Vdio
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Vdio was an internet television service created by Skype and Rdio co-founder Janus Friis. Launched in April 2013 for Rdio premium subscribers, it offered a pay-per-view video catalog — renting and buying movies and TV shows, with social features showing what friends were watching — positioning itself against iTunes and Google Play on-demand rental rather than Netflix-style subscriptions.
02 / Vdio FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Vdio was discontinued because it could not deliver the 'differentiated customer experience' it had hoped for: it entered a crowded video-on-demand market late, with content and pricing no better than incumbents like iTunes, and its only real edge — Rdio's social network — was not enough to win users. The shutdown followed a layoff of 35 people at parent company Rdio.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Created
Vdio was created by Skype and Rdio co-founder Janus Friis as a video-on-demand service.
- Launch
Vdio officially launched on April 2, 2013 for Rdio premium subscribers in the US and UK, offering pay-per-view movies and TV shows, with subscribers given $25 in credit; it expanded to Canada in August 2013.
- Discontinued
On December 27, 2013, Vdio announced by email that it was discontinuing its beta program, citing the inability to deliver a differentiated customer experience; customers were offered Amazon gift cards as reimbursement, and the Vdio URL later redirected to Rdio.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Differentiate or don't launch: a me-too video store with the same prices and smaller selection than iTunes had no reason to exist.
- 02
Don't rely on a single edge: Rdio's social features alone couldn't carry a video service in a mature market.
- 03
Move fast on a failing experiment: Vdio was wound down six months after launch, limiting further losses.