Roku has confirmed its decision to obtain global exclusive global rights to Quibi’s scripted series, alternative and reality programming, and documentaries. “Fundamentally, we think that Quibi has created great, high-quality content,” Rob Holmes, Roku’s VP of Pogramming said. “It’s a great value proposition for our users… We’re pivoting from Quibi’s SVOD model to an ad-supported model, and this type of new, original content is not usually available for free.”
The streaming source acquired the rights most of Quibi’s multimillion-dollar portfolio original programming, more than 75 shows in all — and will make them available free to stream in 2021 on the Roku Channel. The financial terms of the pact were not disclosed. Roku is paying less than USD 100 million for the Quibi library, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The addition of Quibi’s content, each consisting of no more than 10 minutes in length, helps Roku enrich its ad-supported app, The Roku Channel. Quibi, led by Katzenberg and Meg Whitman, debuted in April but failed to attract enough customers, leading to a shut down in December. Quibi’s deals with its content producers were atypical of other platforms, in that the creators owned their stuff. Quibi’s agreements allowed for the service to feature those shows on its service for seven years.
A Roku device isn't needed to access The Roku Channel. It can be downloaded for free on mobile devices, which is exactly where Quibi was originally conceived to be consumed. Some of the content additions include series like Anna Kendrick’s “Dummy,” “Most Dangerous Game” starring Liam Hemsworth and Christoph Waltz, as well as Antoine Fuqua’s “#FreeRayshawn,” which scored a pair of Emmy wins. “Today’s announcement marks a rare opportunity to acquire compelling new original programming that features some of the biggest names in entertainment," Holmes said. "We’re excited to make this content available for free to our users in The Roku Channel through an ad-supported model."