After reading an interesting post, about the recent news of YouTube reaching 100M viewers, from The Video Commerce Consortium blog, I decided to echo some of our views on the topic of online video, as it pertains to ecommerce. It’s also a good opportunity for me to compare our service with that of YouTube when using video for ecommerce. YouTube are the forefathers of online video and have paved the way for other online video hosting services such as ourselves. It’s hard to believe they are only 3 1/2 years old. It feels like they’ve been around for ages. Let me first though, before I provide the differences, say that we are technically similar. We both encode most video formats to flash and we both host and deliver video content on the internet.
The core difference is rooted in our business models. YouTube don’t charge their users to use the service and at vzaar we do. Remember though, nothing is ever really free.
vzaar’s founding principle is to provide ecommerce merchants with a service that enables them to use video to merchandise their product or service. We are not a destination site for people to come and watch video, we are a tool for businesses to use to power video on their site.
vzaar users own their video and their video player. They have control over who sees it and where its published. They also have an unbranded video player so it looks smart and a seamless part of their site. We have some other neat features but in the interest of keeping this succinct I won’t digress.
The principle behind YouTube is sharing video and as I said before the difference between vzaar and YouTube is the business model. YouTube sell advertising space on their site and video player, so viewers will be exposed to anything YouTube decide to display and the “owner” of that video has no control. Not ideal if you are selling let’s say a vacuum cleaner from Hoover and YouTube sell advertising to Dyson the viewer will be exposed to both products. One which is yours and the other which isn’t.
YouTube don’t charge their users for the service and instead charge advertisers which means they need to keep driving traffic to their site keeping the traffic up to warrant the ad spend. They are a destination site, a video sharing site. As a result YouTube users don’t actually own the video player or have control over what is published in that player. So if you have a video that you want to share with the world then YouTube is perfect. If on the other hand you want to embed a video into your business website then think again. For me this is the clincher: ownership and control. When using video to aid in the sale of a product or service that video in itself is an advert and the lasting impression should be of that product or service not someone else’s. To that point let me quote a piece from the blog I for mentioned as it hits the nail on the head for me.
“YouTube isn’t thinking of e-commerce in the way you or I might. They’re thinking of advertising….. How excited are you about having your video running with a competitor’s text ad overlaid on top?”
We love YouTube but if I would not embed YouTube videos on my business site simply because that’s not what its designed for. It’s the wrong tool for that job.
…and there lies the BIG problem Ian !
Do buyers and sellers really care, take PhotoBucket as an example, it is a photo sharing website, much like YouTube is a video sharing website, yet many many more eBay sellers externally host item images using PhotoBucket than a dedicated auction image host such as one of my websites - AuctionPix.co.uk, which is a business orientated image host much the same as Vzaar is a business orientated video host.
Convincing potential users that a business orientated solution is better for them than any other (free) solution is difficult, especially when trying to monetize a business model.
Thanks for your comment Eddie. It’s not a problem, it’s a fact; the difference between the two services I mean. Serious sellers appreciate the difference, understand, and accept the value of vzaar. Buyers may not care but sellers do. We have seen an impressive number of users paying for our service this year, which proves the point. The problem or the challenge rather is marketing the service with limited resources. Photbucket raised over $10.M and we all know the Youtube phenomenon. You offer a great service but like vzaar you are not blessed with unlimited funds. So we have to be wise with the resources we have and make sure we are offering a service that customers are willing to pay for. Can I ask you to explain the difference between AuctioPix and say Photobucket. Why should sellers pay for your service when they can use Photobucket for free?
Can I ask you to explain the difference between AuctionPix and say Photobucket.
Sure, in simple terms Photobucket is photo sharing website for social networks, AuctionPix.co.uk is a dedicated eBay image host, but essentially both websites do the same which is allow users to use a browser based image upload function to create a unique url (web address) for each image uploaded, and allows those images to be displayed on any other webpage using some basic HTML, each site also has online functions for image organisation, editing etc.
The HTML produced by each is slightly different though, Photobucket provided multiple options for users to choose from, as images can be used in forums, blogs etc, each may require a different HTML string, users have to chose the ‘correct’ HTML, whereas AuctionPix provides only the correct* HTML to display an image, either as an image, an item image as visitor counter or as a ‘Click to Supersize’ image.
(*The HTML provided by Photobucket for an item image to use on eBay is actualy not eBay policy compliant, as it creates a hyperlinked image - hyperlinked back to Photobucket, which in theory contravenes the Third Party Links policy, AuctionPix HTML is 100% eBay policy compliant!)
Also, by using a dedicated eBay auction image host (such as AuctionPix), additional functionality other than image hosting is provided - which can when used, benefit both a sellers or buyers eBay experience, which equals potentially more sales!
So, like Vzaar, AuctionPix was created for an eBayer by an eBayer, as we both understand what eBay sellers and buyers require, something a service like Photobucket or Youtube does not and cannot do - as they are ‘sharing’ sites for social networks, Vzaar and AuctionPix are dedicated ecommerce tools, providing the right tools for the job!