American short-form mobile video platform Quibi has raised yet another $750 million in funding which brings total investments in the app to $1.75 billion and the app is yet to launch.
The company did not disclose the identity of the recent investors. According to the Journals,$400 million of that $750 million was raised at the end of 2019. The weight of investments in the app speaks loudly of the confidence investors have in Quibi succeeding in a highly competitive and growing space. Much of this confidence has been ascribed to founder Jeffrey Katzenberg.
Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch once said, “ If anyone can make Quibi work, it’s Jeffrey.”
Quibi wants to sell subscribers the idea of high quality, premium series and films split into chunks no longer than 10 minutes in length. Content that can be consumed waiting in line for coffee, or on a subway.
However, founder Katzenberg and CEO Meg Whitman have touted a number of shows, no one has seen the app yet. People who have seen shows have seen them pre-loaded on a device, meaning they haven’t had a chance to play with the app. The company is gambling on its signature Turnstyle tech, which changes the point-of-view when a phone switches from landscape to portrait mode.
Co-founder of Fox Broadcasting Company, Barry Diller who was once Katzenberg’s boss Paramount, reckoned that Quibi is “a giant and gutsy speculation.”
Diller added that “most people when they hear it aren’t overwhelmed by the idea, which makes it all the gutsier.” Still, Diller noted that Katzenberg is going all-in on the idea, and that’s where much of the hype comes from: Katzenberg helped turn Disney animation around in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s under then CEO Michael Eisner. His reputation precedes him.
Diller also said, “This is hope, his great hope: that somewhere in Quibi’s library there is going to be a giant hit.
“That in there is going to be something that makes people say, ‘Oh, my God, I’ve got to see it.’”
Quibi won’t be competing with the likes of Netflix and Disney Plus rather it will compete with apps that take up time on your phone for free — Instagram, YouTube and, increasingly, TikTok. That’s where Katzenberg is trying to play, and it’s where he’s trying to convince investors that a $4.99 streaming service with ads ($7.99 without ads) can not only survive, but thrive when it launches on April 6th.
Speaking to the Verge in January, Katzenberg said, “We’re competing against free.
“We have to offer something that is meaningfully, measurably, quantifiably, creatively different.”
