More than 1,300 people reading CNet voted that Apple will be taking on YouTube. But take this with a grain of salt. I’m not sure I see Apple in the UGC video hosting and sharing space, and the other options of this poll were somewhat implausible.
Frankly I just hope Apple puts more effort into AppleTV, which allows me to watch YouTube favorites and buy films and television episodes with such ease I continue to pay $2 for countless episodes.
Maybe you should try something similar to the AppleTV (or Amazon video on demand) model Nalts. Instead of trying to sell your DVDs, you could make high definition versions of your videos available to download for cheap (maybe something like 5¢ to 50¢ each).
I think that might generate more revenue (that’s not saying much though) than the DVDs for several reasons:
First, buyers can choose exactly which videos they want and download just one or your entire collection.
Second, consumers can keep up with new content instead of being stuck with a few old videos.
Third, the ROI should be higher since you wouldn’t have to worry about buying, burning, and shipping DVDs.
Finally, it’s more appealing psychologically to pay out small sums of money periodically than one big payment.
Of course there would still be some of the same problems, perhaps the most important being that people don’t usually buy what they can get for free (which means it would probably be a good idea to include exclusive content).
It may very well be stupid idea, but maybe not. I thought I’d share it with you anyway.
“CAN YOU MONETIZE THAT?”
If they attempt to do something similar to YouTube, it will be a music service. I was actually thinking about this yesterday – if they did something like the partner program with a subscription-based music model, I have a feeling they would be a huge success.
But a full-on YouTube competitor? No way. Maybe music videos, maybe shows but not a UGC/YouTube-style system. Apple iTunes could, however, be the equivalent to an MTV at some point. I would almost venture to say they’ve been on that path a while and are more like MTV than MTV has been for a while…
Where in the hell is Sukatra? I know she’s back online! Come on Sukatra… this blog needs your help. The new people on here need to be schooled about how to comment on these posts.