StartYourTube is a new video platform, launched 2 weeks ago by Mark Bruneau (formerly CEO of Adventis & Bell Canada) and Daniel Robicheau (formerly Streamtheworld, also running Neotechcapital).
Their bet is that many want now to start their own community around videos, without mingling with mainstream video websites the likes of Youtube or Dailymotion. StartYourTube allows then anyone to have their own “tube”, with their customized design.
There is a strong parallel to be done with Ning, the get-your-own-social-network creator. We’ve all seen social networks like myspace, facebook or bebo sold at hundreds of millions a while ago, and now it’s Ning’s turn to get crazy valuations ($500 millions in its latest fundraising).
I am sure the StartYourTube founders have noticed the shift and are trying to replicate the trend in the video space. You can view “tubes” that were already created, since its launch early this month. I am sure this would be a great success for sports (one around the Canadiens would be an instant success for instance), for independent video producers who would want a customized place for their videos (like intruders), or for any other niche community that would want more control. Another path they can take is offering the platform for businesses who would want a video website around their company, without diluting their videos with catspoorly-produced videos.
One problem they might have overlooked though is that contrary to social networks where nobody is interested in getting thousands of contacts (at least in my case), it’s the inverse in videos. You don’t care who watch the videos, most of the time people publish a video to get the highest number of views. That’s why Youtube rules, and will probably stay the king of video in North America for a long time.
I’d like to believe though. They’ve got a top-notch executive team, funds, and, correct me if I am wrong, they are the first to launch this kind of product. Plus it’s also easier to monetize vertical communities than mainstream destinations.
Comments
Steve April 24, 2008
“Oops! Something doesn’t look right. Before continuing, take a look at the error:
We can’t unfortunately offer you a license of our software if you are based in Canada.”
Daniel Robichaud April 24, 2008
Ryan April 25, 2008
Heri April 25, 2008
Thanks for the link. Funny, I haven’t tried myself registering and trying the ads, looks like it’s not perfect yet <- Daniel, you should have a look at it.
Denis Canuel April 25, 2008
Michael C April 26, 2008
Heri – People do care about who visits any site and watches the content. Your comment suggests that all people want is traffic – ie. volume but don’t care who their audience is – ie. quality. That might be the way it works today, I don’t know. Don’t think so.
The model could actually lead to high quality content communities emerging around really strong producer-owners of the tube-channels. The volume game would surely die along side the quality audience that would come through.
Michael
http://riseofthelittleguy.com
Heri April 28, 2008
Yes, it’s true, it makes sense to create a “themed” community/tube
But it makes sense mostly for the community organizer/initiator that opens up the tub.
But for me, a video producer wants the max. number of views, most of the time.
I could be wrong though. We’ll see where this goes.
Montreal Tech Watch » StartupCampMontreal2 report, 15th May 2007 May 19, 2008
[...] was presented by Jean-Philippe Gousse, CEO of the new video sharing website. I’ve already wrote about the product, as the name suggests, it allows anyone to create a community centered around videos uploaded by [...]
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