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

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

#61

Post by jeromegv »

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.

Yes it's hard. But they got 1.8 billions in funding, and they are trying to get a foot in a crowded space, so expectations are high for them to deliver something. You can't stay long in the TV business with just a couple million paying subscribers

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

#62

Post by jeromegv »

duxup wrote: post #17
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…

Did the user have to provide a credit card, are a lot of these 8% maybe just folks who forgot to unsubscribe? I feel like this conversion rate thing really "depends".

On iOS this was just in-app purchase, so you agree to start paying in 3 months when you sign up. So you never really have to manually type your credit card but you had to remember to unsubscribe within your iTunes subscriptions.

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

#63

Post by throwawaysea »

I think a big problem might be marketing. I’ve not seen Quibi advertised anywhere. I don’t know anyone personally who has tried it. I only know a few who have even heard of it. Even if you consider the conversion rate good, I don’t think they’ve had many people at the top of their funnel.

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

#64

Post by KallDrexx »

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…

That's easy to say in hindsight, but I think if the pandemic wouldn't really happen there's a good chance their conversion would be even higher. Their whole business model is meant for consumers who are on the go with short time bursts, which is exactly the opposite of what we have today.

It very well could be that their shortage of content wouldn't have been as big of a deal because their ideal users weren't binging on their stuff, just watching while on a train or lunch break.

I'm not saying they haven't made mistakes, but it does feel like this aspect is missing in a lot of the bandwagon criticisms of the service.

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

#65

Post by qwe098cube »

I never understood their pitch in first place. Why pay for quick bites when I get decent content (~10min) for free on youtube? Generally, I would assume people watch netflix/amazon/disney content for entertainment and expect their originals to be of the usual or slight longer duration. That's content to enjoy watching over a longer period of time. People like this format, hence binge watching is a thing. I can't see why people would rather watch a highly produced quick bite while waiting in line for a coffee instead of watching a new upload from a subscribed creator on youtube for like 10 minutes. There are plenty of famous youtubers upload almost daily, with daily/weekly views much higher than the total app downloads quibi has so far. And they don't have a ~2B$ war chest.

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

#66

Post by mtgp1000 »

I hadn't heard of this service until just now but I worry that it is another volley against the consumer in the war on the attention span.

It can't be good for individuals or our collective to consume all of our media in short, predigested clips (or posts, or comments). I genuinely believe that the average capacity for "long running" thoughts (and general idea complexity) is being eroded.

All of our media seems to be

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

#68

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

> Sensor Tower is a reputable analytics company known for reporting accurate estimates

I see SensorTower quoted a lot for mobile analytics, but their methods are completely opaque AFAIK. For all I know, one can “buy” good analytics by giving them some money, in order to promote an app.

Alternatively, nepotism could skew analytics: the CTO’s brother-in-law’s app gets higher usage and download ratings than a competitor.

How can we trust that such companies are honest?

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

#69

Post by toomuchtodo »

9wzYQbTYsAIc wrote: post #39
Causality1 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was dubious about Quibi when I spent months seeing the occasional advertisement and still having not the slightest idea what Quibi is or why I would want it. I figured it was some flash in the pan social network that would shortly be dead. I didn't even know it was a video service until I saw its financial distress covered on HN.

“Build it and they will come” jumps to mind here.

Taking the canoe over your Waterfall planning.

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

#70

Post by Elidrake24 »

I really wanted to like Quibi. I enjoyed the Most Dangerous Game romp, I really loved the daily updates from the BBC, and overall the idea of content specifically made for ~10 minute sprints work perfectly for me.

The rest of the content though... Pretty bad, at least to me. One daily show isn't enough to keep me around.

Anyone know of a solid, ~15 minute daily news report similar to what the BBC was offering on Quibi? Preferably something with a worldwide scope. I'd happily pay a fraction of Quibi's monthly fee for just that show.

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