Roku eyeing getting into original content to build on Quibi’s library

After shutting its digital doors in October 2020, Quibi’s library of content may live on with some new content.

Earlier in 2021, digital media player company Roku bought much of the Quibi’s original content library, including titles featuring Kevin Hart, Idris Elba, Jennifer Lopez and Nick Jonas.

Roku will make the content available for free on the Roku Channel, its own free stream, but also may have plans to add more original content, reports The New York Post.

The Post got wind of the possibility of Roku branching out more into original content after a job post for “lead production attorney” appeared in January.

The listing, which has since closed, was looking for an attorney with “substantial experience in television and film production either at a studio, network, streaming service or entertainment law firm.” Roku also noted it hoped to find someone with experience working with guilds and unions and mentioned the goal of expanding its original content slate.

Although terms of the Roku-Quibi deal were not announced, the sale price for the content was reported as being “significantly” less than $100 million, according The Post.

Quibi had raised $1.75 billion in funding from investors ranging from major studios, tech giants and investment banks and much of that went into content production since the service was built around the idea of offering exclusive “quick bites” of content of under 10 minutes or so.

Content included multiple episodes to create the sense of a traditional TV series.

Quibi announced it would close in October 2021, just six months after launching its app.

Execs blamed the coronavirus pandemic’s stay at home orders for shifting viewers away from mobile devices to bigger screens in their homes, though many media watchers questioned the viability of the service — and some argued it solved a problem that didn’t really exist.

Quibi didn’t just have trouble attracting viewers willing to pay $4.99 a month — it also experienced an outage on its first day. It also stumbled in the PR arena by going after a podcast covering the service’s content and telling members of the media to sign up for a free trial to review the service.

The service also blocked taking screenshots of the shows and made little effort to provide media with imagery to use with stories.