JTG MINI: The (embarrassingly fast) rise and fall of Quibi cover art

JTG MINI: The (embarrassingly fast) rise and fall of Quibi

JTG MINI: The (embarrassingly fast) rise and fall of Quibi

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It was supposed to be the biggest streaming service the world had ever seen. Launched in 2020 by industry heavyweights Jeffrey Katzenberg (the former head of Dreamworks) and Meg Whitman (former CEO of Ebay), Quibi was expected to end up bigger than Netflix and Youtube combined. It had two billion dollars invested in it and the biggest talent in the world - everyone from Reese Witherspoon to Steven Spielberg - was making shows for it. Yet just six months after launching, the streamer shut down, becoming the second biggest start-up failure in history - behind only Theranos. So what the hell happened to Quibi - the biggest streaming service you’ve never heard of?


We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's this:

Quibi Wikipedia page - Complete company history and timeline

The Wall Street Journal investigation - "Quibi Was Supposed to Revolutionize Hollywood. Here's Why It Failed" (2020)

The Verge's comprehensive breakdown - "11 reasons why Quibi crashed and burned in less than a year" (2020)

Deadline's exclusive shutdown interview - Jeffrey Katzenberg & Meg Whitman detail decision to shut down (2020)

Forbes analysis - "The Fatal Miscalculation That Doomed Katzenberg And Whitman's Streamer" (2020)

NBC News post-mortem - "A look at why Quibi failed so soon after launching" (2020)

BBC behind-the-scenes report - "Quibi: Why did the video app go so wrong?" (2020)

The Guardian's cautionary tale - "They built it, but people did not come: the cautionary tale of Quibi" (2020)

Entrepreneur's marketing analysis - "What Can Marketers Learn From Quibi's Failure?" (2020)

The Media Moment's post-mortems - "What Went Wrong For Quibi: The Post-Mortems" (2020)

Quibi Super Bowl commercial - The expensive ad that confused everyone (2020)


Just The Gist is a Just The Network production. Executive Produced and hosted by Rosie Waterland. Produced and edited by James Joseph. Additional production support by Kate Leaver and Hayley Staveley, along with Acast legends Guy Scott Wilson and Simon McDermott. Production Assistant: Pocket


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