It's now been one week since Quibi emerged on the scene as the newest streaming service and we're getting the first details on how it's been doing.
Quibi has been downloaded 1.7 million times in its first week of availability, CEO Meg Whitman has confirmed to CNBC. Whitman added that 80% of people who started a show a Quibi watched it through the first episode.
While Quibi is designed to offer "quick bites" of video that you watch while you're on the go, many people aren't going anywhere because they're self-isolating at home to fight the spread of the coronavirus. Whitman doesn't think that that's affected Quibi's adoption, though.
"It turns out people have in-between moments at home," the Quibi CEO said. "We don’t actually think it hurt us."
Despite that, Whitman did confirm that Quibi is speeding up its plans to add a feature that'll allow users to cast video to their TVs. Right now the only way you can watch Quibi videos is on your phone. That's fine while you're out and about, but many people have a TV at home that's much larger than their phone and they'd probably like to be able to watch Quibi videos on that bigger TV display.
Finally, Quibi confirmed today that it's launched 7 new shows onto its service. They include The Stranger; #FreeRayshawn starring Laurence Fishburne and Sephan James; 50 States of Fright from Sam Raimi; Agua Donkeys from Funny or Die; Elba vs. Block with Idris Elba and Ken Block; Let's Roll with Tony Greenhand; and Fight Like a Girl featuring WWE Superstars.
Quibi is available on Android and iOS. Customers who sign up before April 30th can get a free 90-day trial of the service. Pricing is set at $4.99 per month with ads or $7.99 per month without ads.