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"Mobile first" implies that there's something second. Like a webpage that's optimized for a mobile experience but is also viewable on desktop. This could have b

"Mobile first" implies that there's something second. Like a webpage that's optimized for a mobile experience but is also viewable on desktop. This could have been Quibi: they made vertical videos ("optimized for a mobile experience") but they could have also allowed users to view those videos on desktop. That would have been mobile first.

DennisAleynikov 6y ago
they did eventually enter TV streaming but way after their announced stance of Mobile-Only
- wlesieutre 6y ago
  "Eventually" being a day or two ago
chrisseaton 6y ago
Do you understand how the culture changed, though? Do you realise people used to consume a lot of media on their phones vertically... but now they don't... for obvious reaons. That can't be that hard to understand? Market changed. Previously valid opportunity vanished. They didn't do anything wrong but be around at the wrong time.
- naderkhalil 6y ago
  TikTok is mobile-first, vertical video format that I can still watch on my desktop. Makes sharing it or watching funny ones with SO very easy
  - rchaud 6y ago
    Portrait on TikTok makes sense because the videos shown in algorithm driven order and are usually around 1 minute long at most. People are also swiping to skip to the next video, and you can't swipe comfortably in landscape. A 10 minute Quibi episode is already half the length of a standard sitcom with ads (20 mins). It's not meant to be skippable. There really wasn't a need to make it portrait mode.
- function_seven 6y ago
  Almost every TikTok video I see is vertical. They're going gangbusters. The culture hasn't changed. There never was room for something like Quibi. They had a shit business model which (as far as I can tell) was "people who ride the subway or take the bus, who will pay $8 a month for 1/3-sized episodes". Because all other viewing scenarios still exist even with the pandemic.
  - gedy 6y ago
    Smells a little like "all the people I know in SF would love this" limited market validation.
  - wsinks 6y ago
    I know this is content sacrilege, but I actually think that TikTok nailed it on the head with vertical video. Vertical video means that you can actually fit a single person into the whole frame and have detail. Horizontal video is all about close ups and wide shots, and that takes a production team to think about it. Vertical video means you just put the phone the same way it always is, and everyone can see everything from floor to ceiling.
  - karlshea 6y ago
    I literally started watching TikToks because of the pandemic. One month of "shelter at home" encourages a ton of media consumption and it can easily be on your phone.
  - leptons 6y ago
    For me it simply comes down to the fact that nobody needs "bite sized content" when there is a pause button on every single streaming site there is. Watch 10 minutes, bus stop coming, hit pause. There's no need to pay for "quibi", and for me at least there was never any question that they would fail. At least they aren't beating a dead horse spending billions to try to make it happen, "fail fast" I guess.
    - baobabKoodaa 6y ago
      Even if you (for some reason) wanted bite sized content that fits into the time you wait for the bus, you couldn't do that with Quibi, because your bus doesn't arrive in exactly 6 minutes 30 seconds (or whatever). You still have to pause.
- mritun 6y ago
  Wait what? The GP said they were not mobile-first, they were mobile-only and that’s true. And No, what you say is not how any of the video services work. Pandemic or not, the largest selection of videos are 16:9. Quibi bet the house on a mobile-only portrait videos In 10 minute chapters. You claim there was a market for that - but give no evidence. There isn’t a broad market for that niche offering!
- nvader 6y ago
  Your defense of Quibi makes them sound hapless, to borrow a pg word. That's not a strong defense. "Don't be hapless" is good advice, and at least one thing that Quibi did wrong is not follow that. http://www.paulgraham.com/relres.html http://www.paulgraham.com/relres.html
- majormajor 6y ago
  It was likely never going to be compelling enough to compete with free a a purely-short-form mobile-focused offering. Look at how much grief Hulu got from users for being "paid but still with ads" for so long before at least adding the option to remove the ads, and then question how smart these other companies who think "paid but still with ads" is a great plan. Sure, you can get users with that model, but you do it if you have content that's compelling enough in spite of it, it doesn't help.
- rswail 6y ago
  Media consumption patterns haven't dramatically changed, people still sit with their phones and scroll. Sure, people have also been Netflix binging on their TVs, but they are also doom-scrolling on Twitter and FB, and kids are instagramming and tiktoking and snapchatting.

DennisAleynikov 6y ago

they did eventually enter TV streaming but way after their announced stance of Mobile-Only

wlesieutre 6y ago
"Eventually" being a day or two ago

chrisseaton 6y ago

Do you understand how the culture changed, though? Do you realise people used to consume a lot of media on their phones vertically... but now they don't... for obvious reaons. That can't be that hard to understand? Market changed. Previously valid opportunity vanished. They didn't do anything wrong but be around at the wrong time.

naderkhalil 6y ago
TikTok is mobile-first, vertical video format that I can still watch on my desktop. Makes sharing it or watching funny ones with SO very easy
- rchaud 6y ago
  Portrait on TikTok makes sense because the videos shown in algorithm driven order and are usually around 1 minute long at most. People are also swiping to skip to the next video, and you can't swipe comfortably in landscape. A 10 minute Quibi episode is already half the length of a standard sitcom with ads (20 mins). It's not meant to be skippable. There really wasn't a need to make it portrait mode.
function_seven 6y ago
Almost every TikTok video I see is vertical. They're going gangbusters. The culture hasn't changed. There never was room for something like Quibi. They had a shit business model which (as far as I can tell) was "people who ride the subway or take the bus, who will pay $8 a month for 1/3-sized episodes". Because all other viewing scenarios still exist even with the pandemic.
- gedy 6y ago
  Smells a little like "all the people I know in SF would love this" limited market validation.
- wsinks 6y ago
  I know this is content sacrilege, but I actually think that TikTok nailed it on the head with vertical video. Vertical video means that you can actually fit a single person into the whole frame and have detail. Horizontal video is all about close ups and wide shots, and that takes a production team to think about it. Vertical video means you just put the phone the same way it always is, and everyone can see everything from floor to ceiling.
- karlshea 6y ago
  I literally started watching TikToks because of the pandemic. One month of "shelter at home" encourages a ton of media consumption and it can easily be on your phone.
- leptons 6y ago
  For me it simply comes down to the fact that nobody needs "bite sized content" when there is a pause button on every single streaming site there is. Watch 10 minutes, bus stop coming, hit pause. There's no need to pay for "quibi", and for me at least there was never any question that they would fail. At least they aren't beating a dead horse spending billions to try to make it happen, "fail fast" I guess.
  - baobabKoodaa 6y ago
    Even if you (for some reason) wanted bite sized content that fits into the time you wait for the bus, you couldn't do that with Quibi, because your bus doesn't arrive in exactly 6 minutes 30 seconds (or whatever). You still have to pause.
mritun 6y ago
Wait what? The GP said they were not mobile-first, they were mobile-only and that’s true. And No, what you say is not how any of the video services work. Pandemic or not, the largest selection of videos are 16:9. Quibi bet the house on a mobile-only portrait videos In 10 minute chapters. You claim there was a market for that - but give no evidence. There isn’t a broad market for that niche offering!
nvader 6y ago
Your defense of Quibi makes them sound hapless, to borrow a pg word. That's not a strong defense. "Don't be hapless" is good advice, and at least one thing that Quibi did wrong is not follow that. http://www.paulgraham.com/relres.html http://www.paulgraham.com/relres.html
majormajor 6y ago
It was likely never going to be compelling enough to compete with free a a purely-short-form mobile-focused offering. Look at how much grief Hulu got from users for being "paid but still with ads" for so long before at least adding the option to remove the ads, and then question how smart these other companies who think "paid but still with ads" is a great plan. Sure, you can get users with that model, but you do it if you have content that's compelling enough in spite of it, it doesn't help.
rswail 6y ago
Media consumption patterns haven't dramatically changed, people still sit with their phones and scroll. Sure, people have also been Netflix binging on their TVs, but they are also doom-scrolling on Twitter and FB, and kids are instagramming and tiktoking and snapchatting.