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You already watch a lot of stuff on your phone. There isn’t a lack of options between big platforms like Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, and Twitch, or the social media streams of TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram. But what if some of those options, particularly from Netflix and Hulu, are just too long?
Enter Quibi, a streaming platform that will specialize in “quick bite” (hence the name Quibi) scripted, unscripted, and news content that you will only be able to watch on a mobile device. Videos will be no longer than 10 minutes. The service is managed by a bunch of media industry veterans and is attracting top tier, A-list talent, all of whom seem eager to make serialized short-form entertainment.
Here’s what we know about Quibi so far.
(Check back often because we will update this post with more information as it becomes available.)
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Quibi is coming in April 2020. The platform will arrive on mobile devices in April 6, 2020, TV Guide has confirmed, the same month NBCUniversal plans to roll out its traditional streaming service Peacock and the same season — spring — that WarnerMedia is expected to launch HBO Max. It’ll be a busy time of year for new streaming services.
Quibi will have a tiered pricing structure. Similar to Hulu, Quibi will have two different paid experiences. For $4.99 a month, users will get one ad before the start of the video; the length of the ad will depend on the length on the video. Per Variety, a video that is five minutes or less will have a 10-second ad, while videos longer than that will have a 15-second ad. The service’s ad-free tier will cost $7.99 a month.
Quibi isn’t (but sort of is) a bingeing platform. The platform’s scripted content will release episodes, or chapters, as Quibi prefers to call them, daily. The total runtime of a scripted show is expected to be about 2 hours per season. Its reality and unscripted programs will be self-contained and run for about 10 episodes. In theory, you’d be able to watch all of these in one go, if you felt so inclined, after they aired. There will also be “daily essential” news and lifestyle programming (think cooking shows) that will be crafted for that day.
Quibi is seriously only available on phones. While you can often screencast your phone’s screen to your TV, the Quibi app — and thus its programs — will only be available on phones. Its team says that its programming will be designed to be viewed in either landscape or portrait modes without any loss of image quality and may even change what the viewer sees in the scene. Studios apparently aren’t too concerned about having to shoot things for both portrait and landscape mode, however.
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Quibi is spearheaded by some technology and media bigwigs. Quibi’s founder and guiding hand is Jeffrey Katzenberg, the chairman of Disney from the mid-1980s to the mid-’90s and one of the co-founders of the movie studio Dreamworks. The company’s CEO and technology point person is Meg Whitman, the former CEO and president of HP. Diane Nelson, the former president of DC Entertainment, is Quibi’s head of content.
It seems like everyone wants to work with Quibi. One thing that Quibi seems to have going for it is the range of high-profile talent that is involved with its programming. Chrissy Teigen is headlining a Judge Judy-esque show called Chrissy’s Court, while Zac Efron will star in a reality survival series called Killing Zac Efron where the actor will be stranded on a desert island for three weeks with a guide partner and minimal gear. And Keke Palmer and Joel Kim Booster have jumped aboard to host a reboot of MTV’s beloved 1990s dating show, Singled Out. Meanwhile, Joe Jonas will headline Cup of Joe, a travel show that features him touring the world with the help of local guides, and Andy Samberg is hosting a tiny-food cooking competition in which chefs face off to create the most delicious single bite of food.
There’s plenty of scripted TV in the works as well. Sophie Turner and Corey Hawkins will play the only survivors of a plane crash trying to find their way out of the wilderness in Survive, Kevin Hart is starring and producing an action comedy series called Action Scene, and Kiefer Sutherland is leading a loose remake of the 1960s TV series and 1993 movie The Fugitive. Meanwhile, the service is also developing a spin-off of the crowdfunded sci-fi film Code 8 starring cousins Stephen and Robbie Amell.
The horror anthology 50 States of Fright, produced by Sam Raimi, has booked Rachel Brosnahan and Christina Ricci for roles. Avengers: Endgame directors the Russo Brothers are executive-producing a docuseries called Slugfest about the DC-Marvel comics rivalry through the years, inspired by Reed Tucker’s book Slugfest: Inside the Epic, 50-Year Battle between Marvel and DC. Peter Farrelly is directing Dave Franco and Bill Murray in The Now, about a suicidal man who decides to live for the moment. Rick & Morty creator Justin Roiland is making a claymation series called Gloop World, about a pair of roommates who happen to be amorphous blobs.
Some creators are taking more experimental swings with the platform. For instance, Steven Spielberg is producing a horror series titled Spielberg’s After Dark and it will literally only be available after dark because episodes will only show up on your phone after the sun sets in your location. Meanwhile, Veena Sud, the showrunner for the AMC series The Killing, is working on a series called The Stranger, a show about a ride-sharing service driver named Clare who picks up a sociopath and then must find safety over the course of 12 hours. Each 10-minute episode will be released an hour later each night.
There are also several remakes of iconic movies like How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days in development, as well as projects from the likes of Catherine Hardwicke and Guillermo del Toro. Another American classic, Varsity Blues, recently got a series pick up with the producers of the original movie attached.
On a slightly different reboot tip, Quibi is doing a new version of the ’90s Nickelodeon kids game show Legends of the Hidden Temple, according to Buzzfeed. This version will leave the chintzy studio and head out into a real jungle, with adults running the obstacle course in an attempt to recapture their childhood.
NBC News, the BBC, and 60 Minutes are all producing short-form news content for the platform as well.
Plus, it looks like the beloved Comedy Central series Reno 911! is being revived for a seventh season on the streamer. Per Variety, show creators and stars Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon, and Kerri Kenney-Silver have signed on to pen the new season which will be executive-produced by Danny DeVito.
WWE is producing Fight Like a Girl, an unscripted series which pairs WWE superstars with women who are struggling with personal issues holding them back in life. Each episode will center on wrestlers drawing from their personal experiences as they “help their trainees overcome obstacles and become tougher, stronger and healthier versions of their former selves inside and out.” Participants include Sasha Banks, Brie Bella, Nikki Bella, Alexa Bliss, Sonya Deville, Charlotte Flair, Nia Jax, Becky Lynch, and Natalya.
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If you want to watch Quibi shows without Quibi, just practice some patience (and hope). One interesting thing about the Quibi model is that creators will be allowed to shop their content to other platforms after two years, potentially editing the “chapters” into a single 2-hour movie. Quibi also relinquishes exclusivity rights after seven years, which means the creators will own the project outright after that period.
Quibi is targeting millennials and Generation Zers. In an interview with Vulture, Katzenberg explained that the platform “is for 18-to-44-year-olds, and very, very targeted at the 25-to-35-year-old millennial.” (Because if there’s one thing millennials love, it’s The Fugitive.) Perhaps in a gesture to those generations, Whitman vetoed engaging in data mining and monetization through the app. “It’s just on the wrong side of history,” Whitman told the Los Angeles Times. “It’s not consistent with our brand and what consumers expect today.”