ReelShort: The Quibi Alternative, Achieves Record Downloads and Revenue

Was Quibi a failure or just before its time? This month, a short video app and Quibi-like entertainment service called ReelShort found its way to the top of the App Store, which led to the app gaining 1.9 million downloads (so far) in the month of November alone. Last Saturday, the app also hit a daily record in terms of both downloads and revenue, with 326,000 new installs and $459,000 in net revenue — the latter meaning the revenue it retained after paying app store fees.

The company, Sunnyvale-based Crazy Maple Studio, didn’t respond to press inquiries about its app’s newfound success, but ReelShort fits into that large portfolio. As a result of this model, ReelShort has been downloaded 11 million times across iOS and Android and has generated $22 million in net revenue to date since its August 2022 launch. This month, ReelShort even spent a couple of days as the No. 2 app in the U.S. and made it as high as No. 1 in the Entertainment category for around four days. On average, ReelShort generates roughly $2 per download, Appfigures says.

The question now is whether or not these new users who have discovered ReelShort will now stick around for a Quibi redux. ReelShort today has mixed reviews, with many users complaining about the virtual currency and the ads model. But the app continues to be ranked as the No. 3 Entertainment app in the U.S. for the time being, which suggests there is consumer demand for something like this.