Quibi is officially dead, HBO Max is struggling

Quibi is dead. We all knew this day was coming. Meanwhile, HBO Max uses wordplay to mask meh subscriber numbers.

Quibi launched six months ago, when the world was starting in on the long pandemic period. At first, the timing seemed like it could work out for the phone-only streaming service. Everyone was home and looking for something to watch, after all. And Quibi had shows starring the likes of Sophie Turner, Liam Hemsworth and more.

It didn’t work, though. Maybe it was the fact that episodes of Quibi were less than 10 minutes, designed to be watched on the go. Maybe people didn’t want to subscribe to yet another streaming service, or maybe it was just a bad idea to start with.

Whatever the reasons, The Wall Street Journal reports that after weeks of trying to secure additional funding for Quibi or else sell it, founder Jeffrey Katzenberg finally decided to throw in the towel: Quibi Holdings, LLC has officially shut down.

As much as most of us expected this, I’m still going to mourn this loss. I enjoyed Quibi shows like When the Streetlights Go On, Most Dangerous Game and 50 States of Fright, but the timing was just off. Perhaps, in a different time and place without COVID-19, it might have worked. But for now, we must bid farewell to the little streaming service that could…but didn’t.

Meanwhile, fellow new streaming service HBO Max isn’t doing so hot, either, although it’s not in nearly so much trouble as Quibi; little is. In its new earnings report, AT&T’s Warner Media said that 28.7 million customers now had access to HBO Max, which actually isn’t that bad. Sure, it’s far short of the 60 million subscribers Disney+ has picked up in under a year, but HBO Max did come out later.

The problem is that just because 28.7 people get access to HBO Max free with other subscriptions, that doesn’t mean they’re actually watching it or even know it’s there. The number of people who are actually using HBO Max is 12.7 million, which is less impressive.

Once again, the problem might be trying to get people to adopt another streaming service when the market is already flooded. And HBO Max’s comparatively high price point couldn’t have helped.

The streaming wars have claimed their first victim.

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h/t The A.V. Club, The Verge