Upcoming American short-form mobile video platform Quibi has announced it will launch in the US on 6 April.
Quibi strengthened by its $1bn (£763m) secured in funding has set to work some of Hollywood’s biggest names to make content for its mobile-only service. Each show will be 10 minutes or shorter.
The firm also revealed it will charge $4.99 (£3.80) per month for basic access and $7.99 for an ad-free version.
An industry –observer, however, has questioned consumers’ willingness to pay.
Quibi’s chief executive Meg Whitman and founder Jeffrey Katzenberg announced the details of the service at the CES tech expo in Las Vegas.
The former was previously the chief of eBay and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, while the latter produced some of Disney’s best known animated movies before heading up Dreamworks Animation.
The stars lined up in the new service include the directors Steven Spielberg, Sam Raimi and Guillermo del Toro, the models Chrissy Teigen and Tyra Banks, the actors Bill Murray, Idris Elba and Reese Witherspoon.
Quibi is not only about entertainment, but the firm also intends to delve into news broadcasting as it will screen
In addition to entertainment, the service intends to screen bespoke news bulletins from NBC, BBC, and Telemundo, among others.
In presentation, there is a feature called Turnstile, which enables viewers to set the image at full screen, whether they hold their phone in landscape or portrait mode.
Show creators have framed their shots so that the action suits either aspect ratio, and in some cases have used the facility to reveal a different point-of-view.
For instance, one show features a traditional perspective when the picture is widescreen but shows a view of the protagonist’s phone when held vertical.
Quibi which stands for “quick bites” is commissioning videos running from four to 10 minutes in length.
The services will include episodic series, and also movies – which will be divided up into chapters.
Whitman also announced some of its moves at content creation. She revealed the firm had partnered renowned movie director Steven Spielberg to create a horror series, After Dark, that can only be viewed after sunset.
To do this, the app will check the user’s location and the local time to check it is indeed dark where they are, Whitman explained.
The Chief Executive in a chat with the BBCC also said that Quibi had received more than a 100 pitches a week from filmmakers who wanted to use its Turnstile rotating video tech.
She said, “There’s a long history in this town of Hollywood, of technology enabling a new form of storytelling. And that’s exactly what we’re trying to do.”
One expert said Turnstile had promise but was unlikely to be a key selling point.
Dan Rayburn, principal analyst at Frost & Sullivan said, “Turning the screen to keep what is on the screen in a frame is great, but it can’t dictate the storyline and it is not enough to get someone to buy the content.
“And content is king.”
The stream service industry is a fiercely contested turf. Aside from having to contend with rivals like Netflix, HBO and new entrants like Apple TV Plus and Disney Plus, one of Quibi’s biggest challenges will be persuading the public to pay for an additional streaming service.
But Quibi Mr. Katzenberg told the BBC that he believed Quibi’s main competition is other short-form video platforms such as YouTube, Snapchat and TikTok.
“If anything, we accelerate the experience of watching short form on your mobile device today,” he added.
The firm also revealed it would target viewers aged between 18 and 44 years old.
But most of that audience is accustomed to watching short-form videos for free.
Not in any way impressed, Rayburn while commenting said, “I think they are trying to change consumer habits too much.”
Quibi said it planned to release three hours of new premium content each day, excluding news content.
