#Quibi lost nearly all users after free trial, research firm says

Quibi, the short-form video app founded by Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, has retained just 8 percent of customers that signed up for a 90-day a free trial, according to a new research study.

The mobile app — which has corralled A-list stars like Jennifer Lopez, LeBron James and Liam Hemsworth to crank out video shorts — has logged roughly 4.5 million installs to date since the April 6 launch, according to app-measurement firm Sensor Tower.

But this week, among the 910,000 subscribers who signed up between April 6 and April 8, a maximum of 8 percent, or a mere 72,000 customers, have opted to pay for Quibi, Sensor Tower said.

By comparison, about 1 million users, or 11 percent of the 9.5 million downloads for Disney in its first three days of sign-ups converted to paid subscriptions, Sensor Tower said.

A key difference is that Quibi opted for a lengthy three-month free trial, whereas Disney launched with a 7-day free trial. Disney , which launched in November, had more than 10 million signups after the first day of launch.

“The number of paid subscribers is incorrect by an order of magnitude,” a A Quibi spokeswoman said Thursday, pushing back on Sensor Tower’s data. She said that “over 5.6 million people have downloaded the Quibi app,” as opposed to Sensor Tower’s 4.5 million estimate.

“Our conversion from download to trial is above mobile app benchmarks, and we are seeing excellent conversion to paid subscribers — both among our 90-day free trial sign-ups from April, as well as our 14-day free trial sign-ups from May and June,” the spokeswoman added.

Nonetheless, Quibi, whose shows include  “Kirby Jenner,” an eight-episode series that centers around a performance artist who plays Kendall Jenner’s fictional fraternal twin brother, “Kirby,” did not say how many paying customers it has netted to date.

Craig Chapple, a mobile insights strategist from Sensor Tower said the disparity in numbers may be linked to the fact that it “defines an install as the first download of an app by a single Apple ID or Google account.”

“As such, our figures won’t reflect if the app is installed again by the same user, such as after deletion or to another device,” he said. “Our estimates also don’t account for any iPad users who have installed the app.”

Quibi’s paltry results fuel questions about whether Quibi will be able to turn its nascent business around, despite early indications that it is tracking to fall short of internal targets.

Quibi’s regular price is $4.99 monthly with ads or $7.99 per month without ads. The ad-supported offering also is included in T-Mobile’s unlimited family plans.