The new mobile-only streaming service Quibi pulled in 1.7 million downloads in its first week, CEO Meg Whitman announced Monday during an appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”
Her announcement puts Quibi ahead of where third-party app tracking firms estimated. For instance, Apptopia on Monday said Quibi was downloaded 1.15 million times in its first week.
The new service, which launched on April 6, is offering a free 90-day trial for people who sign up this month. Afterward, it will cost $4.99 per month for ad-supported streaming and $7.99 per month for ad-free streaming.
Whitman’s appearance on CNBC comes after the company said it would hold off on sharing any news on its download or subscriber figures within its first three months.
“We are really excited about the market reception during our first three days since launch,” a Quibi spokesperson told TheWrap last Thursday. “We were also pleased by our rankings in both the Google Play Store and App Store. However, we are going to refrain from commenting about downloads and trials during this initial 90-day free trial period.”
Quibi is looking to separate itself from an increasingly crowded streaming market by focusing on what it calls “quick bites,” where its shows and movies are released in episodes no longer than 10 minutes. The app debuted last Monday with shows from Chrissy Teigen, LeBron James and Will Forte, among others, as well as “Most Dangerous Game,” a movie starring Christoph Waltz and Liam Hemsworth.
Founder Jeffrey Katzenberg, in an interview with TheWrap earlier this year, sounded like a man who wasn’t particularly worried about the app’s early performance. “We’re in a marathon, not a sprint,” Katzenberg said. “Disney+ is a 100-year brand with the most valued and important generational IP on Earth, ever. We’re a different use case, and we don’t have the same brand recognition. So we don’t think we’ll take off like a rocketship. We think it’s something we build over the course of several years.”
Quibi has raised $1.75 billion to date, with its investors including Disney and WarnerMedia. You can read a full review of Quibi’s app and content here.