Ruminating about the current project: So once upon a time. Like many people upload their cool videos on YouTube, and it was all fine and innocent until some of them decided that they are cool enough to make some money off that. And they like started creating channels, adding more videos about their various activities like cooking or gaming or other stuff, gaining scores of viewers. And they were like "Let's place some ads on those videos and make some cool AdSense profit." And they did, and most of them probably except Psy were disappointed because those profits turned out to be not as lucrative as most of them thought. Like a guy who uploaded videos of him fishing made a hundred dollars during three years of fishing and videotaping the process. So it was decided that ads suck, plus they are annoying and distract the audience from the real stuff.
And people started thinking how else they could fill their pockets with crispy banknotes, cashing on their ability to create fascinating video footages of what comprises the parts of their daily lives they are most passionate about. Like there were different other options. For example, you can sell your own stuff; you shoot a cool video of you cooking cakes. And at the end, you kinda wave in the air some freshly baked cake and say something like: "And for those who are interested, our catering service provides like, our cakes for various weddings and other important milestones of your life. That can be well emphasized and made unforgettable by our freshly baked and delicious cakes." Stuff like that. This is the first option that seems like plausible. Another option was to find some sponsors. Like you have a YouTube channel, that's pretty cool and has a lot of viewers like Smosh, and you kinda already have a studio and stuff, and you do cool montages, and overall you spend most of your time working on those videos. Like, you've already quit your day job, and now you are kinda in a bind because despite the huge audience YouTube ad revenues account almost to nothing. So you think about sponsors, and you come to some guys who sell, say, some tee shirts, and you are like: "You know, I hugely like those tee shirts of yours. I actually wear them now and then, and I have like this YouTube channel with a bunch of subscribers. And what if I add some message in my videos about your tee shirts, and you kinda give me some money for that, how does it sound to you?" So, yes, this is the second viable option for YouTubers with sizable audience and influence.
What comes next is relatively new. We are used to the fact that we watch most of the content on the Internet for free. Especially content generated by random people, it's kind of logical; why would I pay for anything like that. But this eventually comes down to a traditional model of content creators trying to generate revenues from ads. Which actually works bad for everybody and doesn't really make much sense. Viewers are compelled to watch some ads not in any way related to the original content, and content creators don't make much off those ads anyway. Marketers and brands don't benefit from this situation either because according to recent researches ads don't really work.
So we come down to reconsidering the whole concept of free Internet content, and there are several trends at how this monetization roadblock can be bypassed. One of the relatively new principles in this area is based on a centuries-old tradition of like rich people becoming patrons of impoverished creators of art, music, literature, and stuff. This concept was tested on the platforms like Patreon, and it turned out, that, although it still isn't something that allows every creative unemployed loafer make a living pursuing like, their passions and stuff, the idea actually works. At least it works much more efficiently than those context ads, AdSense, and similar stuff. The concept of patronage is closely linked to a concept of donations. I was thinking how the stream of possible donations is hindered by the banal inconveniences of conducting online payments. Like, it takes only one subtle move and click to like or upvote something, and much more moves and clicks to make a donation. And this situation kinda hints at certain possibilities. For example, on Steemit the very process of liking is somewhat monetized. When you like something, you automatically transfer some minuscule amount of your funds to the creator you've liked. Since there is no option to like anything for free, you either like something giving a small donation to the author or don't like anything at all. The latter also not a good option for those who create something themselves and might expect some attention and reciprocity. After all, when you like something you attract attention to yourself, and it'll be more likely that your posts will be liked in return, and you'll gain more followers. With this monetization twist, this whole process gives the creators, who have already reached certain popularity, an opportunity to start earning some money.
So the essence of the project in question, the way I understand it, is that it combines those two approaches of content monetization, that of Patreon and Steemit. The startup is planning to work with video content, and allows creators to use both schemes: They can seek patronage and earn money, creating patrons-only content, plus they can earn through likes-donations. In this sense, the platform is going to be very similar to the Steemit token economy. Several doubts and questions that immediately arise are related to the fact that the project is apparently going to compete with Patreon, which is already well-established and also can host videos. And at the same time, it's going to compete with YouTube that also recently added a possibility for viewers to make donations to the artists they like. Still, maybe, the project will take advantage of the convenience of token economy, in which when you transfer money, it doesn't really feel like you transfer money, or I dunno. The project doesn't have in its plans many things to speak of, a couple of technical details like CDN network with quality ratings for CDN nodes (Although, YouTube apparently uses CDN too, so it's not like a huge advantage)
