Quibi only launched its mobile-based short-form streaming service on April 6, but it struggled during the second quarter with stay-at-home orders from the current pandemic. Already, 33% of Quibi subscribers plan to cancel in the next three months, according to the latest results from Kantar's Entertainment On-Demand service.
Kantar’s research is based on data from 20,000 consumers and boosted by 2,500 new subscriber interviews each quarter.
The research group finds that Quibi achieved 3% of new subscriptions in the second quarter ending on June 30, but planned cancellation rate is high at 33%. The average Quibi subscriber holds 5.1 SVOD subscriptions, which is unlikely to be sustainable given its large gap from the market average of 3 SVOD subscriptions.
Subscribers to the service have a lot of quibbles with Quibi. They complain about the quality of the shows, the ease of use of the platform and issues with buffering and speed, according to Kantar.
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The service has also garnered disappointing uptake. In mid-May Quibi had been installed by 3.5 million customers and had only 1.3 million active users. Quibi’s mobile-only strategy was designed to deliver premium content in small bites to people on the go. But people haven’t been “on the go.” Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, who founded the company with CEO Meg Whitman, blamed Quibi’s slow start on the coronavirus pandemic and said the early engagement figures are “not close to what we wanted.”
Quibi delivers original series and films, daily news, sports and pop culture programs in 10-minute episodes. The service costs $4.99 with ads and $7.99 without ads. T-Mobile is also giving away a free year of Quibi to many of its wireless customers.
Kantar found that overall, SVOD subscription stacking was down during the quarter to an average of 3 per household, despite in-quarter launches from HBO Max, Quibi and Peacock for Xfinity customers.