Vivendi is to axe Studio+, an app it launched in partnership with Telecom Italia less than two years ago which provides users with access to exclusive content deemed optimal for mobile viewing.

A spokesperson for the company told entertainment publication Variety it was preparing to shutdown the app, which it unveiled in November 2016, although production of content – such as short-form series – would continue under Vivendi’s Studiocanal offering.

The content will be distributed through Canal Plus Group’s pay-OTT service as well as online video platform Dailymotion.

Variety added that Canal Plus Group will honour content relationships with operators including Telefonica in Latin America and Orange and Bouygues in France to deliver series that are already in production, before the deals end in late 2018-2019.

According to a source, Canal+ amassed 5 million subscribers, as a result of the deals with telecoms operators.

Variety noted that Studio+ was no longer available in the US, but it was still accessible on the Apple App Store in France.

Factors
Its shutdown could be put down to the departure of its creator Dominique Delport, who left Vivendi as its head of content in March this year.

Under Delport’s charge, Studio+ created a number of series, which adhered to the 10×10 format, consisting of 10 episodes and lasting 10 minutes each.

Other contributing factors to the app’s closure, according to an industry source cited by Variety, include a failure by Vivendi to recoup an investment of €30 million. The company initially priced a Studio+ subscription at €4.99 a month, but that was cut to €2.99. A failure to attract more millennials, which was the target demographic, also played its part.

Vivendi’s decision to fold Studio+ follows US operator Verizon’s shuttering of its mobile video app, go90.