Discover Quibi, a new SVOD platform freshly launched in early April 2020 and solely dedicated to smartphones.
Quibi: a little news among the giants
Making a place among the giants Netflix, Apple TV+ or HBO Max seems to be a perilous mission at first glance. Yet this is the ambition of Quibi, carried by Jeffrey Katzenberg, producer, former president of Walt Disney Pictures and co-founder of DreamWorks SKG (Spielberg Katzenberg Geffen). Arriving in France on April 6, 2020, the day before the launch of Disney+, Quibi seems at first glance to be just another streaming platform. Quibi for "Quick bites" or a quick thing, differs from its competitors by its concept of short formats and only available on smartphone. Offering series and films cut into ten-minute format, it exploits both portrait and landscape orientation that allows viewers to have a change of point of view.
Quibi: the origins
Jeffrey Katzenberg, founder of the platform alongside Meg Whitman (formerly head of eBay and HP), began his career in 1975 as an assistant to Barry Diller, head of Paramount Studios. Appointed president of Walt Disney Pictures, he helped the studio out of a loss of momentum by setting up projects such as Pretty Woman, The Circle of Missing Poets or The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King. Having not obtained the position of president and executive director of the group, he decided to leave the studio and founded DreamWorks SKG, with the help of Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, where he produced the animated film Shrek.
What about the catalog?
175 new programs, more than 7000 episodes, are announced for the first year with a whole panel of personalities, such as Guillermo del Toro, Steven Spielberg, Sam Raimi, Reese Witherspoon, Sophie Turner or Zac Efron. True innovation or gadget? Quibi bets everything on this new option allowing for example to see a wide horizontal shot or a close-up on a vertical face. Now, only time will see if the platform can endure and establish itself as a reference of its kind.