A Quibi-like app referred to as ReelShort achieved report downloads and income this month

Picture credit: ReelShort

Was Quibi a failure or was it simply forward of its time? This month, a brief video app and Quibi-like leisure service referred to as ReelShort discovered its option to the highest of the App Retailer, ensuing within the app getting 1.9 million downloads (up to now) in November alone. Final Saturday, the app additionally set a day by day report for downloads and income, with 326,000 new installs and $459,000 in web income — the latter that means income it retained after paying App Retailer charges.

This knowledge, offered by market intelligence agency Appfigures, raises questions on whether or not there’s a continued client urge for food for brief, productive leisure, much like what failed startup Quibi as soon as provided, or whether or not ReelShort’s time on the high of the charts is extra than simply… Coincidence – or maybe helped by heavy spending on app advertising advertisements.

Picture credit: Utility kinds

Sunnyvale-based Loopy Maple Studio didn’t reply to press inquiries about its app’s newfound success, however the studio’s different cell merchandise embrace animated interactive story apps, fiction apps and storytelling apps. ReelShort matches into this broad group as a result of it options brief, “bite-sized” exhibits with actual actors, and makes use of digital foreign money to unlock extra episodes. Customers can watch advertisements to earn cash or should buy them instantly from the app.

Because of this mannequin, the app has been downloaded 11 million occasions throughout iOS and Android and has generated $22 million in web income up to now since its launch in August 2022. This month, ReelShort spent a number of days because the #2 app within the US and made it to #1 Within the leisure class for about 4 days.

What’s most spectacular about that is that ReelShort’s video content material itself is arguably worse than Quibi’s — and Quibi hasn’t at all times been nice. The performing and writing in ReelShort is so dangerous that you just surprise if that is intentional at occasions. The tales themselves are like outtakes from low-quality sequence, or as if cell storytelling video games have come to life. However regardless, the app has discovered little viewers, as its income signifies.

On common, ReelShort makes about $2 per obtain, Appfigures says. That is greater than Quibi’s estimate of $0.73 per obtain, although this comparability would not take inflation into consideration.

Quibi claimed its closure was as a result of timing of the app’s launch, which was imagined to be an on-the-go app however ended up arriving in the midst of a pandemic when everybody was staying at house. Nonetheless, the app additionally did not capitalize on what made social video profitable, as a substitute counting on writers and Hollywood personalities to create easy content material that was usually boring or bizarre. ReelShort would not fairly enhance on this mannequin by decreasing high-quality content material to snippet measurement. As a substitute, it ran hundreds of advertisements on Meta platforms to showcase its cleaning soap opera-like tales.

This month, the variety of Meta advertisements was round 8,100 within the US, which can assist clarify the rise in installs and income. The app additionally lately ran an Apple Search Advertisements marketing campaign, Appfigures notes. Downloads began to say no, most probably proper after the marketing campaign ended, after which income adopted.

Picture credit: Utility kinds

The query now could be whether or not or not these new customers who uncover ReelShort will hold coming again to Quibi.

In spite of everything, ReelShort’s competitors, like Quibi’s, continues to be TikTok — a platform with partaking brief movies that additionally embrace film excerpts from high-quality sources. TikTok customers usually discover themselves watching back-to-back snippets highlighting standard films to look at a two-hour film minimize into roughly 10 minutes of content material. Regardless of allegations of copyright infringement resulting in many takedowns of one of these content material, it’s nonetheless prevalent on the app. Paramount finally embraced the development by releasing “Imply Ladies” final month in 23 snippets on TikTok (no less than for a restricted time).

At the moment ReelShort has combined evaluations, with many customers complaining concerning the digital foreign money and promoting mannequin. Some say they like to pay for a subscription, or no less than suppose advertisements needs to be extra restricted. Many evaluations declare the content material is entertaining and even “cool,” which looks as if an exaggeration. However the app nonetheless ranks third as an leisure app within the US proper now, which suggests there’s client demand for one thing like this.