Roku said it has acquired the rights to Quibi’s content, confirming an earlier report from the Wall Street Journal, which put the undisclosed price at under USD 100 million, citing sources familiar with the matter. Talks on the matter reportedly started earlier this month. Roku said it acquired Quibi Holdings following an internal restructuring by Quibi. It did not give any financial details.
Under the deal, Roku will get the global distribution rights to Quibi’s portfolio of over 75 shows and documentaries for the rest of this year. It will show the content free on its ad-supported Roku Channel, an app with more than 40,000 movies and TV shows. The report noted that adding Quibi’s shows to the Roku Channel could give the streaming player more leverage in negotiations with advertisers, who may pay a premium to show their ads alongside shows viewers can’t watch elsewhere.
Quibi, a short video streaming service, launched in April 2020 but did not quite manage to take off. It started winding down its service late last year.
Roku said its Roku Channel experienced rapid growth in the fourth quarter, doubling household presence year-on-year and reaching an estimated 61.8 million people in the US.
