Hulu has always had a massive catalog of mainstream TV shows from large TV networks that aren't available elsewhere unless you pay for TV (or maybe watch broadcast TV at the right times). That's the same strategy as e.g. Disney+, which also provides exclusive access to a huge catalog of already-desired video.

Quibi is different in that they tried to make a bunch of new content from scratch, and no one cared. They weren't tapping into an already existing well of demand for specific content.

On top of that, the advertising tried to sell the platform itself. That might work if the platform already has content people want. Since people want the content, they want the platform.

Instead, there wasn't anything there that people already knew about/wanted. Consequently, there was no reason for people to want the platform. (i.e. Why do I want to pay for this new thing?!?)

Personally, I found Quibi's advertising so annoying and pointless that I would likely never be interested in looking past it to see what the platform was all about.

On the other hand, if they had started pushing shows/creators as an anchor for the platform (with something like an "only on Quibi ..." branding say) it might have been more interesting. I.e. make the platform secondary to the content, convince people they want the content, and that gives them a reason to look at the platform in the first place.

Basically, the consumers don't care about the platform itself so much as they care about what it provides them.

I remember seeing some Quibi ads and had no idea what it was or why I should care.

The first Quibi ad I saw had a British person saying "So Americans call a jiffy a Quibi? Huh." For an American who had literally never heard of the service before, that come across as incredibly pretentious.

I'm not sure if that ad was targeted at Americans, at British, or at Americans who watch British stuff, but I can't imagine how it would come across well at any of those target audiences.

A cryptic name doesn't help: Kwai-bee? Kwee-bye? 100% fail on branding 101.

It's apparently short for "Quick Bites" so I guess it would sound the way no one would expect it to -- "Koo eh bye"

Kind of sounds when pronounced in Portuguese like Kibbeh (https://www.oliviascuisine.com/kibbeh-lebanese-beef-croquett...), Lebanese "beef croquettes" (I never was a big fan). Usually spelled "kibe" in Portuguese. It seems to fall into the "Quick Bites" category.

Quibi should have been premium content that was displayed on other channels that already have viewers payment information.

Hulu had a content library of stuff people had already shown they wanted (through both live viewing and internet piracy) and also launched before almost anybody else (Netflix instant streaming was pretty tiny back in 2007). The business model also evolved a few times.

This is more like Vessel, the more tech-backed version of "let's split the middle of Youtube and Netflix for more short-form stuff" that nobody has shown they wanted, now or then. Just with shit-tons more money to throw at celebrities vs more youtube-creator stuff.

I think part of the reason it worked for hulu is that it was a less crowded market for streaming services when they launched. People are pretty happy with the services they have now and so something like Quibi doesn't stand out as something they should try.

> In their defense, this is how Hulu started. I initially dismissed based on that, but it proved to be a solid rival for Netflix.

Kinda. It's USA/Japan only, so from the other side, it basically looks like "The American version of Crave", rather than Netflix, which a global behemoth.