Mobile-focused streaming service Quibi reportedly thinking of throwing in the towel

Things have not gone according to plan for hot, new streaming service Quibi this year, so now it’s apparently exploring its strategic options.

The goss comes courtesy of the WSJ, which once more calls upon its shadowy, anonymous insiders. They say Quibi has had a tough time growing subscriptions to its service, which specialises in serving short clips of original video content to smartphones. Since people are only likely to consume such content while they’re travelling, the coronavirus lockdown won’t have helped, but the proposition looked shaky from the start.

With masterful understatement, the report notes that the strategic review process is a sign of strain. On the whole, companies with a bright future don’t tend to review their strategic options because they’re too busy growing and having celebratory parties. Other options reportedly being considered are raising yet more investment or trying to go public.

Quibi is expected to miss its subscriber targets by a long way, which will probably alarm commercial partners brought in on the back of those projections. The last time we wrote about Quibi its execs were pleading for patience and pointing to mitigating circumstances that it hoped would blow over. With the dreaded coronavirus second spike now likely, those hopes seem forlorn, hence the rethink.