Making Money from Internet Video and the T-Cast Network

So as promised, we will detail in this blog how to make money with internet video and the T-Cast Network. To make a real go at producing content for the multiplatform face a producer must understand that revenue streams are small but diverse, and the best way to build financial stability is to take advantage of as many distribution strategies as possible. What are these strategies? What does Multiplatform mean? Don't worry we'll lay everything out for you.



Multiplatform Content


Multiplatform content is any content that is created to be distributed over a variety of networks and devices. A video that is made for Television, cellphones, the internet, iTunes store, and podcasting, to name a few, would be considered Multiplatform. What's important in the idea of multiplatform content is not where or how it will be seen, but whether or not the content is suitable for diverse formats. Large landscape scenes might not play well on a 2 inch screen, while a story without character and plot development may seem empty on 52 inch television. Also you must keep in mind that at present there are many restrictions in terms of video file length, compression and bandwidth. All of these are very important considerations for media of this type.


So how can you monetize multiplatform content? Well that is a far reaching question, but basically the more devices your content is syndicated to, the more money you will make. The major markets today for short-form content are as follows:


Cellphone/Mobile
Mobile content never really achieved much traction in the North American market. There are many reasons for this, but perhaps the most obvious one is related to the billing structure of mobile phone carriers in Canada and the US. In Europe and Asia, where cellphone use has outpaced internet penetration, mobile content has flourished into international successes. We will provide everything you need to know about cellphone content aggregators in future postings, including who you should speak to and where you will make the most money.


Short-form Television Channels
There are a number of television channels attempting to bridge the divide between internet and traditional television. These companies are facing more challenges than they imagined, but are desperate for suitable content. In a future posting we will critique the programming and business strategies of these television channels.


Pay-per-download and Subscription Services
Pay-per-download and subscription services have proven successful in the past but face a major hurdle related to e-commerce, people are simply hesitant to pay for entertainment. The model has proved to be extremely viable for well known productions, including Desperate Housewives and the Ricky Gervis Audio Podcast, were interest in the show is so high that to not charge a fee would make it almost impossible to continue to distribute the content.


iTunes is the big imbracer of pay-per-download and subscription model. Besides the iTunes store, many adult content producers are charging subscription fee to access content via iTunes syndication. There has been rumours for quite a while that iTunes will open its marketplace to independent content producers on a revenue sharing basis, but has not instituted such a program at this time.


Advertising Supported Content Distribution
For an independent production looking to get noticed, advertising supported distribution is the first step toward making money and this is where the T-Cast Network Channels come in.

There are ways of inserting advertising in to your show. You could sell your own advertising, the going rate is $0.05 per-download which was first achieved with great short term success by Rocketboom in 2006. With close to a million downloads a week, the show suddenly had revenues of over $100 000 per month. But selling advertising space is difficult and leads to many problems including self-censorship and audience reaction to overt advertising campaigns.


Another option is to use a video sharing service that supports revenue-sharing like http://www.revver.com/ and http://www.atomfilms.com/ . We will examine these and other programs in another posting, but it deserves to be mentioned that these two services currently offer the best opportunity for independent content revenue generation. No doubt it is only a matter of time before all video sharing sites offer similar revenue sharing programs.


Both Revver and Atomfilms auto-insert context sensitive advertising into your content and offer syndication tools required by the T-Cast Network Channels. Revver generate revenue on a click through bases meaning your viewer needs to click the ad before you get paid. AtomFilms pays on a per view bases as one of the ways they provide revenue to producers.



AtomFilms is a unique case that deserves its own posting, but we have done some tests of Revver that reveal the potential of its model. Click though advertising from Revver generates a decent sum per click, but averaged out over the all your downloads or views, you should not expect to make much more than $0.025 per download. Remember this is a "revenue sharing" service where Revver takes 50% of your revenues in exchange for hosting and syndicating your content before providing you with the rest. This is in line with market forces and the $0.05 per download benchmark. We will provide details of all the services Revver offers in another posting, but for the ease of signing up Revver is your best bet to make money from the T-Cast Network Channel marketing strategy.


Start Making Money by T-Casting

Quite simple if you have fiction based and character driven videos or series, upload them to Revver or AtomFilms then notify us of the link, if we like the show we will post it and start sending viewers your way. If your show has already been found and added to the T-Cast Network, but is being syndicated via YouTube, upload to Revver, inform us of the link and we will switch your show's source to Revver.


Check back to this blog on a regular bases to learn more about how to generate revenue with your content.