Content owners and creators want to make more money from their video, but navigating the world outside of YouTube and Vimeo can be daunting.
How do you quickly roll out a video paywall without losing your brand identity or handing over your data and revenue stream to another middleman?
It’s actually pretty simple.
In this post, we’ll explain in just three steps how to quickly create a video paywall to put on your website. This video paywall will be the gateway to your new subscription video network (think Netflix) or storefront for individual titles and playlists to sell as single transactions (think iTunes store).
To build the paywall, we’ll use the popular, PCI-certified payment gateway Stripe. Stripe connects directly to your bank account, which ensures you’ll have direct control of your revenue stream.
This tutorial requires some limited knowledge of basic web technology, but you don’t need to be a coder. If you’ve ever pasted a URL into a website or done basic web publishing, you’ll be fine.
Setting the stage for a new video business
We created a fictitious video business, Time Machine, that locates and curates high quality classic films in the public domain. Time Machines uses Vimeo to host those videos, but wants to create their own video website and offer unlimited access to their videos with $3.99 monthly / $29.99 annual subscription plans.
We’ll go through step by step how Time Machine can launch their subscription video network, starting with videos in their Vimeo library and culminating in a brand new website hosted on Wix.
Prerequisites:
Video. Can be hosted anywhere (including YouTube, Hulu, Vimeo Pro) or on your hard drive. For this example, Time Machine's videos are hosted on a Vimeo account.
Stripe account.
Zype account.
Website (can be hosted anywhere, including Squarespace, Wix, or Wordpress.com)
Step 1: Import your videos
Head to the Import & Upload section of the Zype dashboard and choose from a list of video sources. For the sake of this post, we are going to use our videos on Vimeo. Copy and paste the URL of your Vimeo channel and click "Import from Vimeo" to import your video into the Zype platform.
To start making money with your videos, set each video to require purchase, rental, or subscription as applicable. Make sure the embed's “Paywall” toggle is set to "ON" to enable the purchase, rental, or subscription paywalls in the player.
Step 2: Set up payments
How much money do you want to make? Decide whether you want to offer subscriptions (like Netflix) or transactions (like the iTunes Store). For this example, Time Machine wants to offer $3.99 monthly and $29.99 annual subscription plans. To create your subscription plans, go to the Make Money section of the Zype dashboard and click on “Subscription Settings” to set up a subscription plan. If you want to sell individual videos or playlists instead, then you will click “Purchase and Rental Settings” to create transaction options. Follow the prompts to connect Zype to your existing Stripe account or set up a new Stripe account directly within the Zype dashboard. Set a price and make sure to save your changes.
Now it's time to publish your video!
Step 3: Launch your paywall
The final set is to add your paywall-enabled videos to your website using Zype embed codes.
From your Zype dashboard, go to your Video Library. Click the name of the video that you want to publish and then click on the Embed Code tab at the top right of the menu. Click on the “Copy to Clipboard” button to grab the embed code.
Next, open your webpage editor. In our case, it’s our Time Machine page hosted on Wix.
In Wix, select the Add (+) Button on the menu. When the Add options drop down, click More and select HTML Code . Click Enter Code and paste your copied embed code. Update the setting and you are good to go! You can resize and relocate your paywall according to your preference.
Instructions vary for Squarespace, Wordpress, and others, but it truly is as easy as copy/pasting the embed into your web editor.
That’s it! Wasn’t that simple? With this solution, you can sell your videos at whatever price you want and have direct access and ownership of all audience data and revenue streams.
P.S. Each of the videos in this blog post was added using a Zype embed code.
Step 4: Build your media empire
I know we promised a three-step blog post. But the fourth step is all about building your media empire: Promotion, audience development, and new content acquisition and production.
Then you just need to sit back and watch your bank account grow as new audiences discover and pay to watch your video!
Sign up for a Zype account here to get started with your own video paywall using your Vimeo and YouTube videos.
For more info, check out our documentation on Subscriptions, Purchase and Rental, Subscription API, and Transaction API.