From a kid to an adult, you know that very few of us have used any Youtube alternatives in our life on a daily basis. For some, Youtube is a mode of entertainment, where they can watch the latest music releases or other video clips while for others it is a source to gain information. But it is also a source of income for many of them.
To be a content creator on youtube, you need to upload video content regularly to start generating income from it. You can monetize your youtube videos with sponsored advertisements also. You can earn with youtube but making huge money and gaining popularity is tough.
Any small or large business over time has used youtube for their products/services. But if you think that youtube is not gaining you the required attention then you can even switch to other video monetization platforms available. There are many other youtube alike platforms available out there that can cover all your needs.
As the hype of video content is increasing, so are the platforms to host those video content increases. Vimeo, Patreon, IGTV, and Facebook are some of the platforms that can be considered youtube alternatives.
Current Video monetization Models
There are various monetization models available out there. But it’s very crucial to select the best one suitable for you can your audience in order to reach maximum people and increase your revenue. A Monetization model provides a backbone for your video content to reach your target audience. Let’s have a look at the available video monetization models.
VOD or video-on-demand
VOD is a video-on-demand service through which you can access videos from a large library of videos anytime anywhere on any device you like. Unlike the traditional content distribution systems which were to be watched over TV or in theatres only, VOD gives you the liberty to watch content on your own time. You can have access to a variety of content through video-on-demand services.
Video Rentals
Video Rentals are such a type of video distribution service where the user gets access to the video contents through a platform by paying a small fee for a stipulated time period. Basically, the user rents video content for some time at a flat rate.
Transactional Video-on-Demand (TVoD) or Lifetime access
TVoD means Transactional Video-on-Demand. Here users are charged per view and hence, this service is also known as pay per view service. Basically, it’s the opposite of Subscription Video-on-Demand where users are charged on the basis of subscription.
In Transactional Video-on-Demand service users are charged as per the video or video package they watch rather than the entire catalog. GooglePlay and iTunes are good examples of TVoD.
Subscription Video-on-Demand (SVoD)
SVoD is a Subscription Video-on-Demand service that allows users to access a community of video services anytime they want from any device for a particular duration of time at a fee. This subscription is flexible and can be discontinued or renewed anytime the user wants.
Once the user has subscribed, they can watch as many videos as they want until the given period with internet access. Examples of SVOD are Netflix, amazon prime, etc.
Selling merchandise
One more model to monetize your video content is through selling merchandise on your video. This would result in gaining the attention of your audience and therefore resulting in more reach for your video. Here, you would gain revenue by the number of products merchandised on your content.
Live Streaming
Apart from the pre-recorded videos, Live streaming is a great way to earn through your content. You can stream a live video and deliver your content live. This would help you in connecting with your audience well and also meet their requirements and improve your content.
Selling information products
Another great way to earn through your content is by selling information products. Information products are simple digital products that provide the information required by people. People use the internet to search for information regarding a lot of products and therefore selling information can be a good option to start monetizing your videos.
Online Courses and other tutorial videos can be considered as information products.
Affiliate marketing
Affiliate Marketing can be of good help to monetize your videos sometimes without giving any extra effort. It is just linking an affiliate link(link to a product/service which is traced back to you) to your videos. So every time a person uses that affiliate link you gain a little commission from the seller for driving traffic towards them.
What Are the Best YouTube Alternatives?
YouTube has a lot of features that a content creator might ever need to make and market their videos. But there are various other options available in the market which can be youtube alternatives. Patreon, Vimeo, and IGTV are some of the youtube alternatives.
1. Patreon
If you are in search of business tools to monetize your video content apart from youtube then Patreon is the thing for you. Patreon is an American platform that provides content creators and artists business tools which can help them get paid for their content.
Additionally, It lets you provide rewards and other benefits to your subscribers resulting in a monthly income for you.
History:
Patreon was launched in May 2013. And within 18 months 125,000 “patrons” signed up. Patreon then quickly become famous among people who were actually willing to pay to watch quality content. Then in the year 2017, Patreon released a suite of tools for creators to run a membership business.
User:
You can notably call Patreon a youtube alternative as a lot of patrons are youtube videographers as well. Apart from them, some musicians, writers, podcasters, and other artists use Patreon. Patreon provides immense support to all of these regular content creators.
Pricing:
Patreon provides three subscription plans on the basis of commission. 5,8,12% commission is charged for lite, pro, and premium subscriptions respectively by Patreon from creators monthly.
Benefits:
In Patreon, users can support their favorite content creators by donating a monthly amount to them. Plus, Patreon accepts PayPal and credit cards which makes payment easy. Patreon is the best platform for content fans to connect with their favorite content creators and support them financially.
2. Facebook
You might have never thought of Facebook as a video-sharing platform or as one of the youtube alternatives. But it can be a great youtube alternative so let’s have a look into Facebook from that perspective.
Facebook is an American social networking service located in California and is one of the big five U.S. information technology industries (along with Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Apple).
Facebook is a competition for youtube as it is a social media network that allows users to upload and share videos.
History:
Facebook was launched on 4th February 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg along with his fellow roommates. Facebook started with just a basic website back in time and then updated a lot over time making its place in the top 5 U.S. information technology.
Users:
Almost anyone above the age of 18 years can use Facebook. Facebook is a social networking site and therefore anyone can benefit from marketing on it. It’s not specific to any particular domain and therefore you’ll find people from every domain. Plus, monthly active Facebook users are almost 2.8 billion.
Pricing:
There is no Subscription fee for uploading and sharing content on youtube. You can reach your target audience based on the quality of your work.
Benefits:
Facebook provides a lot of support tools for your video content including tags, thumbnails, and meta description. Plus, it lets you upload HD videos without any downscaling and also supports live videos. Facebook is a social media platform whereas youtube is only for sharing video content.
Therefore, Facebook pages are viewed more than youtube or your dedicated web pages and blogs.
3. Uscreen
Uscreen is a video monetization platform based on a Video-on-Demand service. You can create your own customized content website for your subscribers at a flat monthly rate.
First, you’ll have to create an SEO-optimized website for your video content by yourself or even by using various ready-to-use themes. After that, you just need to set up a subscription plan for your subscribers which can even be provided free of cost depending on your choice.
History:
Uscreen was founded by PJ Taei in 2015 with the goal to make content creators successful from their content.
Users:
Uscreen is for creators who create content regularly focusing on their subscribers. It is mainly for premium content to receive a suitable response. You can customize your content website according to your needs. It’s very easy to create a website suitable for your content and your subscribers.
Pricing:
You can access Uscreen with its subscription plans billed annually. Basic is priced at $49/month, Amplify is priced at $399/month and Enterprise can be fully customized according to your needs. You can choose any of these subscription plans according to your needs.
Benefits:
Uscreen is a premium video monetization platform used to make money from video content. In a way, it helps you sell videos online without subjecting your viewers to ads. Requires zero coding skills to design your page and upload your content on it.
4. Twitch
Twitch is not only for video sharing but is also known for broadcasting numerous live music videos. It became popular mostly for its live-streaming feature as people started shifting to online streaming and live events.
Soon business owners and marketers shifted to live videos rather than pre-recorded videos as it increased their popularity. It mostly contains content for gamers and therefore is even called gamer heaven but also includes content for music, arts, and tv series.
Twitch is not a great choice for posting pre-recorded videos, as it’s mostly streaming.
History:
Twitch was first launched in 2007 as justin.tv by Justin kan and Emmett shear and was later renamed in 2011 as twitch.tv. A few years after that it was purchased by Amazon in 2014. It created its virtual currency called bits for users to donate to their favorite streamers in 2016.
Users:
Twitch has everything that a gamer wants from tournament game replays to live-streaming. In general, it is perfect if you are interested in creating content for esports and gaming, but you can also stream various talk shows and other similar formats of content.
Pricing:
Twitch provides three subscription plans from 4.99 USD to 24.99 USD. The subscription plans are tier 1 with a 4.99USD charge, tier 2 with a 9.99 USD charge, and tier 3 with a 24.99 USD charge.
Benefits:
Twitch is the best place for streaming live videos for a Communal feel. By watching others play on live streaming users can know more about a game. Furthermore, by joining a streamer’s online community users can meet like-minded people, and connect and play a game with them.
Twitch also provides a socializing service known as whispers to chat with others watching the same channel.
5. IGTV
Instagram is a social media platform and unlike other social media platforms, it provides a video streaming service known as an IGTV(known as Instagram TV).
It allows you to upload a lengthier video rather than Instagram’s usual short one-minute video format. Browsing on Instagram is easy as content is based on your Instagram usage.
You can access IGTV through Instagram or directly through its standalone app.
History:
IGTV was launched on June 20, 2018, by Instagram. Initially, when Instagram was launched, it allowed users to upload one-minute videos only. This limited users to diversify their content as they were time-bound. Therefore, IGTV was launched and allowed users to upload long videos with a vertical view only. With its latest updates, you can now access both horizontal and vertical videos.
Users:
IGTV is not specific to any one category. Anyone belonging to any field can use IGTV as one of the youtube alternatives. It would provide you with immense support as it is a social media platform and has a higher reach to people. Moreover, IGTV is preferred by artists, influencers, and other small businesses.
Pricing:
IGTV has no subscription plans and is available free for everyone. You just need to have an account with Instagram which is also free. You can reach a wider audience fast with its sponsored advertisement plans.
Benefits:
The main benefit of IGTV is that it’s free. IGTV has an easy-to-navigate UI and a large community of people from all corners of the world. It allows you to upload 15 minutes of content from a phone and 60 minutes of content from a desktop. You can reach a wider audience through IGTV by creating attractive and suitable content for your fans.
6. Vimeo
Vimeo is probably one of the best youtube alternatives available in the market. Like youtube it’s just another video content monetization platform but with improved qualities. The basic goal of Vimeo is quality over quantity. Vimeo lets you collaborate with clients, team members, and other collaborators to preview secured content.
History:
Vimeo was launched in November 2004 by Jake Lodwick and Zach Klein with the objective to share short videos with friends. They created the name Vimeo from the words video and me.
Users:
Vimeo is mainly used by professionals in the field of photography, cinematography, music, and others. There are fewer gaming content creators on Vimeo.
Pricing:
Talking about the subscription costs, Vimeo is a bit more expensive than youtube providing a quality product as well. Vimeo provides four subscription plans ranging from $7 to $75/ month which are billed annually.
Plus is charged at $7/month, Pro is charged at $20/month, Business is charged at $50/month, and Premium is charged at $75/month.
Benefits:
Vimeo has fewer visual distractions while streaming. The main benefit of Vimeo over youtube is that it allows you to upload high-quality videos. You can upload videos of the same quality which you have created without optimization.
Additionally, It provides a lot of customization with its video player and also provides excellent customer service.
7. Thinkific
Thinkific falls in the category of selling information products and can be considered as one of the youtube alternatives for education and learning. It is software that organizes all the content needed for an online course on behalf of you.
It is a platform that lets you create an online course from your knowledge and then deliver those courses to your audience with your own membership site. You can easily create your customized website with Thinkific’s available layouts by just the drag-and-drop method.
History:
Thinkific was developed by Greg Smith and Matt Smith to reach more students for their online courses. Soon their course surpassed their imagination and reached a lot of people.
Entrepreneurs, students, and other businesses reached them to ask how they could do the same. Therefore, Greg and Matt along with other co-founders set out to make the best platform for content creators to educate their potential clients.
Users:
Anyone who is an expert in any section and wishes to teach it to others can use Thinkific. Thinkific is flooded with people who are willing to learn something new every day.
It already contains courses about sports, art forms, entrepreneurship, and any other area you can think of.
Pricing:
Thinkific provides three pricing plans. The basic plan is priced at $39 USD/month, the Pro plan is priced at $ 79 USD/month and the Premium plan is priced at $399 USD/month. There are also plus plans available for companies and large volume customers.
Benefits:
Secure hosting and e-commerce solution are included in Thinkific plans. It also provides an easy drag and drops course builder to design your entire course. You have complete hold over your entire data and business and can deliver it to your audience under your own brand name.
Why YouTube Is not the Best Place to Monetize Your Videos
Youtube is viewed as the most simple and easy way for video monetization but it is not true. It is easy to access youtube but making money on it is a bit complicated. You need to cope with the latest trends, changing policies, increasing competition, and many other factors to stand out and start earning.
Videos must be ad-friendly
You can add advertisements to your videos by meeting the minimum requirements of youtube and generating revenue from it. But you need to optimize your content in a way suitable for the sponsors or advertisers. Youtube also provides guidelines on making your content ad-friendly.
To gain the attention of advertisers, your content should be suitable for everyone, and should not contain violence, sexual content, or promote drugs or any illegal activity.
Additionally, avoid using profanity in your content, or at least don’t use it in your title or thumbnails. Creating such ad-friendly content can sometimes be tedious and even distract your audience from your main topic.
Revenue share
Youtube works on the revenue sharing model where you are supposed to share a part of your revenue earned from sponsored ads on your videos. The advertisement on youtube is carried out through Google AdSense.
The revenue is split in the ratio of 45/55 where 45% of revenue is taken by Google and the rest 55% goes into your pocket. You can earn on youtube but it is difficult to generate an income from it.
Plus, a part of the revenue goes to another third party who can change their policies anytime. Therefore, it’s risky to be dependent on such a revenue-sharing platform.
Youtube is highly competitive
Youtube has creators from almost all fields rather it be gaming, music, cinematography, or even for kids. Everyone from across the globe uses youtube for gaining popularity from their video content. There are a lot more content creators like you already there on youtube.
You need to make your content unique and very attractive for your target audience to gain their attention quickly. You’ll have to apply various tips and tricks to gain popularity on youtube rather than focusing on your content creation. Therefore, this competition on youtube can slow down your progress as well.
Income effect due to policy change
The advertisements on youtube are controlled by google AdSense which means that Apart from youtube google can also have control over your data. A policy change in any of those might affect the reach of your content.
Recently youtube updated its policy in which every video on youtube will have to compulsory add an advertisement irrespective of the content creator’s choice. Too many advertisements can be distracting to your audience. Such policy changes can even result in the loss of your audience or affect your revenue.
Youtube Alternatives – Final summary
Since now you have gone through the entire article, hope you might find your choice of youtube alternatives from this article. No doubt Youtube is the best and most loved streaming platform for everyone over the globe. But that doesn’t mean that there is no other platform good enough for your video content.
Youtube has been crowded a lot now and it’s time for you to opt for some other platform available out there. There are lots of youtube alternatives available in the market for you to choose the one that best suits you. If you are a gamer then choose Twitch or else choose Thinkific if you want to sell your knowledge through online courses.
Choosing the best video hosting platform depends on your video content and your needs. If your goal is to monetize your videos choose a platform that allows you to either host advertisements or subscription plans. You need to keep in mind various other factors like policy change and revenue share while choosing the right platform.
Which of the above youtube alternatives do you like? Let me know in the comment section below.
More from Smashitbuck: To check out my other articles on the product lifecycle management tools, EDI integration software, and free OCR to read this year.
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