news

Upstream: The Wide Wide World of Online Video Platforms

Published on November 13, 2007

Just when you thought the web didn't need any other video sites...think again. There are new platforms cropping up almost daily, and they are all trying to entice content-producers with promises of revenue, new audiences and high-resolution video. For this month's edition of Upstream, we got the lowdown on the latest contenders.

Brightcove: Ready for Ad Revenues?

Brightcove provides a multimedia content-management system for corporations, but you can use it to.

Brightcove is a for-profit company focused on pairing content with advertisements. They work primarily with corporations like Dow Jones and DuPont, providing multimedia content-management systems that enable these companies to stream video on their own sites.

Independent filmmakers can also get in on the action by posting content for free to Brightcove.tv and then embedding the Brightcove media player on your site or blog. Once you average over one thousand clicks across all your content monthly, you are eligible to have text ads matched with your content (you have no say in which advertisers get paired with your videos), and Brightcove will share fifty percent of the revenue with you. You can also set up digital downloads (including rentals) and get seventy percent of the revenue.

The catch seems to be that you can only earn advertising or other revenue if people watch your content on your site or an "affiliate" site. Even if your video is clicked one hundred thousand times on Brightcove.tv, you won't see a penny. So the only way to make serious cash is if you already have a built-in audience for your work and are able to draw traffic to your own site. If your primary goal is to reach folks interested in social media content, posting to Brightcove.tv won't get you too far. Videos featured in their "The Buzz" section include Nascar highlights and "uncensored" Britney Spears clips. Content categories include "Celebs" and "Mature" while "Politics" and "Documentaries" are notably absent.

DivX Stage6: When Low-Res Streaming is Out of the Question

DivX Stage6 is focused on the viewer experience with an emphasis on video quality. Using DivX encoding software, Independent filmmakers can post High-Definition content to the Stage6 site and reach over ten and a half million unique users a month.

If you've found yourself frustrated by the streaming quality on sites like YouTube, Stage6 might be just the platform you're looking for. You can upload high-resolution video and be confident that it will still look good once it's downloaded fron their site. DivX also certifies a variety of DVD players and mobile devices so that content can be viewed on the go or on a flat screen television.

While there are not currently any revenue-earning tools in place, the site does seem to be a good place to build audience and community around your content. They've got all the bells and whistles associated with Web 2.0 social-networking sites--member profiles, commenting, tags, forums and even "Karma" ratings, "a gauge of how actively and positively you participate in the Stage6 community," according to the site.

While content on the site varies widely in terms of quality and content, there are a fair share of socially-relevant videos and "Documentary" is one of the fourteen most popular tags. Individuals and organizations can host their own channels. Here at Arts Engine, we created a channel to promote the Media That Matters Film Festival and our latest feature-length doc, Election Day.

Film Fresh: A Strong Curatorial Voice

Film Fresh is an online destination to rent, download and buy feature-length films from around the world. Unlike everything goes platforms where it can be hard to find the good stuff amidst millions of videos, Film Fresh focuses on curation and on sales. Their films are the kinds of titles you would expect to see at a festival or at your local art house cinema and are organized by geographic regions, including Europe, Oceania and North America.

"Documentary" is one of the fourteen most popular tags on DivX Stage6.

Much like a traditional distributor, titles are offered for purchase at home video rates. Most films are available to rent digitally for under five dollars, download digitally for under thirteen dollars and purchase on DVD for under twenty dollars. They also have a film club, in which, for about twenty dollars a month, you get one DVD a month, hand-picked by the folks at Film Fresh.

Film Fresh is not a site where you can become a member, upload your content and start streaming. They work primarily with other distributors like HBO and ThinkFilm to provide digital distribution. However, they are interested in working with independent filmmakers and will soon be launching a "Discovery" section that will feature undistributed and self-distributed films. According to Rick Bolton at Film Fresh, they won't charge independent filmmakers to present their films on the site, and they'll offer fifty percent of the revenue and ask for non-exclusive rights for two years. He encourages filmmakers to submit their work for consideration.

Jaman and Dovetail: In Beta and Growing

Two more sites to consider when putting your work online are Jaman and Dovetail. Both provide high-resolution content that can be viewed through their customized players.

Jaman focuses on world and independent cinema and allows users to download entire feature-length films in HD resolution, via the Jaman Network, which works like BitTorrent (instead of downloading video from one server to your computer, bits of video come from hundreds of different computers). Much of their videos can be digitally rented for up to seven days, and while the site is still in Beta, many titles are available for free. Independent filmmakers can upload films to stream online for free or as high-resolution downloads that they can choose to give away or sell. This seems to be a good place to promote your work if you're looking to reach world cinema audiences from across the globe.

Like Brightcove, Jaman and DivX Stage6, Dovetail offers its own player that promises to deliver high-resolution content to stream or download. Dovetail is focused on promoting video by independent filmmakers and there don't seem to be any advertisers in sight. It's too early to say what Dovetail can offer by way of revenue stream or audience-building, but you should keep them on your radar.

YouTube: Low-Res Streaming for the Masses

Yes, the streaming quality on YouTube leaves much to be desired. And yes, your film about supporting local organic farming may stream alongside an ad for Pizza Hut. But YouTube is still the place to build an audience for your video online. With hundreds of millions of videos viewed every day, according to YouTube's Jennifer Nielsen, not streaming a trailer for your film on the site would be a sorely missed opportunity.

A Pizza Hut ad displays alongside VideoNation's Watch Your (Fo)odometer on YouTube.

But what about the money? While sites like Revver and some of the platforms discussed above offer filmmakers fifty percent of ad revenues, YouTube is far from sharing the wealth. But the good news is that this is changing. Last May, they announced they would be handpicking about thirty of the most successful channels on the site for ad-sharing and promotion along the lines of what they do with their corporate content partners. The buzz online is that revenue-sharing will eventually be made accessible to the much broader world of YouTube content uploaders. When and how much remains to be seen.

What is clear is that YouTube is showing a real commitment to social-justice and political content, from the CNN/YouTube debates to their nonprofit initiative, which offers free branded channels to qualified organizations like YouthNoise.

Ultimately, the best way to find a home for your work online is to visit these sites and see if they already have audiences for similarly-themed content. You should also decide how strongly you feel about preserving video resolution and making money. Luckily, none of these platforms ask for exclusive rights to your film, so if you can't choose between them, you don't have to. Happy uploading!