Subscription income can benefit any content creator, from small publishers to media conglomerates. To generate revenue, most major publishers, such as The Washington Post and The New York Times use paywalls. In this article, we are going to discuss what a paywall is and how your business might profit from it.
What is a paywall?
A paywall is a method of limiting access to online content through a paid subscription but in an article or video production asset. Utilized to gate premium content, it requires an exchange of money before it allows the content to be accessed. This may be a single payment to unlock a single asset, or a payment to enable access to a series or a catalog of content.
A website feature that requires value exchange to access subscribers’ content or experiences. Paywalls may be used to gate any kind of asset, which could range from research articles to live video content. Access to the content could be indefinite, but in most cases, it is only allowed for a limited period of time. Paywalls used in video assets can be found in the current video player which not only allows access but also involves the payment system.
A paywall is used for SVOD and TVOD monetization models in the video monetization industry. Subscription video on demand (SVOD) is an on-demand video (VOD) service, which pays a small monthly fee for users to access the whole video library. Examples of SVODs are HBO and Netflix. Transactional video-on-demand or TVOD services such as Google Play and iTunes, on the other hand, enable you to purchase pay-per-view content.
Why should you consider paywalls for your video production content?
The most apparent reward of using a paywall is one that is fundamental to publishing business models, and that is the continuous and regular source of income through access subscriptions. In order to monetize their websites, digital magazines, and newspapers also use paywalls. Paywall guarantees that readers cannot get complete access to the content of a website without paying a fee. And there is no reason why you can’t employ the same model to generate income from the video content you have worked so hard to produce.
Another benefit of paywalls is that it helps you secure your video business. They give you more control and authority over it and protect your revenue, content, and exposure from ads and algorithms, and even irritating changes in legislation.
Most people have used YouTube for their video content, but it is not the same creator-driven site anymore. It’s your sales and audience that you risk losing any time YouTube makes any changes. Instead of providing information or entertainment for free on YouTube, you can look for opportunities to generate additional income by producing your video content and charging through a paywall.
You can absolutely eliminate all the barriers to your earnings by building your own website, charging a subscription fee, and providing unique and quality video content to your audience.
About the author
The author of this enlightening post is Anthony Spiteri. He is Senior Global Technologist, vExpert, VCIX-NV and VCAP-DCV working in the Product Strategy team of Veeam. He is responsible for generating content, collecting product feedback, and in charge of hosting and presenting at events. At Pixel3 Video Productions, a team of experts can help you with creating quality video content. Based in Melbourne Australia, the company is among the best video production agencies that offer professional but affordable services.
