2b Acting pioneers a new way to generate income from videos
Selective Interactive Videos can add value to videos providing potential customers with new reasons to buy.
The movie industry relied primarily on box office takings before the advent of TV and cable channels. With these new outlets, income streams from advertising and subscription payments became possible.
These revenue streams kept the larger content makers happy (Hollywood, TV broadcasters, satellite broadcasters, etc.) but for independent producers, it was only possible to make a living directly from productions when Videos and DVDs emerged. However, this was until the internet support of videos destroyed these markets.
To make matters worse the internet gave birth to channels such as Youtube where a tremendous amount of content became available for free leading to an expectation that small producers’ outputs should also be free. Videos from independent producers had to be very special to garnish a public paying audience or have specific celebrity type status. Difficult but not impossible until the final nail in the coffin happened. When large companies such as Netflix, Amazon, and Sky effectively allowed access to thousands of titles at prices that no independent can compete with.
Content only videos are hard to sell when you are an independent producer. The portals for sales are very limited and it’s for this reason why 2b Acting is working on this problem in order to open new revenue streams to tell stories.
What does a selective interactive video offer?
People have proved they can enjoy the same stories when presented in different formats. E.g. As a comic, book, play, animation, film, etc.
Selective interactive video is just a different format and like the other formats creates a market of its own. The ability to enhance, change, explore, and engage with content in unique ways takes creativity to a whole new level that customers can be enticed to buy.
Producers can now offer interactivity to separate their content from all others thereby giving them a unique offering. This is also great news for those with a stock of existing titles as with a little effort they can add selective interactivity and offer this enhancement to customers thereby creating an additional income stream. Companies like Netflix can effectively double their videos asset value overnight. A shareholder’s dream.
However, as 2b Acting is proving, no interactivity is the same so it is unlikely that independent producers will be shut out of this new market. On the contrary. The enhancement of content works best when it forms part of the creation process. Many small independents are better able to produce new material more rapidly than larger
companies. This really does open opportunities for creatives. New stories, new filming techniques, new ways for viewers to engage. A new industry. An exciting future.
The big question is: “Will people be willing to pay for interactivity?”
As pioneers, this is 2b acting’s responsibility to answer. Their enhanced mode which gives access to the interactive components in each video on their InView platform is being offered to their visitors. If they are successful in selling interactivity in this way, it will be the proof-of-concept of a model the industry can follow.
“We’ve set the price to use our enhanced mode as low as possible at just 1.99 for 7 days,” says 2b Acting. “This we hope will encourage many to experience the diverse methods of story-telling that interactive videos offer. We also look forward to feedback as responses will guide future development.” It is a bold step the company is taking but they are committed to proving it can be done.
To try enhanced mode on InView visit 2bacting.com