Revver is a video sharing website that hosts
user-generated contentUser-generated content , also known as consumer-generated media or user-created content , refers to various kinds of media content, publicly available, that are produced by end-users....
. Revver attaches advertising to user-submitted
video clipVideo clips are short clips of video, usually part of a longer piece. The term is also more loosely used to mean any short video less than the length of a traditional television program.- On the Internet :...
s and shares all ad revenue 50/50 with the creators (40/40/20 if the video is hosted by a third party). Videos can be displayed, downloaded and shared across the web in either
AppleApple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and manufactures consumer electronics and computer software products. The company's best-known hardware products include Macintosh computers, the iPod and the iPhone...
QuickTimeQuickTime is a multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, media clips, sound, text, animation, music, and interactive panoramic images. It is available for Mac OS classic , Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows operating systems...
or
FLVFlash Video is a container file format used to deliver video over the Internet using Adobe Flash Player versions 6–10. Flash Video content may also be embedded within SWF files. There are two different video file formats defined by Adobe Systems and supported in Adobe Flash Player: FLV and F4V...
format. In addition, Revver is a Video Publishing Platform that can enable any third-party to build their own "Revverized" site. The site is actually built on top of Revver's own API, and third-parties can build identical functionality into their own sites. Revver allows developers to create a complete
white labelA white label product or service is a product or service produced by one company that other companies rebrand to make it appear as if they made it.-History:...
of the Revver platform.
History
Revver was founded by
Steven StarrSteven Starr is the producer of FLOW: For Love Of Water, and the founder of Revver.-Background:Steven Starr was born on Long Island. Starr started his career in high school as a volunteer at WLIR-FM in New York, pursued a degree in Radio, TV and Film at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and...
, Ian Clarke, and Oliver Luckett in 2004, and is currently based in
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...
. The website itself, however, did not launch until November 2005. The company has received investment from
Bessemer Venture PartnersBessemer Venture Partners is a private venture capital firm with offices in Silicon Valley, New York, Massachusetts, Israel, and India.Bessemer Venture Partners is the longest-standing venture capital practice in the United States...
,
Draper Fisher JurvetsonDraper Fisher Jurvetson is a venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California with affiliate offices in more than 30 cities around the world and over $4.5 billion in capital commitments....
, Draper Richards, William R. Hearst, III, Comcast Interactive Capital and Turner Broadcasting . Oliver Luckett departed the company in late 2006.
The current version of the site,
Revver 1.0 was released in September 2006. This included a new design, user dashboard, a web based uploader and
FlashFlash Video is a container file format used to deliver video over the Internet using Adobe Flash Player versions 6–10. Flash Video content may also be embedded within SWF files. There are two different video file formats defined by Adobe Systems and supported in Adobe Flash Player: FLV and F4V...
as a video delivery method. Around the same time as the release, prominent YouTube user
lonelygirl15lonelygirl15 was an interactive web-based video series which began in June 2006, and ended on August 1, 2008, with a Japanese dub slated for release in 2009....
signed a promotional deal with Revver.
The site has grown slowly in popularity. Shortly prior to its relaunch, around 20,000 videos were available on the site. By mid-October this number had almost quintupled to 100,000 videos. The site's most popular user, a creator of videos mixing Mentos into Coke, had generated around $30,000.
Revver released its API in September, 2006. Developers using the API can build a website with all the features on Revver.com and have complete access to the full Revver library of videos.
On November 29,
Verizon WirelessCellco Partnership, doing business as Verizon Wireless, owns and operates the largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States, based on a total of 87.7 million U.S. subscribers. Verizon Wireless has the largest revenue of all United States wireless companies reporting $58.6 billion...
and Revver announced a deal to make some Revver videos available to subscribers of Verizon's
V CASTV CAST is a 3G EV-DO network created by Verizon Wireless to deliver audio, video, and entertainment content. The typical download speed is between 400 and 700 kilobits per second with burst speeds of up to 2 megabits per second...
service. The deal was announced the day after a similar deal with YouTube. On V CAST, Revver videos will not contain advertisements at the end, but Revver plans to share half of the revenue from the venture with content creators.
Revver was acquired by LiveUniverse for $5 million in February 2008 .
Revenue model
Revver is the first video-sharing website to monetize
user-generated contentUser-generated content , also known as consumer-generated media or user-created content , refers to various kinds of media content, publicly available, that are produced by end-users....
through advertising and share ad revenue with the creator. Revver's system is often compared to Google's
AdwordsAdWords is Google's flagship advertising product and main source of revenue . AdWords offers pay-per-click advertising, and site-targeted advertising for both text and banner ads. The AdWords program includes local, national, and international distribution. Google's text advertisements are short,...
, but for video rather than websites.
The key technology behind Revver is the
RevTag, a tracking tag that is attached to videos that users upload. The RevTag automatically displays a clickable advert at the end of each video. When viewers click on it, the advertiser is charged and the advertising fee is split between the video creator and Revver.
RevTags are trackable across the web so users are encouraged to share Revver videos as widely as possible. Since the RevTag is part of the video file itself (thanks to the interactivity made possible by
FlashAdobe Flash is a multimedia platform originally acquired by Macromedia and currently developed and distributed by Adobe Systems. Since its introduction in 1996, Flash has become a popular method for adding animation and interactivity to web pages...
-based video players and by the
QuickTimeQuickTime is a multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, media clips, sound, text, animation, music, and interactive panoramic images. It is available for Mac OS classic , Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows operating systems...
format), the technology works no matter where the video file is hosted or displayed, be it at Revver.com, at another website, or in a user's hard drive or portable video player. Therefore Revver's monetization of the video is not hampered by the downloading or sharing of the video file by users.
The RevTag can fail to load an ad, or to register an ad click, if the device playing the video is not connected to the internet, in which case a default "Brought to you by Revver" message is shown at the end. Of course, if the video file is transcoded into a different format (such as by uploading it to
YouTubeYouTube is a video sharing website on which users can upload and share videos. Three former PayPal employees created YouTube in February 2005. In November 2006, YouTube, LLC was bought by Google Inc. for $1.65 billion, and is now operated as a subsidiary of Google...
or
Google VideoGoogle Video is a free video sharing website and also a video search engine from Google. Google Video allows select videos to be remotely embedded on other websites and provides the necessary HTML code alongside the media, similar to YouTube. This allows for websites to host large amounts of video...
, or by running it through a program that changes the format of the video file, e.g. into MPEG or RealPlayer), then the RevTag would almost certainly be lost. Network problems between the viewer's computer and Revver's ad server, or problems on the ad server, can also prevent the loading of ads.
The Revver website provides tools for sharing including
RSSRSS is a three-letter abbreviation that can stand for a wide variety of terms:-Mathematics:* Root-sum-square, the square root of the sum of the squares of the elements of a data set* Residual sum of squares in statistics-Technology:...
,
podcastingA podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and downloaded through web syndication. The mode of delivery is what differentiates podcasts from other ways of accessing media files over the Internet, such as simple download or streamed webcasts: special client software...
, and embeddable
FLVFlash Video is a container file format used to deliver video over the Internet using Adobe Flash Player versions 6–10. Flash Video content may also be embedded within SWF files. There are two different video file formats defined by Adobe Systems and supported in Adobe Flash Player: FLV and F4V...
or
QuickTimeQuickTime is a multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, media clips, sound, text, animation, music, and interactive panoramic images. It is available for Mac OS classic , Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows operating systems...
players. This minimizes any added benefits of transcoding. Revver thus makes it easy for creators and fans to embed the video anywhere while still in its original RevTagged version.
Users are further encouraged to share by Revver's affiliate program. An Affiliate is a user who helps to promote their favorite videos (or any videos they believe will become popular), be it through email,
sneakernetSneakernet is a tongue-in-cheek term used to describe the transfer of electronic information, especially computer files, by physically carrying removable media such as magnetic tape, floppy disks, compact discs, USB flash drives, or external hard drives from one computer to another.Sneaker refers...
, peer-to-peer sharing, or posting on their own website or on social-networking webpages. Revver affiliates earn 20% of ad revenue for sharing videos. The remaining revenue for each video is split 50/50 between the video creator and Revver. This is possible because the RevTag in a video file that is promoted by an affiliate contains information not only about the video being played but also about the affiliate.
By using the Revver API in conjunction with sharing options such as embedded players, developers can create user-interactive sites where video creators, as the users of such sites, provide video content and where the affiliate revenue for the video content goes to the site owner.
In the past, creators were able to restrict what kinds of advertisements could be placed at the end of their videos, but this is currently not possible. However, advertisers may choose to request that their ads be shown in videos of certain categories (such as videos that are most popular on certain websites), thus allowing them to better target their desired demographics.
To enable lawful sharing of Revver videos, the Revver upload license allows for redistribution under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5
Creative Commons LicenseCreative Commons licenses are several copyright licenses released on December 16, 2002 by Creative Commons, a U.S. non-profit corporation founded in 2001....
.
Criticism
The website has attracted controversy for providing video content on
ZangoZango, formerly ePIPO, 180solutions and Hotbar, was a software company that provided users access to its partners' videos, games, tools and utilities in exchange for viewing targeted advertising placed on their computers. Zango software is listed as adware by Symantec...
, an infamous adware creator and distributor. Videos that are uploaded to Revver are (according to the deal) passed on to
ZangoZango, formerly ePIPO, 180solutions and Hotbar, was a software company that provided users access to its partners' videos, games, tools and utilities in exchange for viewing targeted advertising placed on their computers. Zango software is listed as adware by Symantec...
in exchange for a fee.
ZangoZango, formerly ePIPO, 180solutions and Hotbar, was a software company that provided users access to its partners' videos, games, tools and utilities in exchange for viewing targeted advertising placed on their computers. Zango software is listed as adware by Symantec...
is well known for its adware distribution techniques, which include
drive-by downloadThe expression drive-by download is used in four increasingly strict meanings:# Downloads which the user indirectly authorized but without understanding the consequences The expression drive-by download is used in four increasingly strict meanings:# Downloads which the user indirectly authorized...
s.
After contracting with Live Universe, earnings from July 2008 onwards were still "pending", meaning that that Revver had delayed payments to unspecified date. On December 9, 2008, Revver sent a message to all its users saying that earnings from June were transferred, and the other earnings would be transferred as soon as possible. However, many people still have yet to receive these payments.
Several of their most popular content providers including
ScrewAttackScrewAttack is a video game-related website that showcases original entertainment for an audience of video game enthusiasts. Its content is also shown on GameTrailers and IGN...
and
That Guy with the GlassesThat Guy with the Glasses is a website that showcases original entertainment for an audience including video game enthusiasts and movie buffs. It primarily stars Chicago native Douglas Walker aka "That Guy with the Glasses." The founder and administrator of the site is Michael Michaud, in addition...
have also publicly posted complaints of Revver owing them vast amounts of money on their websites and have begun moving their content over to
Blip.TVBlip.tv is a platform for creators of web shows offering free hosting, distribution, media management and optional advertising with a revenue share...
See also
- User-generated content
User-generated content , also known as consumer-generated media or user-created content , refers to various kinds of media content, publicly available, that are produced by end-users....
- Viral video
A viral video is a video clip that gains widespread popularity through the process of Internet sharing, typically through email or Instant messaging, blogs and other media sharing websites...
- Comparison of video services
The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of notable video hosts. Please see the individual products' articles for further information...
- Web 2.0
The term "Web 2.0" is commonly associated with web applications which facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design and collaboration on the World Wide Web. Examples of Web 2.0 include web-based communities, hosted services, web applications, social-networking...
- YouTube
YouTube is a video sharing website on which users can upload and share videos. Three former PayPal employees created YouTube in February 2005. In November 2006, YouTube, LLC was bought by Google Inc. for $1.65 billion, and is now operated as a subsidiary of Google...
- Metacafe
Metacafe is a community based video sharing web site, that specializes in short-form original entertainment, where users upload, view and share video clips.The company is headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with offices in Tel Aviv and New York...
- vMix
VMIX is a leading provider of white-label Software as a Service video and digital media management solutions. The VMIX online video platform makes it easy for website publishers integrate video on their site to engage their online audiences, increase ad revenue and grow their businesses...
- iFilm
ifilm.com was an online archive of short films, movie trailers, and other video clips of interest. Ifilm.com was originally founded by independent filmmaker Raphael Raphael in 1997 as an independent film and media collective...
- blip.tv
Blip.tv is a platform for creators of web shows offering free hosting, distribution, media management and optional advertising with a revenue share...
- Break.com
Break.com is a humor website founded in 1998 that features comedy videos, flash games, and pictures among other material. The chief executive officer of Break is Keith Richman...
- Videosift
VideoSift is a video aggregator designed to showcase unique and interesting videos, the name of the site being a direct allusion to the metaphor of sifting wheat from chaff. It was founded by Brian Houston in February 2006, who was quickly joined by James Roe as a co-founder...
- sevenload
sevenload is an online Web-2.0 media platform used for managing multimedia contents. Since its founding in April 2006, the platform emerged on European and Asian markets to become a well-known Social Media Network for photos, videos and web TV content...
External links