It’s been rough for a while over at Twitter:

Monthly active users has been flat for 6 quarters

Shares were down 66% before the NFL announcement (then climbed 2%)

User growth has increased for Snapchat (beating out Twitter with 150 million daily users, plus 10 BILLION daily video views) and Facebook (1.71 billion monthly active users) -- two companies that have seen a successful harness of online video

Twitter ( daily users) needed to start making bold moves to regain relevancy, so they shelled out around $10 million dollars to the NFL for 10 Thursday night games and beat out reportedly higher bids from Amazon, Yahoo! and Verizon. Facebook backed out because they couldn’t come to an agreement on ads (they reportedly wanted ALL OF THEM).

Twitter is all about engagement and breaking news. Being in the moment is Twitter’s bread and butter, and what better way to invest in that than live streaming sports? They can give the communal sports experience to more people, while getting users to use their social platform.

Showing the games from the NFL ON Twitter will compel users to USE Twitter while watching, because they’re already there anyway -- so why not tweet about it? It cannot get easier than that. Plus, this is a great way to possibly take back some of that market share lost to Facebook Live and Snapchat. NFL games were pulling in about 20+ million viewers per game last year, so having that many extra eyes and fingers on your social platform sounds like a resounding win. Yahoo! actually gave the NFL its first streaming-only shot in 2015 too, and had 15.2 million unique viewers and 33.6 million total views show up, INCLUDING a claim that 33% of the streams came from international users (the game was in London). Grabbing viewers that might not otherwise have access to games in the States is also a huge plus.

Diehard fans will always prefer to go to the stadium while others will prefer to physically be around friends and family for events, but having the option to still get a similar experience if you’re sick or just don’t feel like making an effort is entirely welcomed. Plus, without specifics as to how the streams are going to be displayed/offered on Twitter, we might even see people connecting devices to TVs and refuse to let a mobile experience be a solitary experience. Many computers have HDMI ports and Macs can make use of AirPlay mirroring, for example, and Chromecast can mirror Android devices as well as Chrome. We also know that Twitter is in talks to bring their app to Apple TV.

From the NFL’s perspective, this is also great. More people watching means more people talking, more excitement about the events, wider reach, and, of course, more eyes on advertising! Twitter is getting 15 advertising spots to sell commercials during each game under the deal (which might seem like a lot, but most broadcasts last for more than three hours -- and there’s only about 11 minutes of actual football action -- so the NFL isn’t giving up much… especially when Facebook wanted all the ad spots), which is a good way for them to make some money back from the investment and help prove that it was worth it from a monetary standpoint, not just a usage standpoint.

Granted, all of this is only good if there are no hiccups putting the NFL on Twitter , but the incentives for people to give it a shot are there! The whole thing is going to be free, without authentication (like having to sign in to your cable provider to prove you’re a paying cable subscriber), to “ the over 800 Million registered and non-registered users worldwide on the Twitter platform on mobile phones, tablets, PCs and connected TVs.“

So yes, it should prove to be a smart decision for Twitter to pay to help the NFL dip a bigger toe into streaming OTT live games! It’s a mutual understanding that cable-only broadcasts are only a piece of the puzzle nowadays, not the entire picture, and Twitter and the NFL have a great chance of winning out for those 10 games this coming season by taking a piece of that cord-cutting pie. Oh, and of course, Twitter users will win too.

According to the NYTimes, Twitter has a bunch of live streaming deals in addition to putting the NFL on Twitter. Wimbledon, CBS News, the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League and Pac-12 Networks, with ongoing talks with Major League Soccer and PGA. They’re gambling big on live video, so stay tuned to see if it works out in their favor.

Live Streaming NFL On Twitter — Is It A Good Business Move?

The FCC is making some major moves. At first, they were on track to requiring cable companies to offer their programming on devices other than their own — like other set-top boxes — so customers wouldn’t be beholden to the fees that come with renting boxes from the cable company itself.

Well, according to some fresh news from the end of last week, it sounds like that plan is changing in an unexpected way: the FCC is shifting from making it about hardware, and now making it about apps.

In the new change, cable companies would have to build and offer apps that are compatible with all major platforms — iOS, Android, Windows, and Roku. We also hear that native and web apps will be accepted.

If the FCC wants to give customers a little taste of freedom, we’re all for it. With smartphones, tablets, and gaming consoles also eligible for the app, we’ll see fewer and fewer people opting to get locked into renting boxes from the cable companies. But, this feels like a big step back from the true disintermediation of cable that the original January proposal represented.

We do like that programming will be easier to find, because the apps would have to adhere to universal searches. That means if you’re a creator and you haven’t managed to get your content onto classic TV, your content could still show up alongside video that has made it to wide broadcast. Someone searching for a specific program could also discover yours in the same search . Wonderful.

But like we said, there IS a downside: viewing the programming is limited to however the cable company wants you to view it. We’re not saying they would intentionally make their app suck in a bid to push customers back to their boxes, but it would be nice to have Apple, Google, Roku, etc. take a crack at curating cable content. Going that route might’ve led to some seriously innovative ways of displaying “what’s on” and mixing it with OTT offerings. Instead, we’re probably going to get more of the same from these companies, like we have so far, which is a bunch of lackluster user experience offerings meant to appease and not wow.

This also squeezes the little guy in terms of hardware and platforms. Cable companies would only have to make an app for a device/ecosystem if it has shipped more than 5 MILLION units.

The FCC plans on voting on this pretty quickly, too — on September 29. If Passed, it’ll be official within months, and cable companies would have to ship their new mandated apps within two years, and small companies get four. Either way, expect major companies to fight this the entire way, as Comcast has already said:

"While we appreciate that Chairman Wheeler has abandoned his discredited proposal to break apart cable and satellite services, his latest tortured approach is equally flawed. He claims that his new proposal builds on the marketplace success of apps, but in reality, it would stop the apps revolution dead in its tracks by imposing an overly complicated government licensing regime and heavy-handed regulation in a fast-moving technological space."

It might not be the prettiest solution, or a big enough one, but at least it’s baby steps in the right direction to overhaul a prison-like system that cable has built for years upon years. We would never expect big cable to accept change like this, at least until they figure out how to close off customers’ escape and grab all their wallets.

But it does seem like a nudge into the future, and Zype is all about that.

FCC Switches Gears From Cable Hardware To Apps

Making money on your creations is hard enough without throwing censorship into the mix.

You have to put in a lot of time crafting, being passionate, and finding an audience before you can even start to consider flipping the switch on monetization and earning what you deserve for all your efforts. This is business implication time, are you sure you’ve been following your platform’s content guidelines and positive that your hard work doesn’t offend their sensibilities and the sensibilities of potential advertisers?

YouTube has recently been hit hard with criticism over their advertiser-friendly content guidelines and de-monetization process, as both creators and fans alike cry foul over what they’re viewing as censorship. We even talked about it. It’s a great conversation to have, because it truly matters to those trying to create a video business using the YouTube service.

Don’t Abandon YouTube – Make It Work For You

We’re seeing lots and lots of anger on Twitter through the hashtag #YouTubePartyIsOver. It doesn’t have to be that way — it doesn’t have to be over. YouTube can be a very powerful tool for your video business, just in a different way than you might be thinking. You don’t have to monetize with them at all.

In fact, instead of having your livelihood depend on YouTube’s services, you can leverage the platform to create fans and followers, and then turn them into paying customers when you send them to your own branded video streaming destinations.

Zype can help you do this easily, in a smooth process that ingests all your content and metadata from YouTube (or anywhere else), and we let you monetize in any way you see fit. Your apps are your own: it’s your brand front and center. No YouTube logos anywhere, no YouTube content guidelines to follow and automatic algorithms that pull ads from your content without warning.

We outlined it like this for The Drum : YouTube is an amazing platform for discovery and fan engagement, but Zype allows creators to form direct connections to their fan base, including access to directly market to them and offer paid subscriptions and premium content purchases. Growing your business means having a direct conversations with your audience. Take the world of OTT devices for example - like Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV - platforms that are growing fast and offer great advertising opportunities with potentially higher CPMs. Just keep in mind that building OTT apps doesn't automatically mean your audience will know where to find you. You need a way to tell people about your OTT channels if you want them to show up!

The YouTube party doesn’t have to be over; you can just keep it going at the afterparty and make even more money .

How Zype Helps YouTubers Get Control and Make More Money

It’s true: there are guidelines almost anywhere you go. We’re not about to make you go it alone — we know the endpoints of Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV like the back of our hands. We’ve been dealing with them for ages, and can help you through the QA process quickly, helping you expand your reach to more people in different places.

We also allow you to monetize your content in any way you’d like : subscriptions, ads, or transactions. Mix them up, use only one, it’s up to you.

On top of this, we’re really proud of being purely agnostic when it comes to content. We will never strip you of your voice or what makes you special, because that’s what your fans love.

What’s even better is that this isn’t our first time to the rodeo, either. Here are some prolific YouTubers that have already joined forces with us, taking their video businesses to the next level while still maintaining their impressive YouTube presence:

This isn’t a binary decision — you don’t have to abandon YouTube altogether and you certainly don’t have to embrace their guidelines and shoehorn your content to fit. You have options.

Were you getting tired of sharing revenue with YouTube anyway? Tired of giving them bigger and bigger pieces of your hard earned pie while you watched your views and subs skyrocket? You can grow, but what YouTube offers you does not: their logo is still plastered all over your page and content, the tech can’t be customized to fit your unique needs, they choose when and how they pay you after taking their share, and they can yank monetization without warning — based on a soulless algorithm. Congratulations, you get to then go through an appeal process if you disagree with their robot’s decision.

We do things differently. All of the money your earn when using Zype is yours. No revsharing, no middlemen in sight. You bring your own payment processor, like Stripe or Braintree, and have access to your money whenever you want or need it. After we discuss your needs, you can expect a monthly fee and total transparency .

We’re also very, very nimble. We can grow and expand with your needs as your business reaches new levels. We have a crack team of engineers and code artisans who are constantly improving the Zype platform. Oh, and we don’t slap our logo on anything of yours — your brand is always front and center.

A rule of thumb we at Zype have observed is that YouTubers can expect to convert over two per cent of their YouTube subscribers to paying customers and build their own video business with a recurring revenue model. It doesn’t happen in a silo — great content, a passionate audience, and marketing are all required to make that happen— but it’s not crazy or groundbreaking even at this point to directly monetize an audience in a significant way.

You don’t need to leave YouTube behind, but it IS time to try something new, and make more money along the way.

Why You Don’t Need To Abandon YouTube To Make Money Off Your “Explicit” Content

YouTube is in hot water right now as a huge number of fans, creators, and aggregators shout from the rooftops that the new YouTube change is promoting censorship.

Before we get into anything specific, here’s the part making people livid:

This is essentially outlining when YouTube will strip advertising from videos using an algorithm that deems things “inappropriate.” Creators are seeing it as loss of money they can earn, and it certainly does seem that way. Their fans, in turn, are upset at the possibility that their favorite channels might disappear.

But here’s the thing: nothing has really changed.

YouTube’s "advertiser-friendly content guidelines" and policy on stripping ads from content has not changed at all. What has changed is how they alert users when they’re in breach of the policy. You can see it in the video manager now, instead of the analytics, and you can appeal it in a different way. Plus, it looks as though YouTube is just, well, using it more .

Here’s what a YouTube spokesperson told Buzzfeed :

“ While our policy of de-monetizing videos due to advertiser-friendly concerns hasn’t changed, we’ve recently improved the notification and appeal process to ensure better communication.”

The outcry is still warranted, though! We just don’t want the “change” itself to be misinterpreted -- YouTube’s de-monetization policy still deserves to be in the spotlight, and people are using the confusion as a platform to talk about their gripes with it.

What’s interesting is that we just wrote about this type of thing and how Zype handles it. Basically, we’re content agnostic even if your endpoints might not be, and we’ll help you navigate the labyrinth of content guidelines for places like Apple TV, Roku, and more if you decide to use Zype to distribute your OTT video content.

We’re glad this is being talked about, because while we understand that brands might not want to be associated with certain kinds of content through advertising, you should still have the opportunity to make money, or even a living, off whatever kind of video content you’d like to create. Whatever makes your fans happy, whatever gives you purpose.

How do you feel about YouTube’s de-monetization policies? Is it censorship to you, or just business?

YouTube’s De-Monetization Policy Called Into Question Over Cries Of “Censorship”

You have choices when it comes to video distribution, and the more you grow, the more you should be able to exercise them — it’s your business, so you should always be in control.

Revsharing just doesn’t make sense past a certain point in your growth, and guess what? That point happens much sooner than you’d think.

Revenue sharing is a pretty enticing little model when you’re first starting out — a company is going to handle some of the harder processes you might not understand or have the technology to execute, and for that service you agree to pay them a part of what you’re earning from your audience or ad sales.

No. Not if you’re growing, and it makes way less sense than it did when you were just starting out. You’ll soon be wishing you had passed on revshares from the beginning. That regret can come quickly, too — we’re talking while you still have less than a thousand subscribers.

You see, as you get larger, as you get more and more paying fans and subscribers, that percent of revenue that you’re giving up represents more and more dollars, and your revshare partner gets more and more money even though they aren’t doing additional work or providing incremental value. It’s one thing to handle higher traffic, but the technology itself doesn’t change with you. You’re not getting something that’s more robust or something that’s evolving as you do. So why should they get more and more money for providing the same service?

Plus, companies like VHX are then in control of your money. That subscription fee your customer pays every month? Yeah, it goes directly to VHX, and they only pay you after they’ve taken their cut, and only then do they pay you on their own schedule . Seriously, that can be damaging to your video business, especially when the company can change their payment dates as they see fit, without needing your permission. You could be waiting up to two months for a payment (below).

Doesn’t it feel wrong to be getting your money after someone has already had their hands on it?

At Zype , that sounds like insanity to us. It always has. So we handle our cloud video distribution service for OTT in a very unique way. We saw a need for an alternative to the backward revshare services of the past — because your money is your money and you should get every cent you earn.

With Zype, you pay a monthly fee to use our platform. We don’t “share” (read: take) your hard-earned revenue and pay you the remainder when we feel like it.

You need to worry about content, deals, and monetization decisions that will help your business succeed in every way you’ve dreamed. We’d rather help than get in your way — so with Zype you bring your own payment provider, like Stripe or Braintree. Everything you earn goes straight into your payment processor and is linked to your bank account for a cash sweep whenever you want or need it. We don’t touch your money. Repeat: We do not touch your money!

Doesn’t that just feel right? It certainly feels right to us. Revsharing may feel like a safe way to dip your toe in the water, but it’s outdated and unnecessary and ends up being a bad deal in the long run.

Zype wants you to have all the control. Your success is our success, and nobody knows your business better than you do.

Don't miss the accompanying piece to this, The Payment Schedule Problem.

The Revshare Problem

Easy live video streaming for OTT, automated live to VOD, Zype Live customers in the wild and more

August has been an exciting month — Zype now supports live, linear and VOD streaming from within our platform!

Zype Live is an end-to-end solution for live video broadcasting, management, distribution, and monetization that takes the complexity out of live streaming and helps video business owners provide their audience with an incredible live viewing experience. 

Let’s dive into the specific features that make Zype Live powerful!

Automatic Live to VOD Archive — Your content shouldn’t only be available while you’re on air. After you’re done streaming, Zype Live gives you the option to seamlessly trim and archive your live content as VOD, so it’s always available for you and your viewers.

Adaptive Bitrate Streaming — Zype Live has transcoding features built in that make delivering fast, high-quality live streams powerful yet simple. Say goodbye to buffering: Zype Live supports adaptive bitrate streaming with multiple quality settings available up to 1080p/60fps.

In order to optimize the viewer experience, there is a live DVR function built into the dashboard so viewers can rewind and pause streams.

Multiple Streams — With Zype Live, you can manage multiple streams at the same time. For instance, you could broadcast a unique stream for multiple concurrent events happening in different locations. With Zype Live, you have the option of 24/7 linear streams or events with specified start and end times.

Your Content, Any Screen — Deliver the same live stream, at the same time, to every screen for seamless, simultaneous streaming. Your live stream can reach web and OTT endpoints with no other service or tool required.

Embed Codes — For social sharing and the most accessible content, embed codes are automatically generated for any live event. These embed codes can be placed anywhere.

Multiple Monetization Methods — Zype Live supports the same monetization methods as VOD content. Set up a subscription video network, sell individual live streams as transactions, or offer ad-supported live content.

Live events can be configured to allow for multiple purchase options, including a free preview period, allowing your consumers to subscribe or purchase individual events.

Havoc.tv, the only exclusive multi-platform network dedicated to action sports and independent music, is carried by nearly every cable TV provider in the United States and operates a 24/7 interactive and social TV channel. Havoc.tv embraced Zype Live to launch a free and premium OTT service that will be available this fall for subscription and will include Havoc.tv’s videos, movies, and 24/7 TV live channel.

Texan Live is the home for live and on-demand Houston high school sports. Texan Live chose Zype Live because they wanted a single solution for live event monetization that brought all parts of the supply chain — transcoding, live and VOD streaming, monetization, distribution, management — together as a single solution provider.

Texan Live offers a $4.95 monthly plan and a $9.95 all-season football plan. Texan Live runs multiple simultaneous live streams and typically broadcasts dozens of games every weekend.

With Zype Live, you can manage your entire live streaming video business through a single-pane-of-glass dashboard. VOD and live streams are managed through the same platform, which makes for a very simple workflow and configuration process.

Learn how you can go live in minutes with Zype Live or request a Zype Live Demo.

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Live Streaming NFL On Twitter — Is It A Good Business Move?

FCC Switches Gears From Cable Hardware To Apps

Why You Don’t Need To Abandon YouTube To Make Money Off Your “Explicit” Content

YouTube’s De-Monetization Policy Called Into Question Over Cries Of “Censorship”

The Revshare Problem

What's New at Zype - August 2016

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