YouTube implemented new monetization rules that will impact a large segment of their user base and make it harder to generate advertising dollars. Previously, a total of 10,000 lifetime views would enable a publisher to participate in YouTube’s Partner Program. Now that bar is set much higher, requiring at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 viewing hours over the last 12 months to be eligible to be in YouTube’s advertising pool. This disadvantages the up and coming content creators just getting their start on YouTube and channels with smaller audiences. Needless to say, the creator community isn’t happy.

This isn’t the first time YouTube has unexpectedly changed policies that jeopardize user’s ability to make money and reach audiences on the platform. Last year, YouTube began enforcing stricter content standards that resulted in many content creators losing advertising revenue. Many of Zype’s customers were affected by the rule change, including The Rebel Media who saw 90% of their YouTube ad revenue fall away in early 2017. You can find out more about how YouTube impacted The Rebel’s monetization strategy, here>>.

YouTube has continued to turn their back on the little guys in favor of larger, more “valuable” channels. As a result, more and more content owners (big and small) will take their content to other platforms that are more creative friendly, like Twitch. At the end of the day, the biggest impact for creators is that YouTube is no longer a reliable or effective platform to build an audience or make money.

The root of this issue goes far beyond advertising revenue, it boils down to control. Content owners put themselves at risk by relying on any single platform, like YouTube, to distribute their content. By doing so, they surrender control over their content audience and revenue and put themselves at the mercy of the platform’s terms and conditions.

If the nature of their content is deemed “inappropriate”, it is subject to be taken down. Even if a content owner is eligible for advertising, a big chunk of their revenue belongs to the platform. Their content may attract a large audience, but they don’t own that consumer data. Why does this matter? It matters because content owners no longer have control over their business’ future when someone else owns the land and dictates the terms.

Now more than ever, it’s critical that content owners stop depending on third-party platforms and start distributing their content across multiple channels, including platforms they own and operate, such as their website and OTT apps. This is the only way that content owners will gain total control over their business.

That said, content owners shouldn't abandon platforms like YouTube altogether. It is a great marketing tool to drive brand awareness and build audiences. Instead of it being the end destination, use YouTube as a tool to redirect viewers to content on your website and other channels that are under your control.

Zype empowers content owners with the technology to easily launch their own direct-to-consumer service and gain ownership of their revenue, content, and audience.

Create new revenue streams that are NOT subject to revenue sharing. Publish content that is NOT subject to arbitrary rule changes at a moment’s notice. Your owned and operated website and OTT apps are completely under your control and you choose the monetization strategy that works best for your business and audience.

Zype helps you reach your full potential and take your content beyond YouTube. Build a direct-to-consumer business that is 100% under your control, where you own 100% of your revenue and your content can thrive across multiple platforms.

There's no better time to get started. Find out more about Zype's creator-friendly plans and gain total control for your business today.

YouTube's New Monetization Rules: What Does It Mean for Creators?

Virtually every social media platform today is prioritizing video.  If you’re not leveraging these platforms to market and promote your content to their massive audiences regularly…you’re missing out! Just take a look at the number of active users watching video on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube on a regular basis:

Each and every one of these social users is a potential customer. It’s time to optimize your content to reach more viewers and drive paid subscribers for your video business.

Start reaching wider audiences and expand your video business across multiple channels, request a demo today>>

Want to Expand Your Reach? Get Your Video on Social Media

The video content creation industry has been through a series of tumultuous changes in recent years. The mass migration of viewers to video streaming platforms, followed by content owners and creators completely changed the landscape of how content makes its way to viewers’ screens.

This ongoing shift of power from traditional cable providers to video streaming platforms has created a dynamic environment. Traditional entertainment companies are seeking new avenues of content distribution and monetization. At the same time, “YouTube first” content creators like PewDiePie and Philip DeFranco are increasingly looking to move their premium content onto more stable and better monetized environments.

While there are stark differences between the two groups of content producers, both are focused on building independent Vertical Networks comprised of: owned & operated websites, YouTube channels, social media outposts, in addition to distribution on platforms such as Roku, AppleTV, Amazon FireTV, and Smart TVs.

While video streaming platforms such as YouTube had a great concept that played on viewers’ desires for instant gratification and curation, in the early days there wasn’t a lot of attractive content available.

The transformation of these video streaming platforms into today’s mainstream culture was built on the backs of content owners who were willing to take the risk and explore new avenues. As streaming platforms gained more traction with viewers and carved a larger slice of the video content market share, the platforms matured into more powerful entities.

With this new-found power, streaming platforms gained the ability to attract more content owners and fund the creation of their own content. It also allowed them to implement stricter, less favorable revenue sharing agreements with content owners.

These “take it or leave it” ultimatums—which didn’t happen during YouTube’s first decade—have created one of the first labor issues in the digital age. YouTube and Twitch streamers, who could be viewed as employees of YouTube and Twitch, have recently started to encounter rocky times. Streamers who rely on YouTube and Twitch for their full-time income face the risk of being swept up in algorithmic or business changes.

For example, YouTube’s ongoing ad pulling controversy (due to certain videos being labeled inappropriate) has hurt content owners. The most famous case was when PewDiePie —a YouTuber with over 55 million subscribers—saw a significant decrease in his ad revenue because of YouTube's  stricter advertising standards ( due to significant pressure from advertisers). While this case may be of one of the most famous examples of a YouTuber feeling the pinch, it isn’t the first or last. Just ask Philip DeFranco.

It’s important to reiterate that content owners always have the power because of their content. Video streaming platforms rely on content to attract viewers, and in turn, viewers create revenue by watching ads.

While video platforms provide a huge audience from the sheer amount of traffic on the sites, content owners have the massive responsibility of building, maintaining, and monetizing their audiences.

With a dizzying 1.3 billion people using YouTube, it’s easy to overlook any alternative routes. But the power and responsibility to keep subscribers, content, and revenue potential ultimately lies with you, the content owner.

When you take full ownership of the entire process, you are able to insulate yourself from any algorithmic or business model risks that are inherent with video streaming platforms.

The crux of the streaming platform issue is, “Who owns the audience?”

As the content owner, you also own the audience, whether you’re a traditional entertainment company or a “YouTube First” creator. Content owners that build loyal followings—not only on their streaming platforms, but across all social media platforms and even their own websites—provide valuable and monetizable entertainment for their audience.

Ultimately you have the power to build new revenue opportunities independent of YouTube and Twitch—revenue opportunities that are 100% yours using transaction and subscription business models. You should still use advertising and sponsorship models wherever you’re streaming your content. Streaming platforms like YouTube can evolve to be a key fan outpost that supports building audiences and redirects them to higher revenue opportunity distribution platforms.

In order to move beyond relying solely on video streaming platforms, organization is paramount. Organizing into labor unions or other organizations is great, but it’s equally important for content owners to organize around the content and ideas that drive audiences to their content in the first place. Fans aren’t interested in revenue disputes with YouTube and Twitch. Content owners who solely organize around labor disputes won’t build on their audience's interests.

Being independent means taking full control of your livelihood. You have the opportunity to partner with like-minded independent content producers for the benefit of your subscribers. For example, think about how ad networks are organized based on interests and demographics. This could be an organizing principle for independent content producers and talent (e.g. JASH, Funny or Die). What form this takes is ultimately up to you.

The power will always lie with the content creators and owners. Corporate giants don’t necessarily have the power to dominate how your content is distributed and monetized. Just think of the stark differences between how the music industry operated 20-30 years ago, versus how it operates today.

While mass audience platforms like YouTube and Twitch are user-friendly, fans will always seek out the content they value and enjoy. Today’s content owners have the opportunity to build and nurture audiences across a variety of platforms that minimize risks while increasing their revenue upside. The variety of video money making models (ad-supported, subscription, transaction, donation, sponsorship) offers a path to independence and power. The time is now for creators and owners to strategize, prepare, and stay ahead of the game.

Ready to take ownership of your audience and revenue? Request a demo to see how Zype can help you build new revenue opportunities independent of YouTube.

Content Owners: You Have The Power, Time To Seize It

In recent years, the digital video industry has experienced a boom like never before.

Today, a third of all online activity is spent watching videos. The sheer number of content consumers has triggered an influx of video creators looking to take advantage of the spike in traffic. Content creators from all types of industries have started to look towards video as the next frontier in the search for exposure, audience development, and creative expression.

It’s become standard for podcasters to simultaneously release audio and video versions of their podcast to appeal to a broader audience. Video Podcasting is a powerful tool that can help grow your fan base and allow you to create consistent, engaging content.

If you have been podcasting for a while, chances are that you’ve mulled over the idea of adding a video component to your podcast. If you’ve felt any hesitations about breaking into the world of video content, don’t fret - you’re not alone.

Refining your goals and setting metrics for success is often one of the most overlooked steps for video podcasting, let alone for all digital media endeavors, but this stage is pivotal for a successful video podcast.

Begin by asking yourself: why do you want to start video podcasting?

At a superficial level, many new video podcasters want to take advantage of the new sources of traffic. However, there’s going to be a fair share of competition fighting for exposure. There has to be something that sets you apart, whether that be your content, creation style, or marketing strategy.

If you are posting your videos to YouTube without actively promoting them, engaging your audiences, and using audience feedback to adjust your video strategy, then your video channel will merely become a repository for your content.

Those who venture into video podcasting often find that it can become incredibly rewarding, but also very time-consuming. This is why it’s important to create key performance indicators (KPIs), and SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-based) goals. This will help you to justify the process and see if there is a return on your investment of time, money, and efforts.

 Know Thyself, Thy Subjects, Thy Audience 

Before committing to video podcasting, it’s important to understand the expectations you are setting for yourself, and devise a plan on how to meet them. Video podcasting can take a lot of work and often require multiple videos a week. Without an adequate process to film, edit, upload, and market your content—you’ll end up spending your days slogging along and struggling to keep up with your goals. Your best bet is to equip yourself with software that can help streamline and automate some of the processes so you can focus on creating content. Additionally, a huge part of any sort of content creation is a ruthless refinement of what your main subjects of discussion are.

It’s important to understand and constantly benchmark whether your content is staying on track with user expectations. For example, if your podcast is primarily branded as a marketing advice podcast for entrepreneurs and you’re creating cooking videos, you’ll start to chip away at the cohesiveness of your brand.

It is key to understand what your audience likes and dislikes in terms of topics and execution. This can be done by gathering feedback from the people who are watching your videos, as well as looking at video analytics to understand what sort of patterns arise from minor tweaks to your videos.

You can also look at your audio podcast analytics to get a better idea of who the audience is and who the video should target. The next step is to create an event schedule to keep your audience interested.

There’s a lot to establish before the actual filming of a podcast. You must understand your audience and establish a general theme for your content. Also, make sure you have the means to produce content on a frequent basis.

Curious to see what’s next? Stay tuned for part two of How to Start a Video Podcast.

Do you think that Zype can help you start video podcasting? Request a demo today!

How to Start a Video Podcast: Part 1

We recently hosted a webinar to walk through our platform and showcase our easy video import process, extensive library management tools, content curation features, multiple monetization methods, push button distribution and robust analytics dashboard. The webinar was presented by the fabulous duo of Erin Kennedy, Senior Director of Sales, and Steven Tripsas, Live Streaming Engineer.

The webinar addressed how time-consuming and expensive it is to go OTT and how Zype, as a video distribution platform, helps this process by enabling customers to:

Analyze and optimize across all devices and platforms with a really great analytics dashboard

Zype is an end-to-end video platform and focused on the blue highlighted functions below:

When you log in to the Zype dashboard, you’ll notice the three major options. These really embody the notion of importing from anywhere, curating a video library, and distributing anywhere.

After clicking “Add Videos”, you’ll see that you can import from a number of sources: YouTube, Vimeo, MRSS, Kaltura, your own hard drive, and more.

In the webinar, we showed you how to import using an MRSS feed.

You have the option to add a title, category, category values, auto add videos, auto activate videos, and auto sync videos. Once that content is uploaded, it will then live within the library.

Another import function lives within the web browser. You have the option to upload content directly to the platform. You also have the option to edit the transcoding settings directly within the platform.

Once your content is uploaded, you can add a title, URL, description, publish date and enable date. An enable date is when you want your content to be viewable, which is especially helpful if you want your content to be available after the date you publish. Kind of like postdating a check. You can also add metadata, thumbnails, subtitles, edit your content rules, add segments and create embed links.

 Content Curation for Intuitive Consumption 

Once you have your videos uploaded in the Zype platform, it’s important to curate your content. One major way to do so is by creating playlists. This is super helpful if you have seasons, different series or just any bundle of videos that you think viewers should watch together.

You can also use the Zype-specific Dynamic Playlist feature that auto-populates playlists by assigned category values. You can also sort manually, by alphabetical order, publish date or created date.

Within existing playlists, you can see that you can tag categories, set content rules and specific monetization methods. You can also create specific embed links, and edit the player.

You will also want to curate the consumption structure by working with nested playlists.

We totally get how important curation is, so we designed these killer playlist features so you can deliver your content whatever way you choose to!

After everything is uploaded and curated, the next step is setting up monetization. For the webinar, we focused on subscriptions, but it’s important to realize you can also make money using ad tags or via individual transactions. It really depends on the size of your audience, their preferences, and your content schedule.

You have the ability to link up with your Stripe or Braintree accounts, choose a currency and an amount for your subscription. Going into subscription settings, you can also add in all of the extras, like a logo, background color and a contact email. This plan can carry over to all of your videos, or just specific videos.

The same settings apply to pass plans and purchase & rental. Talk about convenience!

So now let’s create an app. We weren’t exaggerating when we said you can build an app with the push of a button. Zype allows you to build an app practically anywhere, but for the webinar, we built one on Amazon Fire TV.

After filling out the basics like title and description, you need to wisely pick your primary playlist, because that’s going to be at the top of your consumption tree.

Then you work on the theme, upload all of your desired images, choose your monetization method, pick your features, and voila! You’re ready to submit. The best thing about this code is that it’s going to be published under your name.

You’ll see that Kin Community, on AFTV, has a very airy aesthetic. They utilize Zype playlists, different metadata categories for easy navigation.

HavocTV is on iOS. They use Zype for both, VOD and Live Streaming. You can favorite specific videos, and can search through the content.

TMZ on Roku actually sets everything from an outside platform. Everything feeds in hourly into the set playlists. You’ll see that TMZ opted for the complete opposite theme as Kin, and is dark with bold lettering. When you go into a specific playlist, you also have the option to hover and play.

The Rebel operates fully on web. When you try to a video, a Zype paywall will pop up and allow the viewer to enter card information before watching the desired content.

Watch it now! Easy, Automated Video Platform for OTT: Zype Webinar and Demo.

Really enjoy the Zype webinar and want to learn more?

Easy, Automated Video Platform for OTT: Zype Webinar and Demo

Zype is keepin it fresh! Check out the latest updates to our platform:

Now you can assign category values to videos imported via MRSS feeds from directly within the Zype platform. This new feature comes in handy in situations where you may not be able to modify the source MRSS feed, but want still want to organize your imported content into category playlists. Zype supports both self-served category value media elements assigned in the MRSS feed as well as category values assigned in the new workflow.

Once your imported videos have category values assigned to them, you can quickly create powerful category playlists to automate your content curation. If you’re big on MRSS imports, category playlists, and curation, this new feature is incredibly valuable.

We are always working to make everything more efficient. Along these lines, we just added consumer emails to the player request logs so you can easily see which unique users have generated a player request. Clicking on the email address will let you view that consumer’s details page and access their full range of analytics.

Consumer Browser and Operation System Analytics

Now Zype users can view detailed reporting around consumer operating systems and browsers in the analytics dashboard. This is super useful to better understand the types of devices being used to view your content.

We have also improved the Geography and Device summary analytics reports. Now, the data is provided in a rolled up summary table, so it is easier than ever to make meaningful observations about where your content is being watched, and how it is being accessed.

What's New At Zype- March 2017

Free Ad Supported Streaming: Tap Into the Massive Audience Behind the Free TV Movement

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YouTube's New Monetization Rules: What Does It Mean for Creators?

Want to Expand Your Reach? Get Your Video on Social Media

Content Owners: You Have The Power, Time To Seize It

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