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Roku has acquired the content library from former streaming service Quibi, the company announced today. Short-form service content will appear for free on the Roku Channel at some point in 2021, although the company has not announced an exact date for its arrival. Roku didn’t reveal how much he paid for the content in his ad, but The Wall Street Journal reports paying “significantly less” than $ 100 million for the shows. The deal was rumored earlier this month in a separate report from the WSJ.
Despite Quibi’s failure, its content was strewn with stars. Roku’s announcement states that the Quibi content he has licensed will feature stars such as “Idris Elba, Kevin Hart, Liam Hemsworth, Anna Kendrick, Nicole Richie, Chrissy Teigen, Lena Waithe and many more.” More than 75 shows will be available as part of the deal, Roku says. Roku, one of the leading computer hardware companies in the streaming arena, is trying to get more into software.
Acquiring Quibi’s shows and placing them exclusively in The Roku Channel (a free offering from the company) will be used to increase viewing time on the platform and potentially increase the amount of ad inventory Roku can sell. As competition in the material space increases, finding new legs over the competition – in this case, original content – is a must.
While Quibi’s content was primarily designed to be consumed on mobile devices, it was previously possible to watch its content on TVs through native apps released for Apple TV, Android TV, and Fire TV, albeit months later. the launch of the service. Quibi content can also be streamed to compatible TVs via AirPlay and Chromecast. The Roku website notes that the Roku Channel is available on Roku players, select smart TVs, mobile apps, and the web.
Quibi’s content will be exclusive to Roku for the same two-year exclusivity window initially agreed with the content creators, the WSJ notes, after which Roku will retain the right to display the content until 2027. However, Roku will need to present the shows in their original form and will not be able to string together multiple short-form episodes to create the more traditional length content.
The Roku deal comes after Quibi officially announced it was shutting down in October after running for just over six months. The app failed for a myriad of reasons, although it did manage to raise $ 1.75 billion in funding ahead of launch, largely thanks to the hype and deals of its top-level management, the former HP director Meg Whitman and former Disney president and film producer Jeffrey Katzenberg.
Disclosure: Vox Media made a deal with Quibi to produce a show, and there were discussions early on about a Edge also show.
Update Jan. 8 at 10:43 a.m.ET: Updated with how much Roku would have paid for the shows and more details on the deal.
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