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Vessel will launch early next year
The soon-to-launch Vessel web video streaming platform is hoping to challenge YouTube by stealing away its stars... at least for a little while.
Vessel, which is the brainchild of former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar, pledges to offer exclusive early access to clips from some of the most popular video producers on the web.
Subscribers who pay for a $2.99 (around £1.92) a month when it launches next year be able to view the videos first, with higher royalty rates being passed onto the content creators as a result.
According to Kilar video creators will earn $50 (around £30) for every thousand views during the early access period.
After that the videos will be available to non-subscribers through an ad-supported site. Content owners will continue to get a cut that revenue and, at that point, will be free to upload their content to other services like YouTube
Founder and CEO Kilar explained: “Vessel provides early access to the web’s best short-form videos through a low-priced subscription service. These videos are presented in a beautiful, curated experience dedicated to creators, the stories they tell, and the fans who follow them.
“Early access on Vessel will be offered for only $2.99 a month, a low price made possible by incorporating a modest amount of advertising. For those not as interested in early access, we also have a free, ad-supported version of the service, where videos become available after their early access period.
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In a blog post Kilar says video maker will make up to 20x the rates they get from YouTube and claims to have already snared some of the biggest names on the web.
“Today, we are officially opening the Vessel service to creators from around the world,” he added. “We are referring to this as Vessel’s Creator Preview. Each day, there will be more and more creators loading their videos onto Vessel in preparation for our upcoming consumer launch. We will work with creators to ensure that their videos, shows and channels look amazing.”
Do you think Vessel has a legitimate shot of challenging the Google-powered YouTube behemoth? Let us know your thoughts below.