In the US, a multi-billion-dollar streaming platform, i.e., Quibi, launches. The platform claims that it can transform entertainment with short, Hollywood-quality clips in to watch on the go. Therefore, it means that it will make the world busy who are trapped in their home.
The famous stars and also the industry legends such as Steven Spielberg, Guillermo del Toro, Jennifer Lopez, and Reese Witherspoon will make those movies and shows, which will be the youth-focused and also the smartphone-only service.
When the user taps in the boom of mobile video viewing, then all the contents will come in clips, which will not have more than 10 minutes or quick bites. All the shows will be made in both horizontal and vertical formats. It will also have an automatically flipping system when the users rotate their phones.
The CEO of Quibi told AFP that Quibi’s plans were set before the coronavirus outbreak in which the people from all over the world get the orders to stay-at-home.
Meg Whitman, who earlier managed eBay, said that they don’t know as they are launching in an unusual time. He further said that he doesn’t think that any of them have ever seen anything similar to this.
The Quibi executives said that it might happen that only a few people will watch during their coffee breaks, as self-isolation can easily make the viewers distracted.
Whitman said that people have some in-between moments that are different. She gave an example that when viewers get exhausted from parenting, then they take a pause and watch it.
She also gave an example of the popular remote conferencing software, i.e., Zoom. She said that the whole day she is only on Zoom calls but, whenever she gets a 10 or 15 minutes break between Zoom calls, she will watch a Quibi.
Whitman said that there is an impressive lineup, i.e., 50 shows at launch, with the 175 originals in the first year of Quibi. Whitman also said that they have enough content in their lot.
With Quibi, many famous Hollywood celebrities have committed to work. It only happens because of the founder, Jeffrey Katzenberg, who is a renowned figure in Tinseltown also who administered Disney Studios for a decade and also co-founded DreamWorks.
There will be a launch of movies like a psychological thriller Survive, which has a star of Game of Thrones, i.e., Sophie Turner and Liam Hemsworth of Most Dangerous Game. The team is expecting that because of these stars, the subscribers will come fast.
After an initial batch at launch, one chapter will come every day to relive water-cooler moments of traditional television.
Whitman said that they hope the production will come back online soon. People have to undergo uncertainty well.
The aim of the Quibi is that the user should come back for the daily news, sports, and entertainment shows. All these genres are hard to produce as all the studios in the US are closed due to Coronavirus.
Whitman said that it is very crazy to broadcast this many shows from hosts’ homes rather than the specially made studios.
Two weeks ago, they thought that it might not be possible to produce even four or five of these ‘Daily Essentials’ but, they did it.
$100,000 in a minute
The subscription of Quibi will cost $5 per month with ads, and without ads, it is $8. Quibi extended the two-week trial period into a 90-day offer as unemployment is rising.
Quibi should also compete for the young viewers’ time with the millions of free and usually user-generated videos that are hosted by YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram.
Whitman said that they would pay up to $100,000 a minute for their premium long-form movies and chapters.
She further added that they would produce for the money that they are spending is unique to the unimaginable creativity of people who are producing shows for $500 a minute.
The Quibi’s high budgets are more similar to other streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, and Apple TV+, with HBO Max and Peacock will join the fight shortly.
Whitman insists Quibi aims to create the next big wave of story-telling, which will not view as the direct competitors.
Whitman said that there were movies, there was television, there was streaming. And now this might be the new way to tell the stories for mobile, in the Hollywood-quality ways.
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