Quibi’s library will live on through the Roku Channel

Roku has acquired defunct streaming service Quibi’s library of content, the company announced today. Content from the short-form service will appear on the Roku Channel for free at some point in 2021, though the company hasn’t announced an exact date for its arrival. Roku did not disclose how much it paid for the content in its announcement, but The Wall Street Journal reports it paid “significantly less” than $100 million for the shows. The deal was rumored earlier this month in a separate report from the WSJ.

Despite Quibi’s failure, its content was star-studded. Roku’s announcement says the Quibi content it has licensed will feature stars including “Idris Elba, Kevin Hart, Liam Hemsworth, Anna Kendrick, Nicole Richie, Chrissy Teigen, Lena Waithe, and many others.” Over 75 shows will be available as part of the deal, Roku says. Roku, one of the leading hardware companies in the streaming space, is trying to push more into software.

Acquiring Quibi’s shows and placing them exclusively within The Roku Channel (a free offering from the company) will be used to drive watch time on the platform and possibly increase the amount of ad inventory Roku can sell. As competition in the hardware space increases, finding new legs up over competition — in this case, original content — is a must.

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