Related Articles
After launching a year ago in April and shutting down in the fall, the troubled short-form video service Quibi has found new life at Roku, which has announced the former’s content will live on as “Roku Originals.” According to The Hollywood Reporter, a launch date for the content under the new banner has not yet been determined–but there are plans to create future original programming that’ll live alongside the former Quibi content.
“We’re thrilled to introduce this award-winning and diverse portfolio of entertainment under the Roku Originals brand,” said Sweta Patel, vice president of engagement growth marketing at Roku. “It’s relevant, fun and thought-provoking TV that has something for everyone from the best talent in Hollywood, including Anna Kendrick, Chrissy Teigen, Lena Waithe, Idris Elba, Kevin Hart, and Liam Hemsworth.”
The Roku Originals library includes roughly 75 shows from Quibi, including a dozen that hadn’t been released when Quibi shut down in late 2020. It will certainly be interesting to see how the Quibi content fares on Roku-enabled devices, as the platform was originally intended for short-form programming to be viewed on mobile devices (the platform’s name was derived from abbreviating the term “quick bites”).
Despite its months-long life and struggle to capture subscribers, Quibi managed to land some surprisingly interesting original shows, like a reboot season of the much-loved law enforcement comedy Reno 911. It and, for example, the planned reboot of the Nickelodeon hit game show Legends of the Hidden Temple will at least get to see the light of day with this new arrangement thanks to Roku.
