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Roku buys Quibi content for less than $100M
- anshumankmr 6y agoDefinitely overpaid it by at least 100 million.
- Hamuko 6y agoIt's less than $100 million. I'm now left wondering if it's actually something like $96 million or is it more like $3 million.
- sndean 6y agoYeah, here a source says "significantly less" than $100 million, but people's definitions of significant can be very different. At least I'd think that rules out $96 million. https://www.wsj.com/articles/roku-acquires-rights-to-quibi-s-content-11610116056 https://www.wsj.com/articles/roku-acquires-rights-to-quibi-s...
- fullshark 6y agoKeep in mind they don't even get the IP, just the (exclusive) rights to broadcast it for 7 years. I can't imagine that's worth anything close to 100 million.
- anshumankmr 6y agoYep, that's the punchline.
- shampto3 6y agoThe content wasn’t the problem, IMO. The platform was the main issue. Some of the content on there like “Most Dangerous Game” were things I was interested in watching, just not in ten minute chunks on my phone.
- sjg007 6y agoThe mistake Quibi made was charging for content. The idea otherwise is solid.
- Jochim 6y agoIt seems like a pretty terrible idea. They tried to cram traditional formats into 10 minute blocks, there are two major problems that seem immediately obvious with this: 1. The content they produced is way too long to for the time period they're trying to occupy. You might spend 10 minutes ordering a coffee but that 10 minutes will be split into at least three segments whose length is arbitrary each time. This wouldn't matter so much if point two didn't exist 2. They created the type of content that needs to be paid attention to from start to end. They typically tried to take long form video content and squeeze it into a 10 minute format. This makes it entirely unsuitable when compared to the types of content people actually consume during the periods targetted. If you look at what people do during these time periods at the moment, you'll see that they're all very resilient to interruption by being unaffected by a lack of constant attention (scrolling twitter/facebook), having each piece of content be short enough that you'll likely be starting/finishing one when interrupted (tiktok), or by being a background task that doesn't demand constant attention (music/podcasts). The core idea behind Quibi seems to fail on all these levels, the ineptitude displayed by attempting to charge for an idea no one wanted, while also locking down the platform/content so hard people that couldn't clip/screengrab it is just a cherry on top. That it got to the stage that it did just seems to be an indictment of where we're at with the economy and society.
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- sjg007 6y agoYou are correct, it's one of those terribly bad ideas that could be a billion dollar company if executed properly.
- tmpz22 6y agoThe huge bet they made on "commuters will obsess over this" seemed so disconnected from reality. As if their entire executive board hadn't commuted in decades. For one thing, in most metros its dangerous to engross yourself in a video for so long (not that people aren't oblivious). For another their are a billion other places to get short-form content be it youtube, tiktok, instagram, snapchat, etc. Just foolishness all the way down.
- demifiend 6y agoYeah, it looks like somebody at Roku didn't think this through to me, too. Don't they have enough better-quality content that they don't particularly need Quibi's library? If Quibi themselves couldn't profit from these 10-minute episodes after spending $2 billion to make them, why do the people at Roku think they'll recoup their $100 million? Is there a tax angle we're not seeing?
- AznHisoka 6y agoIt’s the same reason Cobrai Kai failed until Netflix bought it. Roku has the solution to the distribution problem. Quibi didn’t.
- 0goel0 6y ago$1 is "less than" $100M
- OnlyMortal 6y agoWhat a waste of money.
- m3kw9 6y agoThat’s exactly what you call pennies on the dollar
- tengbretson 6y agoThis is a lot of money to pay for something that brings less value to the platform than having a functioning youtube app.
- dreamcompiler 6y agoI'd be happy with an HBOMax app that doesn't consistently crash whenever I open it.
- hollerith 6y agoIs it certain that having a functioning youtube app is under Roku's control? For all I know, Youtube doesn't want Roku devices to have a functioning youtube app.
- Geezus_42 6y agoMy Roku TV has a YouTube app that works perfectly as far as I can tell.
- mdoms 6y agoNever heard of either of these companies.
- tomdell 6y agoThat’s a high price for one season of Reno 911.
- hobofan 6y agoDoing some ballpark math based on the content that is listed on the wiki page[0], there is around ~165 hours of original Quibi content. As comparison $100M would get you one year of streaming rights to Friends or Seinfeld (~100 hours of watchime each). [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Quibi_original_programming#Drama https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Quibi_original_program...
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- sjg007 6y agoThis is also Roku's foray into original content. They own the display which gives them a big vertical advantage. It's nice that you can use roku out of the box with minimal setup... I know a lot of people that have trouble setting up apple tv or even a dvd player for example.
- rasz 6y agoBut Quibi doesnt own any content, and the terms under which they flushed $1B down the toiled to fund artists stipulate their rights to broadcast are non transferable. What is going on here?