Video: AVOD vs. SVOD: Which Delivery Model is Right for You?

YouTube and Twitch have demonstrated the profitability of ad-driven video platforms, even as subscription-based services remain the norm for premium video on-demand (VOD) content. So, as you develop your offering, and seek to identify not just an audience for your content but the best way to monetize it in the competitive VOD marketplace, which model—paid or ad-based—is right for you? MP & Silva VP, Digital William Mao explores this question in this excerpt from a panel on VOD monetization at Streaming Media East 2016.

Learn more about VOD monetization at Streaming Media West.

Read the transcript of William Mao's remarks in the video clip above:

William Mao: My background prior to MP & Silva was at YouTube for about three years. I left right around the time that YouTube Red was being internally discussed and developed. I grew up in a business that was entirely ads driven and was only starting to explore the paywall-type options and models and now obviously blowing it out as a full-fledged offering. I think platforms like YouTube and platforms like Twitch have demonstrated that you can build a business without that paywall model as your cornerstone.

On the other end of the spectrum, you have ones that were entirely SVOD focused from the start, so I think it's just a matter of you understanding your viewer base, your customer base and what their willingness to pay is if you do move forward with a paywall service, and whether you want to actually have that high-bred model so that you're not entirely dependent on one revenue source.

I think the whole concept of launching OTT and Digital Services for a lot of traditional broadcasters is to have another line of business because at the end of the day that probably helps your multiple in terms of valuation on some level. I think the same between an AVOD and an SVOD offering and even a Pay-Per-View offering, it's one to frame risk and also generating a "new line of business" that you can measure.

 

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