Quibi Launched Monday to Little Social Media Attention, According to First-Day Data (EXCLUSIVE)
By Michael Schneider
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Quibi’s launch received a tepid response Monday on social media, far below the amount of attention generated by Disney Plus and Apple TV Plus on their launch days.
According to data from social media research firm ListenFirst Media, Quibi was the subject of 46,554 Twitter posts on April 6. In comparison, Apple TV Plus received 8.6 times more Tweets on Nov. 1, when it launched, while Disney Plus appeared in 23 times more Tweets when it bowed on Nov. 12.
In the month prior, between March 5 and April 5, there were 91,725 Tweets mentioning Quibi. According to the study, Quibi has a social media fan footprint of 167,000 — including a jump of 20,621 new fans on April 6. That’s a 351 percent spike from the day before, when it added 6,056 new fans.
“The early social media reaction to Quibi indicates that while there’s less volume of interest around the platform compared to Disney Plus and Apple TV Plus at launch, the app is generating real-time conversation around their reality shows,” said ListenFirst chief marketing officer Tracy David.
In particular, she noted that four out of the five Quibi shows with the highest volume of mentions so far are starring or heavily featuring a celebrity, and, in the cases of Jennifer Lopez, Joe Jonas, and Chance The Rapper, musicians specifically. Quibi launched on Monday with 50 shows and “chapterized” movies designed for mobile-only viewing.
According to ListenFirst, the most popular topic around Quibi the day it launched was Ariana Grande. There were 5,365 Twitter posts mentioning both Grande and Quibi, around the series “&Music” (which gives a behind-the-scenes look at her world tour).
Also on April 6, there were 1,644 Tweets mentioning both Quibi and the rebooted show “Punk’d,” now starring Chance the Rapper, while there were 868 Tweets mentioning both Quibi and Jennifer Lopez around her new show “Thanks a Million.”
Over the past month, “Thanks a Million” generated the most Twitter mentions, while a Tweet by Lopez that included the show’s trailer generated 77,849 responses and was the most viral Tweet among any Quibi programs.
“It appears the success of Quibi in its early stages may depend on how well they’re able to target the fans of these artists in their outreach efforts,” David said. “Additionally given the current state of the world, that ‘Thanks a Million’ is the Quibi show creating the most interest on social media illustrates how valued content about doing good deeds is right now.”
ListenFirst also revealed that Quibi’s Wikipedia page received 48,600 page views on April 6; in comparison, Disney Plus received 2.8 times more Wikipedia page views on its Nov. 12 launch day. On YouTube, the trailer of “The Stranger” garnered Quibi’s most view views, at 34.4 million.
Here are the top 10 Quibi shows by mentions on Twitter between March 5 and April 6, 2020:
1. “Thanks a Million” (12,999)
2. “I Promise” (5,183)
3. “Punk’d” (3,304)
4. “Cup of Joe” (2,891)
5. “Survive” (2,381)
6. “Chrissy’s Court” (2,105)
7. “&Music” (1,802)
8. “50 States of Fright” (1,579)
9. “When the Streetlights Go On” (1,361)
10. “NightGowns” (1,292)
(Methodology is based on the volume of Tweets mentioning a show or the show’s hashtag and “Quibi,” while excluding Tweets that came from Quibi’s official Twitter handle.)
As reported on Tuesday , Quibi’s first-day app downloads were at approximately 300,000. “We are very excited about our Day One performance,” the company said in a statement.
