Quibi, the new short form streaming service that launched on April 6, was downloaded by 1.7 million users last week.
Quibi CEO Meg Whitman discussed the Quibi downloads and the celebrity-fueled streaming service’s future in interviews on CNBC and Fox Business Monday morning. Whitman said the week one download number exceeded the company’s expectations and she added that 80 percent of viewers who started watching a show completed at least one episode.
Like most other streaming services, Quibi — which releases episodes that are exclusively 10 minutes or less — does not regularly release viewership data.
Whitman indicated that Quibi’s momentum carried on throughout the rest of its launch week. Quibi launched in an unprecedented era for the entertainment industry, where stay at home orders and social distancing guidelines have thrown their on-the-go philosophy into question.
Quibi is designed to only work on mobile devices and to be consumed in short increments rather than binged on a couch while at home. The company is making plans to allow the app to cast to televisions, which would allow users to watch Quibi’s myriad original series on larger screens while cooped up indoors.
An ad-supported version of Quibi costs subscribers $4.99 per month, while the ad-free version runs $7.99 per month.