I am curious if direct revenue shares are a sustainable model.
E.g., I pay some money -- $10/month. I can choose to pay more. A fraction of that is divided evenly amongst all the videos I've watched. Creators get a check at the end of the month.
This wouldn't rake in billions of advertiser money. But I think it would sustain a very decent business, and be better for society in general.
This does need to be voluntary: I need to be able to choose to not pay and not watch (or watch with ads, as an alternative). And you need to be very transparent about the rules from the get-go, as well as about how those rules get changed, and apply those rules equally, lest you sacrifice the trust of both your viewers and creators.
I can't blame people for not giving money and personal information (signing up to Premium requires creating a Google account and provide true personal information for billing purposes) to a hostile company that makes its money on stalking users.
You can mitigate the privacy impact of ads with countermeasures such as ad-blockers or provide fake personal information if asked.
You can't easily do so with paid services because you need to provide real information for the payment to be processed. This requires mutual trust on both sides of the transaction.
Of course. I'm entitled to block ads and I'm entitled to watch things that are offered for free without paying. If you want to be paid for something, don't give it away for free.
Look at the comments under "YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki Gets 'Freedom Expression' Award Sponsored by YouTube"[1]. And this is on Hacker News, probably one of the more Google-friendly communities you'll find online.
This is how you kill a vibrant community of creators.
E.g., I pay some money -- $10/month. I can choose to pay more. A fraction of that is divided evenly amongst all the videos I've watched. Creators get a check at the end of the month.
This wouldn't rake in billions of advertiser money. But I think it would sustain a very decent business, and be better for society in general.
This does need to be voluntary: I need to be able to choose to not pay and not watch (or watch with ads, as an alternative). And you need to be very transparent about the rules from the get-go, as well as about how those rules get changed, and apply those rules equally, lest you sacrifice the trust of both your viewers and creators.