I'm starting building a Youtube alternative

submitted by Justin from self.whatever

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[–]AnarchySpeach 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Numbers have never been my strong suit, but I'm unsure if the math adds up long term.

$0.02 per each video view,

You're competing with services with big budget. Ease of access has to paramount. Netflix may cost money, but high quality TV Shows and Movies are worth more than the average Youtuber screaming into their microphone. Despite all the problems youtube has, one of it's best qualities is ease of access. You don't have to log on to view content. When voat.co made accounts mandatory they lost 60% of their users.

$0.02 may sound tiny, but one of the setbacks you're gonna have to deal with is paying your content creators less than youtube. You'll have to stay alive and you will need to ask an accountant or other professional about it. A youtuber going from $50 to $20 will choose your site if youtube has deleted their channel. If it's a choice between less more or no money, most people will continue what they're doing, but most people leaving youtube will also lost 50% of their audience by switching websites. That loss in money has to be accounted for. As it stands you will need a secondary method of generating revenue besides only views.

This all adds up to a nearly impossible task. I wish you the best of luck.

[–]Justin[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Are there niches on Youtube that pay in the $20+ range? I genuinely don't know. I've thought lately that this idea may serve better as a supplement to Youtube than a straight out competitor. Users who prefer an ad-free, non-Google experience and the ability to directly tip creators, and creators that prefer a more creatively free platform with the potential to pay a better rate, may see enough pros to justify using it. But with how early into building the website I am, this is the kind of feedback and questions I like getting because it can help me see angles I might otherwise not see.

[–]AnarchySpeach 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Are there niches on Youtube that pay in the $20+ range?

Not sure. I'm only concerned because it sounds like youtube red, but only youtube red. People paying money will expect higher quality content. Someone joining the site as a creator with little money won't be able to afford the flashy style expected. Your best bet is to reach out to youtubers with a decent following who are worried about the next banwave. I understand you're trying to do something similiar to thearmchairhistorian.com but for a large audience... but you need the backing of multiple youtubers who already have hundreds of thousands of subs to get off the ground.

Impossible? No. Just really difficult.