Quibi Leaps to 2.7 Million Downloads in First 2 Weeks

Quibi has been downloaded more than 2.7 million times since its April 6, the mobile streaming service revealed on Wednesday. The streaming service, which launched on April 6, pulled in 1.7 million in its first week. It added an additional 1 million in its second. Quibi founders Meg Whitman and Jeffrey Katzenberg had previously said they would shy away from releasing any kind of subscriber information. The new service is offering a free 90-day trial for people who sign up this month. Afterward, it will cost $4.99 per month for ad-supported streaming and $7.99 per month for ad-free streaming. Quibi also revealed that it’s five most-watched shows are “Most Dangerous Game,” “Chrissy’s Court,” “Flipped,” “Punk’d” and “Survive.” Katzenberg added in an interview with Reuters that some users would have the ability to cast the mobile content onto their connected TV sets as early as next month. Some users had complained that they could only watch the content on their phones. With everyone stuck at home, the “on-the-go” audience that Quibi had initially targeted has been immobilized. Quibi is looking to separate itself from an increasingly crowded streaming market by focusing on what it calls “quick bites,” where its shows and movies are released in episodes no longer than 10 minutes. The app debuted with shows from Chrissy Teigen, LeBron James and Will Forte, among others, as well as “Most Dangerous Game,” a movie starring Christoph Waltz and Liam Hemsworth. It released the Anna Kendrick comedy “Dummy” on Monday. Founder Jeffrey Katzenberg, in an interview with TheWrap earlier this year, sounded like a man who wasn’t particularly worried about the app’s early performance. “We’re in a marathon, not a sprint,” Katzenberg said. “Disney+ is a 100-year brand with the most valued and important generational IP on Earth, ever. We’re a different use case, and we don’t have the same brand recognition. So we don’t think we’ll take off like a rocketship. We think it’s something we build over the course of several years.” Quibi has raised $1.75 billion to date, with its investors including Disney and WarnerMedia. You can read a full review of Quibi’s app and content here. Sean Burch contributed to this story.