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There was nothing wrong with broadcast TV.
People loved it, he explains.
And thats frankly what we are doing to the world of short form today.
Companies such as Google and Pepsi have already committed to $150 million in advertising for the platform.
Katzenberg says he and Whitman obviously debated whether or not to delay the launch until the situation stabilized.
They will also benefit from everyone being at home.
ShortsTV in the U.S. has seen an across-the-board increase in TV viewership since the pandemic began.
I think Quibi is likely to benefit from a captive audience as well.
Unlike past attempts to target mobile-centric audiences with short-form content(R.I.P.
And if the content is good enough, $5 per month doesnt seem like a crazy price.
People liked the shows, they liked the output.
They sat in silence for 40 minutes watching.
Its not insignificant that at least one big agency is cautiously optimistic about Quibis prospects.
And Katzenberg leaves no doubt how he and his investors will measure success.
Thats the only thing that matters.
There is no other metric.
We are a private company and we obviously have responsibilities to our investors, he says.
From day one, this business was designed so that our revenues are meant to exceed our expenses.
That is our fundamental business belief and model.
This was built to be a profitable business.
Its not meant to just build an audience.
It doesnt need 100 million to be successful.
What we are all very, very excited about is to actually see what [audiences] gravitate to.
I have my favorites, the things that I love, but I dont count anymore.
We obviously are starting with a very, very ambitious schedule of original content, he says.
Those platforms arent designed for mobile, but theyre still competing for eyeballs and dollars.
Im confident that thats going to work.
It hasnt happened, he says.
Those are words Ive lived my whole life, my whole career.
I dont ignore them.
Im not pretending they dont exist.
I just dont agree with them.
