Why don’t more people care about Subbable’s arrival?

Posted: July 25, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Business, Entertainment, Film, Marketing, YouTube | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

TL;DR ->  it makes AdSense obsolete. 

I tried to sell a story on Subbable earlier this week. Oh gods how I tried. ReadWrite, the Guardian’s tech section, even Variety… but I failed to generate interest, and/or communicate just how drastic of an impact Subbable can have on the YouTube space, business-wise.

To most of the press, Subbable appears as a gentle, crowd-sourced monthly pay-what-you-want subscription platform funding web shows that already exist.  Doesn’s seem that disruptive,  until you consider the allure of YouTube.  The heart of the indie YouTube dream is being free, or at least above, corporate influences. If successful, Subbable  could potentially do away with the advertising/hit-mining rat race on YouTube.  Hank Green doesn’t exactly say this in the video introducing the platform, but he might as well.

In a private chat, I got Green to elaborate:

“Advertising values all kinds of content the same, but different kinds of content delivers different amounts of value to users. We want there to be a system that rewards the creation of stuff people love, not stuff that people will spend three minutes watching when they’re bored.”

Subbable — which is unaffiliated with YouTube — changes the YouTube money-making game because it emphasizes community and a supportive fan base over viral hits with fleeting popularity & large monetary payoffs. It’s a slow, steady win as opposed to that big payday.  (It’ll be interesting to see how the addition of Minute Physics, Wheezy Waiter, and Andrew Huang  next week on Subbable will play out. )

Green never came  right out and said this during our chat but it got me thinking: if a content creator worked it out with his fans, he or she could essentially never bother monetizing their channel…EVER. There’s literally no reason now to go through Google corporate to make money. Their high ad cut and ad sales team are already  alienating users and businesses, so why bother with that hot mess? You don’t.

I, for one, still believe in that YouTube dream.