Multi-billion dollar startup Quibi is now available and has run into some launch day issues. The streaming platform's marketing has been everywhere and received a large influx of users once the servers went live... users who reported being unable to use the app.
Quibi's marketing campaign has completely saturated online ad spaces across the web, with what appears anecdotally to be a focus on running commercials on other streaming platforms. For the past two weeks, practically every commercial break on Hulu, Twitch, and YouTube has been that same Quibi ad, giving samples of its upcoming content in a montage played over the song "Nothin' Like This Before". The spot aims to highlight Quibi's somewhat unique approach of offering "quick bites" of content – its shows are all under ten minutes long – designed for smartphones.
However, Quibi's marketing mantra of "you ain't seen nothin' like this, nothin' like this" was proven wrong yesterday, as the service experienced about an hour of day-one outages just like most platforms. Thousands of new members flocked to Twitter, posting screenshots of their error messages. Quibi addressed the issue on its Twitter page but neglected to provide a specific reason. Exactly one hour late, though, the account tweeted "Users should once again be able to use the Quibi app normally. Thank you for your patience," indicating the end of the outage. Since then, there haven't been many complaints about technical issues with the app, so it appears it's in the clear.
Quibi's Launch Slip-Up Happened at the Worst Time
Quibi was always slated for release on April 6th, but the coronavirus pandemic likely impacted branding and marketing decisions leading up to launch. The prevalence of its advertisements on other streaming platforms seemed to show their marketing team recognized the uptick in video streaming during social distancing. Their goal of launching to a crowd of people with lots of free time and a huge appetite for online content only serves to magnify any errors users have when they try a new service.
These kinds of launch day server outages are a consistent issue with online platforms. Videos games, smartphone apps, health care websites, and streaming services are all susceptible. Typically the issue is either an unexpected outcome resulting from the influx of server traffic, or a result of a bug the designers missed prior to the platform's launch. In this case, as was the case last year with the launch of Disney Plus, given the size of the user base and the speed with which the issue was resolved, it's probably another example of an overloaded server. As of now, people interested in seeing what Quibi has to offer should be able to use the service as intended.
Source: Quibi/Twitter