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Quibi

quibi.com | Shut down December 1, 2020

Nearly two billion dollars raised, six months live, gone.

What it did

Quibi was a mobile-first streaming service selling short premium episodes designed for phones, with big-name talent and a portrait or landscape viewing gimmick.

The facts, as reported

Quibi launched in April 2020 and announced in October 2020 that it would wind down, shutting the service on December 1, 2020. Its content library was later sold.

Quibi (Wikipedia)
reporting | 12/1/2020
"Quibi launched in April 2020 and shut down on December 1, 2020, roughly six months later."

Marketur analysis, not fact

Quibi is the clearest case of a well-funded answer to a question nobody asked. The format assumption was never tested cheaply before hundreds of millions went into content. Money bought scale for a thesis that had not been validated at small scale first.

What to take from it

Funding does not validate demand. It only lets you be wrong faster and louder.
Test the core assumption cheaply before you produce the expensive version.
A launch is not proof. Retention is.