone, a device that almost everybody owns in the civilized world. It’s a great platform for communication and YouTube videos, but is it for … movies?

None of what above dismisses the possible idea as being viable. Maybe it will be the next greatest thing, but I’m skeptical. From 2003-2009 I covered tech pretty closely and signed up for just about anything and everything that moved, this doesn’t jump out at me as a winning concept. I could be wrong. I’ll check it out and give it a try. The trailers are promising.

Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/Quibi

Curious what you think about Quibi?

Will you be checking it out? 90 day free trial is hardly a losing proposition, except for your time if it turns out underwhelming. Do you want to see movies and TV shows broken down into 10 minute (or less) segments?