slayerment

Hey guys, what do you think about a pay per view type video website? My partner and I were toying with this idea a few years back and are considering giving it another try.

Basically this is a website that allows anybody to upload a video and select a price to sell that video at. The site would have the normal categories, top earners, popular videos and all that stuff and would enable people to browse through and purchase videos that interest them for unlimited viewing in their library. The video would be streamed online via flash in the highest possible quality. Videos would be paid for with credits kinda like istockphoto. You would buy 10 credits for $10. Each video could sell for X credits. It could be 1 credit, it could be 100 credits -- it's up to the producer. There would also probably be some type of subscription model too where you can subscribe to a producer for Y credits per month and have access to their entire library.

I've pretty much programmed the entire site, so it is pretty much built but would just need to be cleaned up a bit. All videos would be streamed through a custom flash player that allows you to preview each video. If you like the preview you can then purchase the video to watch the full thing. Credits are bought through the shopping cart and then deducted from your account as you purchase videos.

I have a custom flash player that can be embedded on other sites. When embedded on another site it would show the preview and you would have the ability to purchase the video from the other site. I already have the player built where you can buy any video on any site if you are already logged into the main site. If you aren't logged in you can simply log in through the flash player and purchase on the spot through the flash, if you have credits. If you don't have credits you go to the cart on our site and buy credits. We would also allow any user to embed any video they want to and receive a commission on each sale from videos they embed.

We would obviously make money by taking a cut of each purchase, ~20% or so and the producer would receive the rest. If an affiliate was involved they would get a percentage out of our share.

Over time we have had some people come through and upload videos and have also had people come through and purchase credits but we have been busy with other projects and haven't really felt the need to give it a solid push. Now we are considering giving it a push.

Concerns:

The obvious things that come to mind as issues would be finding quality producers who have good content people will buy, and also will people pay for videos? There are obviously tons of free video sites out there with great information. Will people pay maybe $1 or less for a really good educational or training video (wanting to avoid porn). Is there a market for this? Could this work with churches? What about people who produce training videos? What about comedians or other entertainers that have followings that can support them by subscribing?

Also, has this already been done by others? I know Youtube sort of offers this with video rentals and things like that. They also offer share adsense with certain users, but do they offer anything like this? Do any other sites offer anything like this? It seems like if this was a viable business model people would already be doing it. Have people tried this and given up? Do people just not want to spend money for videos? I am pretty sure I would spend a couple bucks here and there if I could watch high quality videos by people like Robert Kiyosaki or Mike Maloney.

Please by all means rip this idea to shreds. We are somewhat torn on whether or not to commit more funds to this and give it a whirl. We pretty much have everything built and would just need to clean it up and market the hell out of it.

All feedback is highly appreciated. Thanks!

__________________
Bad music
Stupid blog

SayWhatNow

Biggest concern that comes right to mind is cost. Cost for the bandwidth you would be using etc. If I remember correctly YouTube isn't even profitable yet (I could be wrong). But the cost of hosting I think would kill you.

onlinemoniez

They already do this on one of the porn sites, I think...xtube? Amateurs upload their vids and set a price.

__________________

-joe-

iStockPhoto already do this, I believe.

lose lose win

so you want to take on Apple?

Rage9

Profitability is the huge factor. I'm sure it'll do business, but one of those things that will take a while to gain any traction. People can get all kinds of free video. Or people can sign up for Hulu Plus or Netflix for like $10 and watch whatever they want on demand on a number of devices (computer, TV, mobile device).

It may come down to how much exclusive stuff you can get, creating a reason for people to use your service. If people can find the same content elsewhere, even if it's lower quality, and it's free, they'll probably chose the other source.

As you grow you will indefinably need more and more servers and staff. It seems like a giant undertaking. You might be more inclined to follow the Hulu model, low quality with ads for free and HQ if you pay.

__________________


MadPPC.com - PPC, PHP, and other Affiliate Marketing tips. It's OK to be MAD!

erect

check

There you go.

This is a multi-trillion dollar industry over the next 20 years (10 if the printing press keeps running). Honestly, you'll be swimming with the big fish so your chances of making it will be slim.

Best case scenario: get everything built >> make a splash with one or two big name directors giving exclusive content of shows >> sell to some hotshot or jump in bed with someone like Time Warner or HBO for legitimacy and cash influx.

I would have paid top dollar to see season 2-100 of Firefly ... or actually witness the civil war that Jericho promised. Those were two of my favorites and I would probably pay upwards of $100 per season. the market would never let it get that high so I can safely say there are dozens of things that interest me enough to frequently subscribe to a PPV service. I'm one of millions

mont7071

seems like it would be overrun with pedos and peeps trying to sell bootlegged copies of new release films, you'd have to have constant oversight and moderation of every video that ever got uploaded, and has already been said, your bandwidth costs would probably eat you alive.

The idea might work better on a smaller scale, target a narrow niche like , company training videos or something. lot less work and manpower needed, and you could focus on better service to that niche and not get clobbered by bandwidth fees.

SUP3RNOVA

ya this sounds like iStockphoto

better margins in other places

__________________
am I allowed to link to my forum here?

ENDed

There are a few ways you can go with this.

If you want to keep it small, I think training and informative videos are a way to go.



In all honesty, I think there is a better option here. This would work similar to Mochi Ads/GAMES,

Encourage sites and properties to embed your videos for views/rev,

Let a website I make decide how much I want to charge per view, not the person who makes the video. Of course the maker gets a cut of what I pick.


I would have to look into it, but facebook credits maybe a viable option and route for you to go.

Also offer like an unlimited monthly viewing of all videos and figure out a breakdown of where you can profit,

Funny thing is, a paid to watch videos subscription is not a bad idea. You could charge pennies, say .01 or .02 a video and a getting 1,000 views would make a decent CPM $10-$20

The hardest part I think is the traction and getting it build up. You need to heavily invest in advertising and such to make it work.

Just coming up with ideas.