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Ask HN: please rate my startup idea

1 points by karsa ↗ HN
The concept is live at http://karsa.co.uk I've built a working prototype, it is a Flash video player which video publishers can use to monitise their videos.

The idea is like Megavideo for anyone.

This app and widget allows publishers to input a few details about where their content is and their paypal email and the widget then cuts off viewers after a set time (which they can adjust per video), it sends them to Paypal, which pays directly into their own accounts then back to the video where they can continue watching for the duration they sign up for (so they have 4 choices, 1 day, 1 week, 3 months, 1 year).

I'm not interested in design related points, like the site looks naff etc. I'm interested in what you think of the general idea and if you think it could be successful.

Here's the problem. Since announcing the idea to a few people and sending it some traffic love from my highly popular documentary site, it has had very little interest. I have some potential customers who have asked I develop extra features which I have about half completed but the problem I get is it just hasn't gotten the reception or enough feedback to tell me this is a real pain and there are enough end users out there for it.

The main problem I foresee is that publishers would have a fair bit of set up time to implement it, they would have to change all the Flash player widgets they currently use (though I don't think this should be a big deal?).

So I need to do another month or so development to get it finished and I'm asking for your input on the idea to tell me if you think it's a worthy project and if you think it can be successful.

4 comments

[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 18.6 ms ] thread
mgkimsal
the content is going to have to be extremely compelling to compete against youtube/vimeo offerings. For premium content I have a real desire or need to see (concerts, something for work/school/etc) I might pay, but possibly still would look elsewhere. I think the idea is interesting, but you'll need to find the specific publishers that think they have the content worth paying for.

Are you timing the playtime, or putting in 'pay wall' at a specific timer in the video?

Also, going to a separate website is way too jarring - I think the experience would have to be in-player for it to be workable. I might be proved wrong, but that's my gut feeling.

Good luck!

karsa
The payment part is clean, its a few clicks and your done, it happens in another window and you go back and continue watching from where you left off.

It works by looking at how much content they has watched then after a set time (which the publisher decides) they get paused and asked to pay, so only once they are hooked on it are they asked to pay.

I use the system with great success on my doc site :http://www.documentary-film.net/ and before implementing the concept there the site was always in trouble as the bandwidth costs were so high and if I placed the content behind a pay wall sales went to zero. As soon as I introduced this concept the sales went up by 90%, so I know the system works.

The problem is I thought it was a great idea but so far the response has been pretty light and I'm just thinking is it worth continuing to push along or should I just try something else?

mgkimsal
fwiw, the 'going to another page' is pretty jarring. Having a paywall inside the player would make it far more understandable.