Gone in 60 Quibis

It takes either audacious self-confidence or reckless hubris to build a completely asocial video app in 2020. You can decide which best describes Quibi, Hollywood’s $1.75 billion-funded attempt at a mobile-only Netflix of six to 10-minute micro-TV show episodes. Quibi manages to miss every trend and tactic that could help make its app popular. The ... See more

One is this idea that Quibi thought it was designing something for commuters, but went ahead with its launch plans even as everyone stopped commuting. That deserves a sympathetic sigh, but that’s reality now. The only path forward is to iterate toward what will work, which is more of a content and distribution problem than a messaging problem.

It’s unshareable, prescriptive, sluggish, cumbersome and unfriendly. Quibi’s unwillingness to borrow anything from social networks makes the app feel cold and isolated, like watching reality shows in the vacuum of space.