Monetize Your Content: AVOD, SVOD, TVOD

Table of Contents

• Why (not) use YouTube?
• But there are other video monetization models
• Time to Monetize!
• In Summary

Having trouble monetizing through YouTube? You’re not alone. Over 90% of YouTubers trying to monetize are not making any significant amount of money – certainly not enough to make a living.

But that’s not the only option. In fact, there are better options than YouTube to make money. How? That’s the question, isn’t it?

Why (not) use YouTube?

Before we delve into other video monetization models, let’s explore why YouTube is not the best option out there. Certainly, there are PLENTY of YouTube users out there that want to watch videos, so there is likely users that want content you have to offer. But what are the drawbacks?

• There is a TON of competition
• YouTube can change your profit limits
• Monetization is based on views or clicks

Which in essence means that you are at the mercy of YouTube, and how much money you can make. YouTube can even remove your stream of income overnight if they choose to. Scary, huh? It certainly is.

But there are other video monetization models…

There are three monetization models out there that you can use (if you have the right tech backing you). All of these models revolve around VoD streaming (Video on Demand). Let’s explore these video monetization models:

AVOD monetization model (Advertising Video on Demand)

An example of avod business model is YouTube – You want to watch a video, and an advertisement pops up before you watch that video. Often, you can skip the advertisement after a bit of time. A viewer can either see (impressions) or interact (click) with your advertisement, and you get paid. But, you most likely have to have a big following in order to cash in.

SVOD monetization model (Subscription Video on Demand)

An example – Netflix. The subscription model pays you a recurring subscription for each subscriber, either monthly or annually. That means for a single price, your subscribers can watch all the content they want. It’s a straightforward, simple model, and the standard. You will be looking closely at churn rate, which is the annual percentage rate at which customers stop subscribing to a service. You want to keep your customers fully engaged, so they don’t leave. That means a good UX (to find videos) and a solid content library (so there is a great selection of content to choose from).

TVOD monetization model (Transactional Video On Demand)

When subscribers use a pay-per-view (PPV) service – like purchasing a big boxing match from FoxSports, for instance – you’re looking at the TVOD model. Your subscribers only pay for what they want. If the content is varied, this is a great model to employ, since it is unlikely that a subscriber will want all your content, just the specific bits that are interesting to them. You won’t get them as monthly subscribers.

Time to Monetize!

Build your own VoD streaming platform

So, is there a better way to monetize videos beyond YouTube? Yes. You build your own platform. Setplex is one such platform – easy to setup and monetize.

• You make the pricing and it doesn’t change
• You keep control of your content
• You can adjust your strategy as you go
• You can reach any device anywhere in the world

What is the best video monetization strategy for your own OTT business?

Choose a subscription model

We suggest SVOD – it scales well. You can make passive monthly income if your content library is solid enough. You can (and should) continue adding content to your library, making it more valuable for subscribers and potential subscribers alike.

Be everywhere – build your OTT app

Everywhere? Yes! The biggest hurdle for monetization is making it EASY for subscribers to watch content – and that means making sure your content can be viewed from anywhere, on any device. This is called an OTT app. Without going into an in-depth explanation, let me tell you what it does – it makes certain that your subscribers can watch where they want to, including their TV. Setplex has a complete list of devices (below) that makes streaming easy anywhere.

In Summary…

• There are video monetization models beyond YouTube.
• Choosing the right model for monetization is critical.
• Building a stand-alone system like Setplex makes things easy and powerful. 

There is, of course, nothing wrong with monetizing on YouTube as well as building your own platform. But be aware of the pitfalls that YouTube might create.