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Everything to know about Quibi, the buzzy video startup that has raised $1.4 billion — from its marketing strategy to its revenue breakdown

Quibi, a buzzy mobile-video startup that raised $1.4 billion ahead of launch, offered on Wednesday a first look at its forthcoming subscription service.

quibi meg whitman
  • Ahead of the event, Quibi execs spoke with Business Insider about how the company secured $150 million in ad revenue pre-launch, its millennial-focused marketing strategy, and how it will measure success.
  • Quibi launches on April 6.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Quibi, a buzzy mobile-video startup from veteran Hollywood producer Jeffrey Katzenberg and seasoned tech exec Meg Whitman, offered on Wednesday at the CES electronics expo a first look at its forthcoming subscription service.

Ahead of the event, Quibi execs including Whitman, the CEO; Katzenberg, the founder and chairman; Tom Conrad, chief product officer; and Rob Post, chief technology officer, spoke with Business Insider about their plans.

The company, which has raised $1.4 billion in funding, will introduce on April 6 a new kind of streaming service that offers 10-minute installments or "quibis," short for "quick bites" of programming made only for smartphones, for $8 per month, or $5 with ads.

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Its first big marketing challenge will be explaining to its target audience of 25- to 35-year-olds what exactly Quibi is, and why they should pay for it on top of Netflix, Disney Plus, and any other services they subscribe to.

Quibi is using social-media and digital marketing to advertise its service to millennials, where they're already spending time on smartphones. Most of Quibi's ad buys will be for digital.

"You fish for where the fish are," Katzenberg said. "The social-media platforms today, which is where people are in fact spending a good deal of time, is where the biggest focus of our marketing will be. And that's where we'll be spending most of our money."

It's unclear what the market is for minutes-long episodes of shows and movies that users can only watch on their phones. But advertisers seem to be on board.

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Quibi said in October that it booked $150 million in advertising, selling out the platform's first full year of inventory months ahead of launch.

Whitman told Business Insider that Quibi won over top advertisers like Procter & Gamble and Pepsi with the allure of millennial audiences in a brand-safe environment and the advancement of mobile entertainment and ad formats.

"They also believe that the next big revolution in entertainment really should be on the mobile phone, so the idea about creating and commissioning shows uniquely designed for mobile is super interesting to them," Whitman said of advertisers.

Quibi showed off at CES a new feature that it hopes will be a game changer for both advertisers and storytellers. It's called "turnstyle," and it allows viewers to move between portrait and landscape orientations by rotating their smartphones.

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Quibi execs will pay close attention to how people use the "turnstyle" feature once the platform launches.

The company will also evaluate the service using metrics like paid net subscribers and the number of videos that people watch.

The service will set itself apart from other streamers, in part, by allowing its content to react to smartphone data. For example, one Quibi series, "After Dark," from Steven Spielberg, will only be available to watch after the sunsets where the phone is located.

"I'm talking about, in real time, the phone telling the piece of content, what time it is, what the weather is, what the lighting conditions are, and letting the piece of creative react to that in the same way the creative reacts to the rotation of the phone," Conrad, the chief product officer, said.

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