It’s your video business. You know what’s best for growth, you know exactly what your audience wants — and you know how to set goals and attain them. You do this by maintaining a level of control that firmly puts your business’s fate in your own hands, because leaving it up to anyone else would be a mistake, right?

Then why would it be okay to let someone else handle when your video business gets paid?

It wouldn’t. You need to have control of your money, how much you’re earning, and the flow of it. That money is yours .

You should be able to access and deposit the money you earn from your content whenever you see fit, but that isn’t the case when you sign up for a revshare agreement.

Companies like VHX write the earnings check for you , AFTER they take their cut. You have to wait for them to give you your money, minus their take. If that feels wrong, imagine how it feels when they change the payment schedule without asking you (as VHX did last week) and because of their broad legal terms it falls right under what you already signed — they don’t have to get you to agree to anything new or give them permission to do it.

And because VHX pays out on the 30th of the month for the previous month’s earnings, you could be forced to wait up to 2 months to receive payment for content transactions:

Just to be clear, according to this recent (above) email, if a new subscriber signs up on November 1, VHX sellers won’t get that money until December 30. Then, the renewal for that subscription would occur on December 1, 2016, meaning the seller will get paid on January 30, 2017.

That’s not fair. That’s like dealing with eBay for your video content. Do you really want to play that low margin game?

What if you have certain deals in place, like licensing for content that relies on a rigid payment schedule, and you’ve been making these deals based on when your revshare overlords originally decided to pay you? What happens when they change when they pay you, without asking? You’re stuck having to explain to your partners that you need to change when they get their money, because you don’t control yours. Having that kind of uncertainty would make it very difficult to truly deliver on promises you set when making deals.

During a revshare agreement you are never in control of your own money, down to when it shows up in your bank. Those in actual control take what they want, when they want it, and give you the scraps when they feel like it.

Do you think you should get paid the moment your customer pays for your content? We do.

At Zype, it’s video monetization on your terms. You bring your own payment provider and get all of your hard earned money the moment it’s earned. We never, ever touch it, and we certainly don’t take a cut. Everything goes straight into your payment processor and is linked to your bank account for a cash sweep at any time.

Simple. Fair. Powerful. And all in the name of growing your video business the right way.

The Payment Schedule Problem

No, not like… not like that. Of course you have eyes (and hopefully you’re using your own to read this), but you also need eyes on your content , because exposure is key to growing and sustaining a successful video business! Every content owner wants to go viral and everyone producing content wants to rapidly reach as many people as possible and create a huge number of fans along the way.

However, many businesses confuse distribution with discovery. Yes, simply putting your content on an OTT platform like Netflix, Roku, Apple TV etc. gives your content a home with existing traffic and increases chances of discovery, but should that be enough?

That’s why we’ve introduced embed code sharing. On top of social media, videos can now also be shared onto blogs, Reddit, websites, PowerPoint, etc., in four simple steps. No tech expertise required. Seriously. If you know how to copy and paste text, you’re good to go!

Click the “Player Settings” tab. Under Social, you can manage your player sharing settings. Enable sharing by toggling “Player Sharing Enabled” to "ON" and click "Save Change" at the bottom of the page. This will allow your viewers to easily share your video on Facebook and Twitter.

To allow viewers access to your iframe embed codes, toggle “ Player embed code sharing enabled” to “ON” and click save changes at the bottom of the page (image above). Anyone can now copy this code (below) on any enabled video and paste it their website, blog, PowerPoint deck and more!

Player sharing is a prerequisite to embed code sharing and must first be enabled per Step 2. Without player sharing enabled, the iframe code will not even show.

For assistance, you can always click the blue “Support” button at the bottom right.

The tech side of it now over and done! We’ve given your video business the tools to blow up your views — now it is up to you to share and promote your content. All you need to do is copy the embed code and paste it anywhere that uses HTML. Put your videos up on blogs, community posts, comments etc. with themes and topics relating to yours and watch your video organically gain traction.

Distribution is merely the first step in creating your business empire. Discovery is essential to grow and sustain that empire. Luckily, Zype is here to help you every step along the way. With the new sharable embed codes, there is no excuse for all your friends and fans not to rave about your videos on their blogs!

Sign up for a Zype account here to make your video business viral!

Embed Code Sharing: With Zype, You Can Now Go Viral — Faster

Leading SaaS Video Distribution Provider Takes the Complexity Out of Live Streaming and Monetization For Video Businesses

New York, New York – Zype, the cloud video distribution service for OTT, announced today the launch of Zype Live, a high quality, scalable, and user friendly live streaming service for video business owners that makes it easy to sell video to consumers whenever they want, however they want, and on any device. Zype Live is an end-to-end solution for live video broadcast, 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.

“Zype Live enables live video broadcasters to distribute live video on any device, all while having complete ownership of their audience relationship, charging whatever and however they want, and without having to worry about the heavy lifting of infrastructure management and custom development,” said Ed Laczynski, Founder and CEO of Zype. “With this software as a service solution, our enterprise customers are enabling authentic creator to consumer live video relationships, in the style of Periscope, without ceding their audience or revenue streams to aggregators.”

What Zype Customers Have to Say About Zype Live

*Texan Live Streamlines Live Sports Broadcasting Video Business with Zype*

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.

“Other live streaming providers are only doing live video, leaving broadcasters to figure out all other pieces of the video business puzzle on their own,” stated Eric Winston and Bert Brocker, owners of Texanlive.com. “Zype has integrated live video, VOD, monetization and analytics into one manageable platform, and that simplicity has been essential as we ramp up this year from eight high school football teams to 42 teams. We will be running 12 concurrent live streams for a highly passionate fan base while introducing a subscription option for the first time. Zype has equipped us with a fully comprehensive and cost-effective system that will give us seamless command on game nights and throughout the year.”

*Havoc TV Delivers Live and On-Demand OTT Video with Zype*

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.

"Although Havoc.tv is an established brand, we are approaching the rapidly evolving OTT landscape as a start-up," said Ryan Meinzer, Linear and OTT Platforms Coordinator at Havoc.tv. "For our OTT rollout strategy we sought the most streamlined options for partnership. Zype Live offered a fully integrated value chain to roll out our Livestream Product globally across multiple endpoints from soup to nuts."

Announcing Zype Live, an All-in-One Solution for Live Streaming

Complete platform for live streaming: Zype Live is part of the Zype video distribution platform for OTT, a complete end-to-end solution for video streaming, distribution, monetization, and analytics.

Broadcast : Zype Live allows customers to stream live events and live linear channels within minutes, enable DVR for instant playback, and seamlessly convert to VOD after airing.  An unlimited number of simultaneous streams are supported.

Transcoding : Zype Live’s live cloud-based transcoding creates a multi-bitrate adaptive stream from a single input source, which means viewers are delivered the highest QoE (quality of experience) on their device of choice.  Customers can also bring their own transcoding from onsite or cloud-based services.

Monetization : Zype Live facilitates monetization through one-time purchases, redemption, subscription plans, advertising networks, and free time-limited previews.

Distribution : Customers can deliver the same live stream, at the same time, to every screen — web, Apple TV, Roku and more — using only Zype Live — with no other service or tool required.  In addition to OTT devices, customers can embed video on the web anywhere with a full paywall included.

Multicasting : Zype Live seamlessly enables multicasting, making it easy to send streams to multiple simultaneous other live providers like Facebook Live, YouTube, Twitch and more.

Discovery : Zype Live makes it easy to push content to social media like Facebook, Twitter, and more.

To get started with Zype Live, visit http://www.zype.com/zype-live to learn more.

Zype is the cloud video distribution service for OTT that makes it easy for content owners to connect directly with their audiences on every screen. With Zype, enterprise content owners and brands can own and accelerate all aspects of their video distribution pipeline. Zype provides push button app publishing, monetization, streaming, audience management, and analytics that is integrated into hundreds of OTT apps and engaged by millions of viewers every month. Launched in 2014 and headquartered in New York with offices in Los Angeles, Zype is the 2015 SXSW Accelerator winner in the entertainment and content technology category.

Zype Introduces Easy Live Streaming for OTT

We enjoy live video everywhere - at home, on our commutes, in school, and at work. As consumers, we have the ability to broadcast from practically anywhere for free with tools like Periscope. Facebook Live and major sports like MLB and the Olympics have shown us a glimpse of the power of this medium for content owners.

However, most professional content owners without the budget of the MLB have had to make a tough choice to maintain the integrity of their brands and get fair value for their content. N avigate the Byzantine maze of standards, suppliers, infrastructure, software, and developers and build from scratch or give up precious audience relationships and control of their revenue streams to aggregators. We built Zype Live to provide the easiest way for our customers to live stream to any device.

After our customers streamed millions of live streaming minutes over the past year with a private version of this service, we found our customers favored simplicity. So we made selling live video easy with options for purchase, subscription, and advertising without having to do development or custom integrations. We take care of all the complexity of storage, transcoding, auto-archiving, player management, and analytics so that our customers don't have to.

Working with our customers, we found that they love the ability to work with a single dashboard to manage all of their video and distribution endpoints. Our embeddable video widgets, APIs, and SDKs from one single platform make it easy to distribute a live stream anywhere. You can even simulcast to other services like Facebook Live!

Our customers also told us that they want choice, and they want to work with an open platform. Since we started Zype, we've put content owner's choice of video player, device, import source, content delivery network, and more at the center of our value proposition. With Zype Live, content owners can choose how they want to make money from live streams, how they transcode and deliver, and where they distribute to.

There is so much opportunity to connect directly to audiences with live streaming, and we want to encourage any content owner who has been frustrated by the difficulty of live streaming to take a look at Zype Live, learn more about our cloud video distribution service , and request a demo.

Why We Built Zype Live

There’s a reason why we as humans all still congregate around the TV for the big game or obsessively check our devices when breaking news hits. The need to be part of something that is happening, exactly when it is happening, is a natural part of the human experience.

For that reason, we believe live streaming is the future of human communication.

Zype is in the business of building cloud video distribution software for businesses that want to communicate to their audiences. While live streaming looks easy for big sports leagues like Major League Baseball and broadcast networks like NBC, it is a Byzantine mess today for anyone without the largest wallet. And sure, you can sign on to Periscope and stream your breakfast, or call your sweetheart on FaceTime, but for most serious content owners, that isn’t going to be a viable strategy to drive revenue and reach.

Despite the complexity, there is so much opportunity today and in the future to connect directly to audiences with live streaming.

So for everyone else that is running mission critical video businesses, there are hurdles that must be cleared before live streaming becomes a seamless experience for content creators that have a direct relationship with their audience, including control of how and when they make money from that live stream.

There’s a long list of failed live stream events. Take these notable live stream failures for instance: the 2016 Grammys, Kanye’s live performance on Tidal, the unveiling of the iPhone 6, March Madness, and other notable events.

AMV Digital Media, the company behind both the failed Tidal livestream and the 2016 Grammys, pointed fingers elsewhere than the technology itself. Eric Duke , the President of AMV Digital Media said :

"With Tidal, the decision to go forward was not made until very late on the process, and it did not allow for proper testing of the signal path. Basically, the more advanced notice that a client can give, the more testing and preparation can be put into place for a client to assure a better stream."

Time for testing is indeed very important — but you also need a platform that can centralize the tools and dynamically handle all these issues during delivery.

Today's live streaming supply chain for content owners

I have seen through firsthand experience that distributing a quality live stream introduces a large amount of complexity vs. “regular old video on demand.”

Below, I’ve outlined just a few of the considerations that require too much forethought, expertise, custom development and integration today.

Production Systems and Camera Integration

Every live stream starts with a camera. Plug it into your video production system of choice — whether TriCaster, Wirecast, or any other encoder you might think of using. Should the equipment be faulty, no one will even get the chance to complain that your live stream cut out, because it never started in the first place.

Live streams need to be delivered by a reliable CDN that offers multiple quality settings. If your CDN is not able to deliver up to 1080p/60fps quality video, you can run into lag, buffering, or entire loss of stream.

This is where a lot of headaches emerge. If you don’t have multi-bitrate adaptive streams, your users will see major loss of quality and artifacting if you can’t handle delivering different streams based on their internet connection. If you don’t have loads of bandwidth available and a local transcoder, you have to cobble together cloud transcoding solutions and integrate them yourself.

You need a platform that manages bitrates and renditions. The player does continuous speed checks and will pull back the best quality chunk. Internet connection processes the quality instantaneous frame changes. Without that, viewers will experience buffering, distortions and latency (issues with video resolution).

Putting all of these technical issues aside — you need to be able to make money from your stream. That means all of this custom development and integration of a video distribution pipeline into commodity video players, plus dealing with e-commerce bits, PCI compliance, subscription and rental management all the way through to the consumer experience.

All of these potential hurdles beg the question: Is live streaming worth it? Well, yes. Despite the complexity, there is so much opportunity today and in the future to connect directly to audiences with live streaming. The bandwidth available to consumers is essentially unlimited, the tools are emerging in the cloud to solve these hurdles, and there is an amazing array of consumer streaming devices — from mobile phones to set-top streaming boxes like Amazon Fire TV, Roku, and Apple TV. Smart content creators and owners are building their live streaming strategies now to prepare for these opportunities.

Why do you think live streaming is hard (or easy)?

Why Is Live Video So Hard?

In a world drowning in OTT devices, there has to be a few that rise to the top. This is the last installment of a four part series putting a spotlight on the Big 3 OTT Platforms to keep your eye on. If you haven’t, make sure you go back and catch up on Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3!

Just Released! OTT and Beyond — The Ultimate Guide for Your OTT Service is the perfect asset to guide you through the process of launching and scaling your on-demand or live video business into an OTT service. Get it now.

Rounding out the Big 3 is Amazon Fire TV, which has definitely earned a spot on the list for a slew of impressive reasons, from consumer price to quick quality assurance times. Amazon also has all kinds of other perks bundled in with the platform too, so let’s take a look at the rundown of why you should keep your finger on AFTV’s pulse.

AFTV is actually the least expensive of the Big 3 OTT devices. Brand new, it sells for $99.99, targeting audiences who value affordability. The Amazon Fire Stick is an even more affordable option, for $39.99.

Also, techies and existing Amazon junkies flock to the device.

Additionally, Amazon offers a gaming version of the device for just a little more scratch. This version includes an actual gaming controller, so you aren’t limited to the regular remote.

Just like Roku and the Apple TV, users can easily search for channels in the search bar, in addition to using voice search programmed into the remote. AFTV’s search function also supports deep linking, so finding what you need to find within apps instead of just the apps themselves is a welcomed tool. Plus, there’s also a searchable weblink for your channel.

One downside of the platform, though, is that there isn’t really a bustling discovery feature or great way to promote channels. Roku takes the prize in that category.

Amazon Fire TV isn’t as versatile as the other OTT devices when it comes to monetization. If your content is on AFTV, you can only monetize through SVOD and AVOD.

According to the Amazon Fire TV product page, the AFTV has 4,000 channels, apps, and games including access to over 250,000 TV episodes and movies on Netflix, HBO GO, Hulu, and more. Those are the kinds of numbers that grab the attention of potential customers, so adding your own channel to that growing list will net a whole lot of new potential eyes on your content. AFTV also grants access to Amazon Originals and Amazon Prime Video, which you can’t access with Apple TV (however, you can on Roku through the Amazon Video App).

Additionally, because it’s the only device of the Big 3 that sells a separate gaming version, it attracts the gaming community.

When it comes to quality assurance, Amazon Fire TV is super speedy. However, when it comes to support, Amazon Fire TV isn’t super helpful when content providers are facing down a problem, which is something you’ll definitely need to consider.

Though AFTV doesn’t have an extensive discovery feature or support all monetization methods, the easy searching, affordable cost, and the speedy QA process make up for it.

On top of that, Amazon has been making quality hardware for a few years now, and is always refining the technology and processes. As they grow (and invest tons of money into original programming), you’ll want to be right there growing with them.

If you want to be where you audience is, chances are they’re using one of these major platforms to devour content.Each platform definitely has its own strengths and weaknesses, but Roku, Apple TV and AFTV are the crème de la crème of OTT platforms. In fact, it’s probably the smartest decision to put your content on all three platforms because most viewers only have one of the three devices, so in order to truly maximize reach, your content should be on all three devices.

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Embed Code Sharing: With Zype, You Can Now Go Viral — Faster

Zype Introduces Easy Live Streaming for OTT

Why We Built Zype Live

Why Is Live Video So Hard?

Here’s What You Need to Know about the Big 3 OTT Platforms: Amazon Fire TV

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