Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Quibi reportedly lost 90 percent of early users after their free trials expired

theverge.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 202 posts

Re: Quibi reportedly lost 90 percent of early users after their free trials expired

#141

Post by golemiprague »

throwaway43234 wrote: post #133
cleansingfire wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what I find striking. With all their experience & expertise, the major studios spend a tremendous amount of money and consistently produce a surprising number of failures. Personally, I like the wider seeding creatively in general (as you describe with Netflix.)

And those are just the failures you see! Friends in the industry tell me there are many more failures behind the scenes where shows can get arbitrarily far down the production pipeline only for studio execs to come in and scrap the whole thing. We're not so different from those 1000 monkeys writing shakespeare :)

Wouldn't call it 1000 monkeys, it is not different to books or startups or even restaurants, some fail and some succeed. Isn't start up success rate is also 1 to 20 or more? There are so many books and songs that nobody watch or read, it is just normal.

Re: Quibi reportedly lost 90 percent of early users after their free trials expired

#142

Post by bonestamp2 »

wolco wrote: post #139
bonestamp2 wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon already created a pretty perfect show in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (89% on Rotten Tomatoes). That is going to be really hard for them to top.

They should pack up because Amazon made a super hero show and got 89% on rotten tomatoes. Wait till you see what Disney is offering... you are going to cancel Prime.

I don't subscribe to prime for the video service, but they've got a couple good shows. My kids like Disney+ but I would cancel Disney+ over HBO any day.

Re: Quibi reportedly lost 90 percent of early users after their free trials expired

#143

Post by wolco »

gimmeThaBeet wrote: post #117
ObsoleteNerd wrote: post #14

8% is not a terrible conversion rate at all, and they’ve only just started. I’m not a Quibi user and have no vested interest in them either way but this is the third different article I’ve seen in the last week or 2 talking about how terrible they’re doing and now they’re about to crash and burn, because of an 8% conversion? Comparing them to Disney is ridiculous too, it’s Disney! With multiple generations obsessed w…

I guess that's fair enough, it is admittedly difficult to separate that I am personally not interested in Quibi vs I don't see why it could succeed. I guess the two things it boils down to is their place in the market, and who their customers are? - I think Netflix speaks for itself. - Disney+/Hulu has the power of the catalog, generations of IP, and creatives to leverage it. - HBO is HBO if ATT can manage to keep it…

If adoption and renewal keep going this way Quibi will have 8000 users.

Friends and family maybe 1,000. Forgetful people not uninstalling after the trial probably 6000. Of those 1000 users probably varied. Some expect something. Some want every streaming service. Some want 10 minute videos. Some never unsubscribe.

Re: Quibi reportedly lost 90 percent of early users after their free trials expired

#144

Post by wolco »

charlesju wrote: post #99
ObsoleteNerd wrote: post #14

8% is not a terrible conversion rate at all, and they’ve only just started. I’m not a Quibi user and have no vested interest in them either way but this is the third different article I’ve seen in the last week or 2 talking about how terrible they’re doing and now they’re about to crash and burn, because of an 8% conversion? Comparing them to Disney is ridiculous too, it’s Disney! With multiple generations obsessed w…

Another point. Especially with these content based services, it's all about the next piece of content you can provide. For example, if Dave Chapelle signed an exclusive deal with Quibi, then all of a sudden those 92% that didn't want to come back will come back in droves. Quibi isn't a lost cause, they set up the infrastructure and are just getting started on releasing content. Everything depends on if they can find…

Dave Chapelle would require 500 million to leave netflix.

1.7 billion sounds like a lot but netflix spends more per year on programming only.

Re: Quibi reportedly lost 90 percent of early users after their free trials expired

#145

Post by nwsm »

mikeryan wrote: post #52
ObsoleteNerd wrote: post #14

8% is not a terrible conversion rate at all, and they’ve only just started. I’m not a Quibi user and have no vested interest in them either way but this is the third different article I’ve seen in the last week or 2 talking about how terrible they’re doing and now they’re about to crash and burn, because of an 8% conversion? Comparing them to Disney is ridiculous too, it’s Disney! With multiple generations obsessed w…

I work in this industry and generally agree with your assessment. However a few things, the general industry perspective went like this: 1. David Katzenberg and Meg Whitman were creating a consumer service targeting a demographic they don't fit in a field they've not worked in. (Consumer apps for a younger demographic) 2. They got 1.8 Billion in funding. For fuck's sake you should get one breakout hit piece of conten…

Thanks for the industry insight. 1 and 2 make sense from an outsider's POV.

For 3, what would you envision for this test, other than normal market research / focus groups that they likely conducted? Surely you shouldn't launch the Quibi brand with just one show if the goal is a full-fledged streaming platform.

Re: Quibi reportedly lost 90 percent of early users after their free trials expired

#146

Post by wolco »

brootstrap wrote: post #27
ObsoleteNerd wrote: post #14

8% is not a terrible conversion rate at all, and they’ve only just started. I’m not a Quibi user and have no vested interest in them either way but this is the third different article I’ve seen in the last week or 2 talking about how terrible they’re doing and now they’re about to crash and burn, because of an 8% conversion? Comparing them to Disney is ridiculous too, it’s Disney! With multiple generations obsessed w…

Agree seems like there is disproportionate dislike here for quibi. How many other billion dollar startups eat the shitter without this much hub-bub? However it is fair to hate on the founder jeffrey shrekzenburg. I know some folks who work at quibi and say this dude is insufferable. Probably not as insane, but stephen wolfram levels of dooshbaggery. Dictator type who thinks is shit is golden. Turns out he made a 1.5…

Doesn't 'Meg' no more wfh or daycare but will install a private daycare for herself Whittman co ceo this company?

Re: Quibi reportedly lost 90 percent of early users after their free trials expired

#147

Post by enjeyw »

notahacker wrote: post #136
1123581321 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We know now that they didn’t really have that data at the time. They just heard Fincher was available and bought his idea unseen for a lot of money so no one else could get to propose to him.

Netflix pinning a lot on winning a bidding war for Fincher sound suspiciously like investors placing massively outsized bets on the Dreamworks/Disney guy with the startup savvy CEO being the Next Big Thing in digital media...

The difference is that the sample size for Fincher is a lot larger - 9 of his 10 films have grossed >100mil, so we have very good confidence on his hit rate.

Startup Savvy CEOs have 2, maybe 3 successful companies under their belt, so it's harder to judge how much of their success is due to repeatable factors.

Re: Quibi reportedly lost 90 percent of early users after their free trials expired

#148

Post by notatoad »

webdestroya wrote: post #95
rockostrich wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really think Amazon should be included with the other 2. I can't think of anything they've made that was "planned to be a breakout show" and didn't succeed. Their pilot program that they used to run might've been the reason for that. They're also really quick to give up on series that don't do well (which is pretty similar to Netflix).

The Grand Tour?

The Grand Tour maybe hasn't become the cultural touchstone that Top Gear was, but i'm fairly certain it's still getting a ton of views. Every top gear fan i know watches it. It's not getting the buzz a new show would because it's essentially just more Top Gear, but it's definitely being watched.

Re: Quibi reportedly lost 90 percent of early users after their free trials expired

#149

Post by bobthepanda »

catalogia wrote: post #129
whoisjuan wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know you're being cheeky, but NBC owns "Friends" and "The Office". Those two series alone account for a large number of streaming hours in Netflix.

Fair point, but both those shows initially found popularity before the streaming era. Is NBC still capable of producing content that people will binge-watch 10-20 years later for a nostalgia kick?

SNL is still fairly popular, as are Brooklyn Nine-nine, Late Night, The Tonight Show, etc. And 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation wrapped up not that long ago.

They also do have a major ace up their sleeve as the official American broadcaster of the Olympics.

Re: Quibi reportedly lost 90 percent of early users after their free trials expired

#150

Post by enitihas »

thiagocesar wrote: post #59
mikeryan wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work in this industry and generally agree with your assessment. However a few things, the general industry perspective went like this: 1. David Katzenberg and Meg Whitman were creating a consumer service targeting a demographic they don't fit in a field they've not worked in. (Consumer apps for a younger demographic) 2. They got 1.8 Billion in funding. For fuck's sake you should get one breakout hit piece of conten…

Apple, Quibi, Amazon are trying to plan the perfect breakout show. It doesn’t work like that. A lot of the networks’s and Netflix’s breakout shows were not planned to be great. That’s why they just greenlight a bunch of random pilots and see what sticks to the wall. It’s extremely hard to create hits.

Amazon does have breakout shows. They have won the last 2 emmy for best actress in a comedy TV series.
Post reply on HN