Do you remember ‘Charlie bit my finger’? Charlie’s family certainly does: they made £120,000 in YouTube earnings. Yet, this remains an exception; unless they go incredibly viral, YouTube videos aren’t a reliable source of income.
However, it doesn’t mean you can’t monetize your digital content online. Yet you may want to look elsewhere than Google and turn to smaller companies. Several of them are experimenting business models that go well beyond the traditional CPM approach for online ad impressions, resulting in interesting returns for authors and publishers.
To get you started, here’s a list of lesser-known platforms that let you distribute your own media content – and make money from it:
Offer videos with Pivotshare
Launched in December, Pivotshare is a platform that lets publishers offer monthly subscriptions or pay-per-view access to their audio and video content. While it’s currently web-based, apps for iOS, Android and smart TV platforms are also in the plans.
Instead of charging monthly or sign-up fees, Pivotshare takes a commission. As for publishers, how much they receive depends on how popular their content is, relative to other videos on Pivotshare’s platform.
The startup insists that its model is much better adapted to monetizing “valuable content” than fully ad-supported options à la YouTube, where the impression threshold to start earning money is quite high. However, Pivotshare runs advertising, and users can designate free content that viewers can watch before they sign up.
Another interesting point is that you don’t need to be the producer of every single video you offer to your subscribers. You can start a channel and invite other people to contribute, which could make Pivotshare a nice tool to monetize video curation.
Publish tablet-optimized content with Onswipe
TechStars’ alumnus Onswipe wants to shape the future of publishing. The free platform, which is now self-serve, has ambitions to make blogs and websites easy and beautiful to browse on a tablet.
For publishers, this isn’t only about improving their readers’ experience without creating an app; they can also earn extra revenue, as Onswipe’sterms of service detail that the startup will pay publishers a share of its net advertising revenue.
What makes a difference here is the way Onswipe approaches advertising. Rather than AdWords, banner ads and other standard formats, it delivers full-page custom ads. This helps brands increase their campaigns’ value, and ultimately, publishers’ revenues.
➤ Onswipe
Create an app with Apps Builder
As we previously reported, the Italian DIY app platform Apps Builder has introduced a new pricing and design this week. Thanks to these changes, creating an app is even easier than before.
It doesn’t take any technical knowledge to use the platform, which means anyone can create a mobile app to monetize their content, either by selling it or by inserting ads. While the free version is limited to HTML5 apps, the other options are still pretty affordable, starting from $19 per month.
Other platforms, such as Cashew and Bizness Apps, offer similar services, though Apps Builder may be more appealing to beginners. Its WordPress plugin, for instance, makes it very easy to convert a blog into a native app.
Distribute your books with 24symbols
We once described the Spanish startup 24symbols as “a Spotify for books.” In practical terms, the platform lets you “read ebooks on the Internet, with your friends and based on a subscription model.”
While 24symbols’ freemium model means that users can read ad-supported books online for free, its iPad app should serve as an incentive for its premium offer, which includes offline, ad-free reading.
If you are an author rather than a simple reader, you can offer e-books on 24symbols on a non-exclusive basis, with the option to limit the availability to premium users only. If you’re a publisher, you may also be interested in knowing that 24symbols has recently white-labeled its offer, which means that anyone can know launch their own e-book library.
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