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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

#81

Post by cs702 »

I'm not sure which one is more "impressive," between Wirecard and Quibi, as a mechanism for making around $2 billion disappear.

On one hand, Wirecard at least maintained the illusion that the money had not been disappearing, for years and years. They fooled auditors, regulators, and investors all over the world, again and again. That takes major cojones.

On the other hand, Quibi is managing to vaporize the money very quickly with Hollywood glamour and spectacle. If you're going to blow things up, there's something to be said for doing it with style. Peter Sellers would be proud of their unintentional "performance."

At least Wirecard did it intentionally.

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

#82

Post by rconti »

kin wrote: post #38
Hamuko wrote: post #34

I can't imagine Apple TV+ having any better conversion rate unless people just forget to cancel their subscriptions at the end of the trial. There's just so little content there and basically nothing that people talk about.

I got a year of Apple TV+ just for getting a new Apple device. If you cancel early, you cancel for good. I put a reminder on my calendar to cancel at the end of a trial. I have yet to even attempt to watch anything because of poor reviews and klout. I remember during the Apple TV+ announcement that Tim Cook was using phrases like "the best stories" and "the best content". I thought it was so arrogant.

Does "klout" mean something else these days?

I watched the Morning Show on AppleTV+ and enjoyed it. I also watched the Homes series, which I really enjoyed. But, this is just a "free with iDevice purchase" kind of thing.

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

#83

Post by valuearb »

whoisjuan wrote: post #42

The problem with Quibi is thinking that they can charge for this content. People are not gonna pay for quick bite videos, even if they have a high production value. Why would anyone do that with such limited time? The problem of all these platforms is that they think they are creating a new market or expanding an existing one and they forget that people only have 24 hours a day to do things. If you create something l…

Why makes you say this? They wouldn't spend a billion dollars to launch without testing this concept in great detail. Right? Right?

It would take absolutely Katzenburg levels of hubris to think you knew what customers would be without testing it.

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

#84

Post by ogre_codes »

The conversion rate isn't the biggest problem. The big problem is their launch got so little momentum/ uptake to begin with and their platform has no presence. In spite of their high dollar Super Bowl commercial, nobody outside tech seems to know what they are or why they would subscribe to them.

Having an unknown service is bad enough, but they have no base to grow from. Disney+ is Disney. Apple TV+ has Apple behind them and is able to offer a free year with every iPhone. HBO, CBS, MLB, and even Hulu have big, well known brands with known content. Everyone in streaming started with a base or with at least free content.

It's not the 8% that's the issue here, it's the fact that they have fewer than a hundred thousand users and no momentum.

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

#85

Post by MBCook »

cgriswald wrote: post #80
jonny_eh wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And unsubscribing via iOS is surprisingly challenging.

I find your statement surprising. The ease of changing or removing a subscription is the largest reason I would subscribe through iOS to anything. Is there something specific to Quibi?

No, but finding where are you unsubscribe an iOS is not the most intuitive thing.

Luckily they send those emails to you that remind you that you’re about to start getting charged.

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

#86

Post by catalogia »

whoisjuan wrote: post #78
soared wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tons and tons of people support youtubers with donations or on patron, which is in effect paying for content. I recognize the difference but I don’t think you can really make your claim so confidently.

My claim is not that people aren't willing to pay for content. My claim is that people are not willing to pay for "this" content at that price point (5 USD) in a saturated market with dozens of competitors launching at the same time with premium content offerings (Disney+, HBO Max, etc). Also you have staple names like NBC launching services in this space for free (Peacock). The problem with Quibi is actually a ROI p…

What's NBC? I think that's something my grandmother used to talk about sometimes.

I'm being semi-facetious here. I think "legacy media", particularly network broadcasters, are coasting off brand recognition earned in a bygone era that younger generations never experienced and never will. That's obviously not sustainable in the long run.

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

#87

Post by whoisjuan »

catalogia wrote: post #86
whoisjuan wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My claim is not that people aren't willing to pay for content. My claim is that people are not willing to pay for "this" content at that price point (5 USD) in a saturated market with dozens of competitors launching at the same time with premium content offerings (Disney+, HBO Max, etc). Also you have staple names like NBC launching services in this space for free (Peacock). The problem with Quibi is actually a ROI p…

What's NBC? I think that's something my grandmother used to talk about sometimes. I'm being semi-facetious here. I think "legacy media", particularly network broadcasters, are coasting off brand recognition earned in a bygone era that younger generations never experienced and never will. That's obviously not sustainable in the long run.

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.

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

#88

Post by schnevets »

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.

The trailer for Apple's new Foundation show reeked of this. All of their heavily marketed content (See, Servant, Greyhound) look like they had the same person doing the trailers.

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

#89

Post by ogre_codes »

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…

> they’re about to crash and burn, because of an 8% conversion?

They are crashing and burning because they have fewer than 100k users after nearly 4 months and aside from piling a lot more money into advertising they have no momentum, no brand awareness, and no properties anyone outside a few people know.

> Comparing them to Disney is ridiculous too, it’s Disney!

It's not about 10% versus 8%, it's about 10s of millions of paying users versus 10s of thousands. Obviously Disney had a huge head start, that's the whole point. The two services cost the same amount, what attracts new users? Content. For my $7, I'm going to sign up for the service with content I know I'll like. That's the same choice millions of people made here.

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

#90

Post by whoisjuan »

valuearb wrote: post #83
whoisjuan wrote: post #42

The problem with Quibi is thinking that they can charge for this content. People are not gonna pay for quick bite videos, even if they have a high production value. Why would anyone do that with such limited time? The problem of all these platforms is that they think they are creating a new market or expanding an existing one and they forget that people only have 24 hours a day to do things. If you create something l…

Why makes you say this? They wouldn't spend a billion dollars to launch without testing this concept in great detail. Right? Right? It would take absolutely Katzenburg levels of hubris to think you knew what customers would be without testing it.

Their testing was probably along the lines of "Would you watch videos in a platform like this?" and "How much are you willing to pay for a service like this?"
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