Patreon's Building Native Video Hosting For Creators To Sidestep YouTube (theverge.com) 64
Patreon is building a video hosting solution and native player. The Verge reports: CEO Jack Conte confirmed the project to The Verge, alongside news that he is joining many executives before him in launching a podcast called The Creator Economy. "We already host podcasts, and now we're starting to host video, as well," he says. "We're building a video product ... So in terms of how we've approached our strategy, and what exactly it is that we're building, we're building the horizontal architecture for any creator, no matter their medium, or no matter the upload format, to be able to build a business around their work."
Conte didn't share more details on the product, but it's presumably a way for creators to host and share video without leaving the platform. It's still unclear when it might launch or how broadly it would be deployed. We've reached out to a spokesperson for additional context and will update if we hear back. Still, Conte's acknowledgment of the goal and progress on allowing creators to natively host their videos on Patreon could allow more people to avoid YouTube, or at least not rely on it so heavily.
Conte didn't share more details on the product, but it's presumably a way for creators to host and share video without leaving the platform. It's still unclear when it might launch or how broadly it would be deployed. We've reached out to a spokesperson for additional context and will update if we hear back. Still, Conte's acknowledgment of the goal and progress on allowing creators to natively host their videos on Patreon could allow more people to avoid YouTube, or at least not rely on it so heavily.
I'll bet google retaliates (Score:2)
They are not going to like people leaving their platform, think of all the money they could lose.
Re: (Score:2)
I think you have greatly overestimated how many people are part of Patreon.
Re: (Score:2)
That is even more reason for google to worry about losing control.
Re:I'll bet google retaliates (Score:5, Insightful)
But the thing is that any YT content creator who has patronage via Patreon is likely producing better quality content than most of the mindless dross that's currently hosted on YouTube. This means that Patreon's video platform is likely to carry the good stuff while YouTube is left with the crap.
Re: (Score:2)
What you fail to realize is that lot of people like that "mindless dross" and watch it regularly, especially children and teens. I've seen the content and it's garbage and what's more is that Gen-Z loves to watch it. Patreon is no threat to YouTube.
Re: (Score:2)
They won't stop publishing their videos on YouTube though. Why would they, there is no advantage to being Patreon only?
Most creators who rely on Patreon either just publish on YouTube as normal, or they might give Patreon backers access to an unlisted YouTube video a few days before it goes public on their channel. Some of the, like Shaun and HBomberGuy, use early releases on Patreon to get their videos reviewed and do corrections before publication.
One issue Patreon will face that will doubtless hold it ba
Re:I'll bet google retaliates (Score:4, Interesting)
Google's not likely to be fussed about this. Youtube is about scale. An hour of video is uploaded to YouTube *every second*; that's 3600 hours of video per hour. It'd take you *ten years* to watch all the video that is uploaded to YouTube in a single hour.
YouTube's scale is both a good thing and a bad thing; it's not really manageable, not satisfactorily. That's a business opportunity for others, but let's not get carried away. Comparing, say, Vimeo to YouTube is like comparing a nematode to an elephant. It's the relatively *smallness* of other sites that allow them to offer something YouTube can't, but on the flip side they can't be something YouTube is not and like YouTube at the same time.
Re: (Score:2)
And 99% of that massive upload of stuff is utter crap and not worth watching. Those creators are unlikely to be supported via Patreon so we're almost certainly going to see much less content on Patreon but what we do see there will be miles better than that 99% of crap to be found on YouTube. It's actually a great way of sorting the good stuff from the bad.
Right now, the signal to noise ratio on YouTube is at an all-time low so I'd love to be able to use a platform that didn't contain a million and one b
Re: (Score:3)
Just counting the 1% that's not crap, that's still a month's worth of video every hour. And what that 1% is is going to be different for different people. Maybe 10 years ago my sister took a video of her Christmas tree and, on a whim posted it. People liked and commented on it so she did it again the next year, and now every year there's a small group of strangers who look for her annual tree video, which is *weird* because while my sister and I are close, *I* don't want to see a video of her damn tree.
B
Re: I'll bet google retaliates (Score:2)
Do you get a boner when your raging trollfans reply to your ever post? I mean, I would. Being internet infamous seems like it might be kind of cool.
Re: (Score:2)
Google already disincentivizes “creators” from using multiple platforms based on their ad revenue system. If Patreon makes a solid product this could be enough to push an(other) antitrust case against Google’s practices.
I really hope Patreon pulls off a good system. Their comment infrastructure is miserable for anything substantial, and image galleries are disappointing. It would seem to me that there is a huge opportunity in offloading post-production to the cloud for smaller productio
The trailer will be on YouTube, I bet (Score:3)
They are not going to like people leaving their platform, think of all the money they could lose.
So Patreon is hosting the large file, but they will still have to rely on YouTube to advertise their content. I wonder if Google is getting the better deal: host short trailers, generate ad revenue, let Patreon host the more expensive high-quality video. Regardless, I can't imagine Patreon making any negative impact on Google. They serve more ads, and thus make more money, from the short videos.
Nebula? (Score:3)
I highly recommend the CuriosityStream/Nebula bundle deal to anyone. CuriosityStream is what old-school Discovery Channel was (founded by the same guy, I think). And Nebula is kinda like a science YouTuber co-op.
Re: (Score:2)
Isn't that what Nebula is for?
No.
Re: Nebula? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Nebula is a subscription platform for content from curated creators. A sort of "creator friendly" YouTube replacement.
Patreon lets you sponsor specific people/projects on a running basis, be it video, photography, art, literature, OSS, etc, etc.
Timing is everything (Score:2)
Given the giant load of BS that YouTube has just unleased in this video [youtube.com] then Patreon's timing is probably perfect.
Watch that video, look at the downvotes and read the comments. Clearly the YT community has had enough of Susan's lies, deceit and bullshirt. There are a great many creators just dying to break free of YouTube as a platform. Patreon could do *very* well out of this if they follow-through on their promises and don't become just as woke or left-leaning in their polices.
Re: (Score:2)
Given the giant load of BS that YouTube has just unleased in this video [youtube.com] then Patreon's timing is probably perfect.
Watch that video, look at the downvotes and read the comments. Clearly the YT community has had enough of Susan's lies, deceit and bullshirt. There are a great many creators just dying to break free of YouTube as a platform. Patreon could do *very* well out of this if they follow-through on their promises and don't become just as woke or left-leaning in their polices.
Youtube has become fscking unstable as it turns out. What's more, you can get dinged and they won't even tell you what your transgression was.
They were dinging a lot of Men's rights and manosphere creators, and of course leaving them in the dark.
In an ironic twist, many are posting tiktoks of women screaming and yelling and being vulger about how much they hate men, with a little commentary thrown in, with the guys using codewords to avoid upsetting. There are apparently thousands of them, from women saying how they hate men, and 40 yeal od women after spending their youth enjoying the intimate company of hundreds of men - wondering where all the good men have gone, and why no men are interested in them.
Turns out that screaming and yelling women is fine on Youtube. And looks like the evil males found a loophole of posting the misandry, and sitting back and letting it roll. Usually saying things like "Not all women are like this." I think they are being ironic, N'est-ce pas?
Seriously folks, discussing why Youtube is having issues and why Patreon might do well to sidestep them is offtopic?
Look - if what I posted triggers you, call it trolling or flamebait. but the post is exactly related and on fleek.
In fact, it is illustrative of the problem. Youtube mods hate the manosphere. No problem - the manosphere can move.
Re: (Score:2)
Came to post this, it's almost like they were waiting for the next stumble to announce it. It seems a lot of people are also unaware that YouTube have been demonitizing videos that have Patreon links in the description, a lot of creators are needing to leave pinned comments with the link to dodge it. I am itching for Patreon to succeed here. It's the ultimate middle finger for YouTube's actions.
It's about time (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Patreon isn't any better. They ban people over the content of their videos too.
Most people are going to have to rely on someone else to host their video. They are unlikely to have their own hosting and CDN to delivery high quality video, or the advertising budget to bring in viewers.
This is not new. Most people could not publish their own newspapers or magazines, at least not on a national or even city wide scale. Radio was a bit better, transmitters are not too expensive or difficult to operate, but the sp
Re: It's about time (Score:2)
Wouldn't ever post there (Score:1)
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Patreon is notorious for banning people under their own personal ethics policies which is totally understandable if people were even posting the things on Patreon, but they would look at what their users posted on Facebook and Twitter and then ban them on Patreon for that. Why go to a curated website? There are alternatives to Patreon without being subject to random bans if you accidentally make the wrong joke.
There is Locals.com
Just use ... (Score:2)
Re: Just use ... (Score:2)
I recently discovered there are sex Vloggers and I am pretty sure they use something like Patreon. So it's mostly them traveling around in some country. seating food or going dancing. Then the last 10% is sexy time. Such a strange form of "art".
I'm sure that'll work out well. (Score:2)
Just like all the other VOD sites that are better than Youtube.
Good. (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
The woke mafia at YouTube
Yeah capitalism is a tool of the woke radical left.
Re: Good. (Score:2)
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Yes, radicals are happy to use capitalism to get what they want.
That's sort of the point of capitalism: using it to get what you want. You're just salty someone's better at it than you. Maybe the government should regulate political thought so woke radicals can't harm the purity you so crave.
Re: Good. (Score:2)
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Regular Americans do not crave purity (projecting much), just a live and let live world.
You seem awfully pissy that people are using capitalism to get something they want and are doing a better job at it than you are, especially as you don't like what they're getting. They ruined the purity of capitalism for you (I am accusing you of wanting that, and you don't know what "projecting" is).
Life's no fun when the invisible hand punches you is it?
Re: Good. (Score:2)
Capitalism is not a god, itâ(TM)s just the least bad system we can make. And I am doing a rather comfortable living and building some wealth under it, so not much to complain about there.
Since you are a troll, I will give you the last word you so desperately crave. Fire away kid.
Re: (Score:2)
so why are you whining about the radical left using capitalism?
Good Thing (Score:2)
Competition is a good thing. The free market should be about competition.
Cool (Score:2)
That'll give me lots of time to find new content creators to watch. If everyone and their mother paywalls behind Patreon they'll lose viewers. I don't have the kind of income that would allow me to pay all the ridiculous Patreon prices just for access to said videos. I imagine most others don't either. But hey, if the creators can make it work with so many fewer people paying, more power to them.
Opinion (Score:4, Insightful)
Success or failure depends on how Patreon handles it. It would be really easy for them to make the same mistakes that YT has and drive their creators away.
Example: I watch a chap that posts reviews of mousetrap videos. The animal rights wingnuts don't like that he kills invasive species; That he's legally required to do so is irrelevant. They've dug through his back catalog and convinced YouTube to pull more than 3/4s of his videos.
If Patreon does the same thing then there's no reason for him to use it. He needs a platform where people can watch his videos without him having to navigate a continuously tightening noose of allowable content.
Re: (Score:2)
And that is one of YT's deeper problems, they are trying to please everyone except their content creators.
bad (Score:2)
Patreon is even more censorious than youtube, and much like twitter, is the ego domain of a single guy.
$1M/day or more (Score:2)
I remember reading that YouTube was spending $1M/day for bandwidth 15 years ago. While prices have assuredly gotten cheaper, video quality has gone up. Anyway, Patreon will likely cook the bandwidth charges into their pricing, but that kind of infrastructure is not just something you can create on a whim.
Wait, what??? (Score:1)
Is Patreon trying to tell us that they are less censorous than youtube? They ban users like Owen Benjamin and Milo Yiannopoulos on a regular basis for wrongthink. Not to mention banning anime in general.