Quibi memes are nearly non-existent outside of those roasting the app itself. That doesn't bode well for the new streaming service.

• Mobile streaming platform Quibi launched just over two weeks ago on April 6.
• In the time since its launch, there have been very few memes about its programming, due in part to the fact that it's impossible to take screenshots or screen recordings in the app.
• Competitors like Netflix have all but perfected the meme strategy, with shows like "Tiger King" blowing up in meme circles on social media.
• The lack of Quibi memes broadly signifies that the app has failed to become a part of the zeitgeist, and could be an early sign of its eventual downfall.
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The streaming landscape has changed in ground shaking ways over the course of the past year. While industry giants like Netflix produce increasingly viral original content in order to satiate a ravenous audience, everyone else is trying to get in the game too: Disney launched Disney Plus with both old and new programming in late 2019; Apple brought on big names to launch original titles on Apple TV Plus; HBO Max got the Studio Ghibli catalog, and also the "Friends" reunion special, whenever that happens.

And then there's Quibi.

The mobile-focused black sheep of the bunch, Quibi is designed to provide content to fill in the odd spaces of your day-to-day, which would be very fun and cool if it didn't launch during the middle of a pandemic that has all but erased the in-between moments Quibi is supposed to target. Its name is a portmanteau of "quick" and "bites;" each Quibi episode is roughly seven to ten minus long. Founded by Disney and DreamWorks veteran Jeffrey Katzenberg, Quibi raised nearly $2 billion in funding prior to its launch on April 6.

Quibi generated plenty of buzz prior to its launch with tales of its significant funding and unique format, and earned 1.7 million downloads within its first week (as a comparison, Disney Plus had over 10 million subscribers on its first day). However, there's been one space of digital chatter typically present around any kind of new, or popular, media that's been unusually silent: no one is making Quibi memes. In fact, the only thing related to Quibi that people are memeing is… well, Quibi itself.

Where are all the good Quibi memes?

Just over two weeks after its launch, there's been shockingly little chatter on social media memeing any of its programming. That timeline might seem too harsh to make a judgment call, but the streaming environment is cutthroat, and meme cycles around popular media move fast. Thus far, the only content that's managed to go even moderately viral is a clip from Quibi's "50 Stages of Fright" anthology in which Rachel Brosnahan plays a woman obsessed with her gold arm. (It's worth noting that the clip was recorded with a different cell phone, like a parody camrip from what feels like a forgotten pre-screen recording era).

That tweet has amassed over 30,000 likes, testament to the fact that Quibi content has at least some propensity to draw attention even in its absurdity. That being said, the effort threshold is almost too high for people to care enough — The Verge's Julia Alexander pointed out that the only way Ariana Grande stans were able to share clips from her new show was via promos the star had posted on her Instagram story. If the bar wasn't so high, it stands to reason that people would likely also share clips of Quibi's absurd programming slate as well.

As it stands now, popular tweets about Quibi aren't memeing its content — they're memeing Quibi itself.

Quibi is competing with other streaming platforms as well as mobile apps like TikTok.

To understand why the lack of memes is important, you have to think about Quibi's competitors. Netflix has all but perfected the meme promotion strategy, with original programming like 2018's "Bird Box" or the more recent "Tiger King" setting off meme storms as people binge-watched them within days of their launch. While Netflix has been accused of trying to create meme campaigns of its own — like with "Bird Box," (which was never proven true) — a significant portion of online chatter appears to be purely organic. That's a major win for the platform, which has adopted the meme strategy on its own social channels as well.

However, Quibi is a mobile app, and while it's designed to satisfy low attention spans and fill in gaps during viewers' days, it has another important competitor: TikTok. A true cultural force, one of TikTok's greatest strengths is the ease with which users can share not only links to content, but also download some videos (depending on creator permissions) and re-upload them on social networks. While the clout ethics of that are muddy — the original creator doesn't reap the benefits of any likes or engagement with the re-upload — it means that it's incredibly easy to share TikTok memes.

Quibi makes it difficult to share content or make memes

With Quibi, however, it's impossible to share screenshots or screen recordings. Business Insider's Paige Leskin wrote about Quibi's screenshot block two days after the app launched, writing at the time, that "by preventing screenshots, Quibi could be undercutting its presence on the very social platforms it sees as so crucial to its strategy." While platforms like Netflix and Hulu also block out mobile screenshots, they're easy to grab on desktop, allowing people to create accounts like "out of context bojack horseman" with thousands of followers that are essentially free publicity.

There's an overwhelming feeling that Quibi has no grasp on what it needs to succeed in a cutthroat mobile environment. Even more so than other streaming platforms, it's competing with Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram for viewers' attention, and airing an episode of its "Punk'd" reboot in "Fortnite" isn't going to solve its meme outreach problems. Furthermore, it's actively curtailing the ways that people can talk about Quibi and playfully meme its content. It's worth noting too that per the Huffington Post, Quibi sent a popular fan-made Quibi podcast a cease-and-desist to stop using its name and anything reminiscent of its logo (now, the podcast is called "streamiverse" it's "strictly about spite and revenge").

The fact that there are no good Quibi memes, and barely any Quibi memes at all, is a bad sign for the future of the platform. For a mobile app based on gimmick, star power, and a whole bunch of money, Quibi has by-and-large failed to become a part of the zeitgeist, and that may lead to its eventual downfall.

• Read more:
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• Every reboot, revival, and sequel that's coming to Quibi
• No one can believe this show about a woman obsessed with her gold arm is real and the reactions are incredible
• Will Arnett's Quibi show 'Memory Hole' was accused of plagiarizing a 2014 YouTube channel of the same name