• by Karlene Lukovitz , April 9, 2020

Quibi’s launch on April 6 generated significantly fewer app downloads and less social media activity than other high-profile streaming launches.

Quibi — which unlike other subscription streaming services, can only be viewed on mobile devices — had about 300,000 downloads by the end of its launch day, according to an estimate by Sensor Tower mobile analytics.

That made Quibi the #3 free app in the U.S. in Apple’s App Store as of April 7. But the total was just 7.5% the volume of Disney+’s 4 million app installs in the U.S. and Canada on its Nov. 12, 2019 launch day, as also reported by Sensor Tower.

Quibi’s estimated total includes a significant number of pre-orders, according to Sensor Tower. Quibi began taking pre-orders through app stores on Jan. 30.

Its launch downloads are also being driven by an open 90-day free-trial offer and a offer of a free year of service for some T-Mobile customers.

Quibi did not release its own launch-day user data, but released a statement saying: “We are very excited about our Day One performance.” 

On social media, Quibi was the topic of 46,554 Twitter posts on its launch day — 8.6 times and 23 times fewer tweets than Apple TV+ and Disney+ generated on their Nov. 1 and Nov. 12, 2019 respective launch days, according to mobile analytics firm ListenFirst Media data cited by Variety.

In the month leading up to its launch (March 5-April 5), 91,725 tweets mentioned Quibi. The streaming brand added 6,056 fans on April 5 and 20,621 fans on April 6, bringing its total fan base to 167,000.

However, Quibi is generating real-time conversation around its reality shows, particularly the four featuring celebrities, according to ListenFirst CMO Tracy David.

The Jennifer Lopez show “Thanks a Million” generated the most tweets during the one-month lead-up to Quibi’s launch (12,999).

That was followed by the LeBron James documentary series “I Promise” (5,183); the rebooted “Punk’d,” starring Chance the Rapper (3,304); Joe Jonas’s travel series “Cup of Joe” (2,891); the Sophie Turner-starring thriller “Survive” (2,381); and “Chrissy’s Court” (2,105), with Chrissy Teigen “ruling” on small-claims cases.