Roku in talks to buy Quibi library

Set-top box and AVoD company Roku is in advanced talks to acquire rights to collapsed US shortform SVoD platform Quibi’s library.

Jeffrey Katzenberg

The Wall Street Journal reports Quibi could be on the verge of selling its content catalogue to Roku. No financial details have yet been revealed.

Quibi launched on April 6 in the US, Canada, UK and Germany but was shut down in October after falling well short of expectations.

Founded by former Walt Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman, the app featured high-end content featuring Hollywood stars and was designed to be viewed on the go, with episodes of less than 10 minutes. It received US$1.75bn in seed funding from companies including BBC Studios, Disney and NBCUniversal.

Its content library included big-budget commissions from talent including Will Smith, Megan Rapinoe and Trevor Noah. It cost US$4.99 per month and US$7.99 ad-free but was available with a free 90-day trial.

Katzenberg had previously blamed the underwhelming consumer response to Quibi on the coronavirus pandemic.