Upcoming Short-Form Streaming Service Quibi Is Launching a Twice-Daily Program With NBC News

By A.J. Katz 

Building off the success of its Stay Tuned show on Snapchat, and the recent launch of its new ad-supported streaming news service NBC News Now, NBC News is continuing its work in the digital news space. However, this time it’s producing content for an outside company in the form of a new partnership with Jeffrey Katzenberg‘s short-form content streaming service Quibi.

The service is launching next April, with former HP chief executive officer Meg Whitman at the helm.

In this agreement, NBC News becomes the first major producer for Quibi’s curated daily news and information programming — called Daily Essentials.

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The morning and evening news shows will each be under six minutes, seven days a week, and created only for smartphones.

NBC’s twice-daily news show for Quibi will feature hosts, along with dedicated correspondents. There will be a custom-built studio in 30 Rock, and NBC News-produced Quibi news programming will feature mixed reality graphics capabilities to enable immersive storytelling.

“NBC News has been uniquely successful at connecting with news audiences of all ages by delivering smart, high-quality video wherever and whenever they want it,” NBC News president Noah Oppenheim said in a statement. “Millennials are as hungry for smart and trustworthy news as prior generations. With Quibi we’ll be able to meet that demand in a new style and format that works for them.”

Breaking news coverage will be powered by NBC News Now — the network’s recently-launched digital streaming news service — and the partnership will provide Quibi access to NBC News’ worldwide newsgathering teams. NBC News will build a full production team exclusively for Quibi programming, along with access to NBC News resources and technical support.

“NBC News’ worldwide reach brings in millions of viewers across its many platforms, and we are excited to work with them to deliver an innovative new way for millennials to get news in a format that fits into their lives,” Quibi founder and chairman of the board Jeffrey Katzenberg said in a statement. “NBC News’ powerful original reporting for Quibi will take viewers around the world in six minutes and provide them with the important stories they care about at the start and end of each day.”

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