Quibi aims to offer 5,000 short videos
Quibi, a new digital TV venture backed by former DreamWorks Animation executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, said Wednesday that it plans to launch 5,000 “quick bite” videos of less than 10 minutes when it launches as early as next year.
The company, which began in August and is leasing an office in Hollywood, has ambitious plans to change the way shows are consumed by taking stories told in two to four hours and segmenting them in “quick bite” videos that are viewed in 10 minutes or less.
Quibi has already signed on several large studios and networks to create content for its platform, including Walt Disney Co. and WarnerMedia. The service, which will compete against other streaming video services, will charge a monthly fee of $5 with ads and $8 without ads. It could launch in late 2019 or in early 2020, Quibi Chief Executive Meg Whitman said at a Variety event held in West Hollywood on Wednesday.
“We have one chance to launch, and we need it to be absolutely perfect,” Whitman said.
She emphasized that although Quibi will deliver videos of less than 10 minutes in duration, the offering will be different from shortform videos on platforms such as YouTube.
“YouTube has done a fantastic job, but what we want to do is to do what HBO did when they launched,” Whitman said. “It will be that much of a step up in quality and storytelling.”
Already, Quibi has announced some high-profile directors and producers who are creating content for its platform. For example, director Catherine Hardwicke, who worked on the 2008 film “Twilight,” is working on a thriller about an artificial intelligence character, Katzenberg said.
Katzenberg said Quibi is willing to spend big for its shows, adding that it pays 100% of costs and also provides a premium. The company is willing to pay as much as $6 million an hour for long-form content, he said. Long-form content will be consumed by Quibi users in short, “quick-bite” videos of less than 10 minutes.
Quibi has an exclusive seven-year license to the short-form content and does not own it after that, he said. After two years, Katzenberg said, people can take that content and put it in a form that’s more than 21 minutes and can shop those shows elsewhere.
“Our deal is one of the most attractive deals that anybody can [get] today,” he said.
Whitman said the company now has 48 employees.
“We’re off and running and we’re excited about it,” she said.