CNN+ shutting down after just three weeks and everyone's comparing it to Quibi

CNN+ is shutting down their new subscription streaming service following reports that said they were struggling to attract viewers - and people are comparing it to the doomed app Quibi.

On Thursday (21 April), CNN and Warner Bros. Discovery announced that CNN+ will end the subscription service on April 30 - nearly a month after the launch.

The company said customers would be able to get refunds of their subscription fees adieu to the closure.

With the news, Andrew Morse, the service's chief exec, EVP and Chief Digital Officer of CNN Worldwide and Head of CNN+, is also leaving the company after a transitional period.

"This is not a decision about quality; we appreciate all of the work, ambition and creativity that went into building CNN+, an organization with terrific talent and compelling programming. But our customers and CNN will be best served with a simpler streaming choice," said Chris Licht, the Chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide, in a statement about the closure.

Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

In a report from CNBC, fewer than 10,000 people were using the service on a daily basis after its first two weeks.

The company made the risky bet that, in the streaming landscape, people would pay a subscription for on-demand and live news programming and other content - which includes a thousand plus hours of on-demand shows and CNN+ originals.

The service was charging $5.99 a month or $59.99 annually. People took to Twitter to draw comparisons of CNN+'s upcoming closure to Quibi's shutdown.

One wrote: "CNN+ is definitely the Quibi of 2022."

Another added: "Hundreds of hard-working, idealistic journalists are being hit with the sobering limitations of mass audience interest in new offerings.I feel for you all.CNN+ now, BNC last month, Quibi last year. Plus local newsrooms everywhere are shrinking. What does this tell us?"

Someone else who made a joke about a potential show in mind that they would like to broadcast wrote: "Quibi, Netflix and CNN+ all have one thing in common: none of them have contacted me about developing and producing "Willy," a 30-minute autofictional dramedy about a magazine editor figuring out life, love and everything in between. And the pattern is striking…"

Check out other reactions to the closure below.

Quibi, short for "quick bites," was launched in April 2020 and shut down after six months.

The platform produced original TV shows and was designed for consumers to watch things on a mobile phone, with each episode being around 10 minutes or less.

The app was sold on the idea that people could enjoy the shows while on the way to work, but it was virtually pointless due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Before the streaming platform launched, it raised $1.75bn (£1.3bn) from investors, including Steven Spielberg, Reese Witherspoon, and Chrissy Teigen, who signed up to create video content for it.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.