By Quibi launched less than two months ago, boasting premium short-form content with a large amount of talent attached. It seems that the idea isn’t taking off as well as expected as a company memo released yesterday announced that the companies top executives will take a 10 percent cut in their salary as a means of “tightening their belt.” The move was taken as an alternative to laying off new hirees which the company is trying to avoid.
Seeing as how the company has been boasting a three-month trial to all new users and we’re only two months into it, this is more than likely an indication that daily usage is not where the company expected it to be. Speaking on download and active users in May, Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg said that: “It’s not close to what we wanted. I attribute everything that has gone wrong to coronavirus.” Odd to think that a virus that is keeping us all home and glued to our screens is negatively contributing to any type of entertainment but maybe it’s because we have more time for long-form content, the exact opposite of what Quibi is promoting.
The next two months will be very telling for the new streaming service as trials run out and paid subscription numbers become apparent. We shall see if they can continue to stay afloat.
