Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge
After 90 days, Quibi’s free trial period has come to an end. Now, executives at the company have their biggest hurdle yet: getting people to willingly pay $5 or $8 a month for a service that most critics argue lacks exciting shows and flopped on launch.
Quibi, a shortform video streaming service, is supposed to live in between Netflix and TikTok. Its shows are under 10 minutes each and meant to offer a bite-sized way to watch TV. But so far, people haven’t been very interested. A new Vulture profile notes that, by July, only 1.5 million actually signed up for the app, and less than half of those users are likely to start paying for the app now that the 90-day free trial has ended. The trial was offered to anyone who signed up for Quibi…