OLD Media News

Quibi founder Katzenberg: “I attribute everything that has gone wrong to coronavirus”

Busy mornings and evenings starting Quibi, now, founder Jeffrey Katzenberg spends his days with what he calls “Zoom-a-roo” videoconferences as he tries to keep the newly launched platform afloat during the COVID-19 crisis.

Downloads have dropped despite a line-up of popular producers. Quibi, which offers entertainment and news programs in five- to 10-minute chunks was designed for people who were too busy to sit down and stream shows or movies.

“I attribute everything that has gone wrong to coronavirus,” Katzenberg said in a video interview. “Everything. But we own it.”

The streaming platform has also fallen out of the list of the 50 most downloaded free iPhone apps in the country a week after it went live on April 6.

As of now, the app has been downloaded by only 2.9 million customers, according to Sensor Tower. However, Quibi says the figure is closer to 3.5 million of which those who have the app, the company says 1.3 million are active users.

“Is it the avalanche of people that we wanted and were going for out of launch?” Katzenberg said. “The answer is no. It’s not up to what we wanted. It’s not close to what we wanted.”

““If we knew on March 1, which is when we had to make the call, what we know today, you would say that is not a good idea,” he said. “The answer is, it’s regrettable. But we are making enough gold out of hay here that I don’t regret it,” he added.

Read more here.

Mariam Ahmed

Recent Posts

Dynamo hires former Business Insider executive editor Harrington

Former Business Insider executive editor Rebecca Harrington has been hired by Dynamo to be its…

4 hours ago

Bloomberg TV hires Kerubo as desk producer

Bloomberg Television has hired Brenda Kerubo as a desk producer in London. She will be covering Europe's…

4 hours ago

Jittery CNBC staff reassured by new boss

In a meeting at CNBC headquarters Thursday afternoon, incoming boss Mark Lazarus presented a bullish…

4 hours ago

Making business news accessible to a wider audience

Ritika Gupta, the BBC's North American business correspondent, was interviewed by Global Woman magazine about…

4 hours ago

Rest of World hires Lo as China reporter

Rest of World has hired Kinling Lo as a China reporter. Lo was previously a…

5 hours ago

Bloomberg rises to No. 7 biz news website

Bloomberg News saw strong unique visitor growth to its website in October, passing Fox Business…

5 hours ago