The Next Form of Storytelling: The Future of Technology-Enabled Entertainment
Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman with Dylan Byers
SXSW, Austin, TX
March 8, 2019
by Jim Chapin
Jeffrey Katzenberg is the founder and Meg Whitman the CEO of Quibi, a short-form mobile streaming service. In a panel led by Dylan Byers, Senior Media Reporter for NBC News and MSNBC, both Katzenberg and Whitman took the stage at SXSW On Friday, March 8, to discuss the platform, unveiling the company’s plans and future projects, The two explored the market trends that have opened the gates to a new form of storytelling delivered through a technology platform optimized for easy, on-the-go mobile viewing. They discussed how they are bringing together the best of Hollywood and Silicon Valley to create what they see as the future of entertainment.
Katzenberg and Whitman have proven themselves in the business world. Katzenberg has over forty years of experience in the entertainment industry, serving as President of Production at Paramount Studios, Chairman of Walt Disney Studios, and co-founder of DreamWorks SKG. Whitman proved her mettle leading Hewlett Packard’s turnaround as President and CEO. Prior to that she spearheaded eBay’s massive growth, as well as holding executive positions at Procter and Gamble, Hasbro Inc., The Walt Disney Company, and Bain & Company. Prior to joining HP, Whitman was the Republican Party’s nominee for Governor of California in the 2010 race.
The underlying concept of Quibi is to take long-form content and serve it up to the viewer in smaller pieces. Basically, it will take a long story and tell it in parts, or chapters. Bringing together the best of Silicon Valley and the best of Hollywood, it is the first entertainment platform of its kind, serving “quick-bites” created by top Hollywood talent. “It makes video on mobile devices engaging,” Whitman said.
The service is set to launch in April and Katzenberg revealed that they will be releasing a new series each week. Both Whitman and Katzenberg offered more insight to what we will see from the service including a music competition hosted by entertainment executive Scooter Braun, an origin series for the prominent Telemundo film “El Señor de los Cielos,” a reality series from Jennifer Lopez titled “Thanks a Million,” a series from Director Sam Raimi that will feature the scariest story from every state in the country, and a documentary series about Snapchat creator Evan Spiegel.
In an effort to make information “as convenient as Spotify has done for music,” they unveiled additional projects that included short-form news programming with a millennial twist, a music news program, world news from the BBC, a music news show, and a “best-of-late-night” program.
Moderator Byers questioned whether or not the platform would be successful in disrupting short-form content consumption. In a bold statement of bravado and salesmanship, both Whitman and Katzenberg maintained that Quibi will be identified with short-form content just as Google is with search engines.
With Whitman and Katzenberg as evangelists and eight studios currently investing, things do look optimistic for the platform. Katzenberg stressed that the studios are providing top talent and promises that the content will “attain a level of quality that has never been seen before,” ushering in a new “era of Quibi.”