Quibi launched on April 6, 2020. It was available in the United States and Canada. An ad-free version was made available in the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany on April 6, 2020. On April 14, the company announced it had seen 1.7 million downloads of its app in its release week. Quibi's app fell out of the list of the 50 most downloaded free iPhone apps in the United States a week after it was released. According to the analytics firm Sensor Tower, by early May the app was ranked 125th. Sensor Tower also said the app had been installed by 2.9 million customers, although Quibi says the figure was closer to 3.5 million. Of those who had installed the app, Quibi says 1.3 million were active users. Katzenberg acknowledged the performance was "not close to what we wanted... I attribute everything that has gone wrong to coronavirus," referring to the COVID-19 pandemic that was disrupting daily routines at the time of the launch. Whitman was more positive in her assessment of the launch. Moves were made to adjust the service by allowing users to share content on social media platforms and to watch shows on televisions in addition to phones. By early June, the company had reportedly reduced its staffing levels, and the app had fallen out of the top 1,000 apps on Sensor Tower's rankings. That same month, it was reported that the service was on track for 2 million subscribers in its first year, far below its projected 7.4 million total, and was searching for new investors. Additionally, in July 2020, Sensor Tower reported that about 8 percent of Quibi's early wave of users had converted into paying subscribers.
In March 2020, interactive video developer Eko filed a lawsuit alleging that Quibi stole proprietary technology after Eko demonstrated it to Quibi's employees, including Katzenberg. Quibi filed its own lawsuit the previous day, which sought a declaration that Quibi did not infringe on Eko's patented technology, as well as an order that Eko withdraw a complaint filed with Apple's App Store and unspecified monetary damages. On the 3rd of May, Elliott Management announced that it would fund Eko's lawsuit in exchange for equity in the company. Quibi pre-emptively filed its lawsuit, Quibi Holdings, LLC v. Interlude US, Inc., on March 9, 2020, in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Eko filed its own separate but related countersuit, JBF Interlude 2009 Ltd - Israel v. Quibi Holdings, LLC, a day later on March 10.
Content
Quibi plans to spend $1.1 billion on commissioning original content in its first year, totalling 8,500 short-form episodes and including over 175 shows. Unlike many streaming video platforms, Quibi's content is made specifically to be streamed only on mobile devices and can be viewed in either horizontal or vertical video, with the user able to shift between them in the same video. Instead of half-hour TV episodes or two-hour films, content on Quibi is delivered in episodes of 10 minutes or less. Quibi commissioned significant news programming in addition to its entertainment line-up, but it found the news shows attracted minimal interest.
