Quick Bites? Feed Them to Gen Z
The following is a paper for a class assignment I wrote in October of 2019. Six months before Quibi’s launch.
Hollywood has some relationship issues. The industry can have a disconnect with its content and its consumers, leaving people turned off by the media thrown at them. Even though there are market research teams who work tirelessly to make demographic reports, investors who write in more 0s on checks, and big names who carry publicity, the business often lacks an understanding of what will grab people. Hollywood will try everything to get fast money and be ahead of the consumption curve in the great streaming wars, but some services are going a little too fast and could reconsider their practices. Since its announcement last fall, Quibi, the upcoming mobile-based platform for premium, short-form shows for millennials, is Hollywood’s hot idea (and I’m actually all for it). Investors and executives rave about its founders and boast about the game-changing app being “the next big thing” to sweep younger folk, but Quibi might not work with its current model.
Hollywood may be drinking Quibi’s Kool-Aid, but the service will struggle to catch the eyes of millennials. It’s time to look beyond the hype of this app and see that Quibi could be a losing bet if it doesn’t change whom it’s making content for.
Since its announcement in October of 2018, the trades are in a frenzy for Quibi. Hollywood and Silicon Valley create a baby (which sounds awesome). Over 1 billion in funding (I feel like that’s breaking a record?). A-list directors (Spielberg is that you?). They’re not wrong. This is the first time so many resources have been pulled together for a mobile streaming app, something that I think really is the future of entertainment as people leave the theaters. All the cards are in their favor to succeed, except for one major flaw. Katzenberg reiterates that their “core demographic of 25 to 35-year-olds” watches “60 to 70 minutes of YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat” daily, which sounds like a perfect market to tap into, unless you want to be ahead of the curve.
I see why from the perspective of 70-year-olds that being 30 is young, but millennials are still too old for Quibi. Though they are without a doubt the group that quickly got on board with the technological revolution, making and embracing every app that gave people clout based on their followers, they’re not the future anymore. Gen Zers are. Why appeal to people who have a daily screen time of 60 to 70 minutes when there’s an entire generation down the family tree that spends over five hours on phone consumption? You don’t want the adult with a newborn baby trying to squeeze in screen time at work; you need the eighth-grader who watches dance videos for fun after school. Instead of going for the people who adopted new technology growing up, aim for those who were born never knowing life without an iPhone.
If you’re making an up and coming service, make it for an up and coming generation.
Katzenberg himself even said that we’ll be in the Quibi era in the next five years… and in 2024, many Gen Zers will be right in the sweet spot demographic of high school and college kids who might not even have a TV and only watch content on their phones.
Quibi skeptics see the service not succeeding, but for the wrong reasons. Hollywood programs can’t translate onto your phone, it’s like “eating caviar on paper plates,” and “people like watching TV on a TV,” they say. True, but Katzenberg refuses to associate Quibi with TV, and he’s right, it isn’t. It’s meant to be a service for your phone to be watched on-the-go, while still letting you Netflix and chill at home. It just needs to reposition itself among the crowd.
Quibi shouldn’t be caviar. It needs to be a grilled cheese. People probably won’t watch a horror series while waiting in line for Starbucks. They want lower-quality content, something closer to a Tasty video on Facebook or a NowThis episode on IGTV. With cooking and make-up “How-tos” gaining popularity, Quibi’s premium content will be jarring for viewers. It needs a middle ground between fail compilations and Steven Spielberg films to hook people. If Quibi throws something with an intense story for over five minutes at Gen Zers, it becomes too much of an emotional investment and people switch to their Instagram feeds (plus your Frappuccino is ready anyway).
Sadly, people don’t want to think. Attention span is obviously very limited for Gen Zers. I even saw my friends skip over six-second Vines when that was the rage in 2014. If a Quibi show in their Lighthouse tab demands too much from viewers to understand it, they will evade to less stimulating content, like an influencer post. This is a lesson Quibi can capitalize on to change its content for that prime five to 24-year-old demographic without losing its “quick bites” principle, which I really love.
The A-list actors, producers, and directors signed to make seven to ten-minute shows have given Quibi a lot of good buzz. Guillermo Del Toro, Steven Spielberg, and Jason Blum are some of the names hitting the news. But, Quibi underestimates how much younger viewers actually see content because of classic, old directors on the project. In a time where ticket sales are plummeting and influencer likes are in the six-figure range, some of the names Quibi highlights may not perform well, and it probably won’t attract the average Gen Zer or even millennial.
Appealing to Gen Zers gives Quibi the room to change its model for the better. Instead of the A-listers, I’d focus on more upcoming celebrities who have massive followings. I’m talking about the Selena Gomezs and the Casey Neistats of the world that Gen Zers love. By populating content with more high-profile figures who started on phone screens rather than celluloid, Quibi can have shows that speak to this demographic. Gen Zers like seeing celebrities in an online platform because they get to have a continuous relationship with them that feels more real than glossy movies.
Gen Zers like reality; they want more authenticity and to feel like they know the people in their videos. Quibi could struggle with this concept because much of their hyped content is scripted, despite offering many alternative shows like 60 in 6 (do young people watch 60 minutes though?). Gen Zers scroll to see influencers or actors eating brunch, marching in protests, and doing shenanigans for kicks on their stories. With high-quality narrative content, Quibi is walking on thin ice, so it needs to focus more on loosely written or talk show-ey content that feels more like real-life (think: The Patriot Act in a vlog form).
And this saves money while upping subscriptions. With fewer A-listers in exchange for digital celebrities, Quibi could save money on talent and buy time to make the platform free initially. When you’re charging eight bucks without ads for a new platform that’s for people’s phones when Apple TV+ and Disney+ — two reputable brands — are selling for cheaper, people’s excitement quickly goes away. Make it free. Give it time to sizzle.
But, who knows? I’m wrong a lot and, honestly, I hope I am because I really believe in Quibi’s concept of mobile narratives. I’m a sucker for new ways of telling stories and pushing Hollywood’s traditional boundaries. Maybe millennials are the core audience. Maybe A-listers are the way to go. Maybe its model is genius. Regardless, I think it’s worth going back to the drawing board to pivot the service’s target audience. There is no formula for success in entertainment and Quibi is no exception. Hype helps, but Quibi’s release will be the true testament for whether it leaves us disappointed, bored, or speechless.
As the infamous screenwriter William Goldman once said, “Nobody knows anything.”
