Ask HN: Would you pay for information?
delivered by video?<p>I am launching a beta version of a new video product today...<p>This is a Flash video player which allows anyone to charge for information conveyed by video, allowing viewers to watch for a set period of time free, then the video is paused and the viewer is required to pay for unlimited access if they wish to continue!   <p>I would like to demonstrate the concept to you by given you an example of its usage and for this case I would like to introduce a method to help protect a companies online brand from being tarnished. <p>The Example:<p>Online brand reputation management is generally very expensive to accomplish and the technique I am revealing in this video could save a company thousands of pounds.<p>There is a fee of £49 GBP to watch the full video, but the first six minutes are free. It will then pause at 6 minutes and ask for a payment to be made, thereafter I will explain the procedure technically.<p>You can see the product in action here:<p>http://www.brandcurrency.co.uk/<p>It's the large video with the £49 price!<p>SOME BACKGROUND:<p>We are all pioneers in our own fields and each of us often have unique insights to problems and hold information which could have a high value to others, which can also be easily explained in a video.<p>There are many successful entrepreneurs selling informational ebooks, typically they use a company called Clickbank (http://www.clickbank.com/index.html) who manage the online payments of sales. <p>These ebook offers' normally make use of very long and somewhat spammy looking sales pages which for some strange reason seem to convert well... <p>A typical example of such a sales page would be as follows:
http://www.get-better-grades.com/index-pass-exam.php<p>Clickbank claims to have paid out over 1 billion euros in earnings over the last 10 years so clearly there is money to be made from selling information!<p>One problem with those traditional ebook offers is that ebooks actually take a long time to write and develop. <p>Another problem is that in many cases video is better suited to explaining techniques visually, take the example of a plasterer demonstrating the art of plastering! Which would you prefer an ebook or a video demonstration?<p>In my new concept, information can be produced and packaged much quicker than traditional ebooks. Videos can be shoot and edited very quickly (in a few hours) in comparison to ebooks which can take several months to develop. <p>Also by using video it opens up entirely new avenues which can be explained easily and quickly, giving both the producers and consumers of the content added efficiency.  <p>The concept is known and the Flash PAYer and can be found here:
http://www.karsa.co.uk<p>At some point in the next 6 months (according to its adoption) I will probably incorporate a payment plan to this application and most likely have a tiered pricing plan with low monthly fees from £29GBP etc. however, its use is currently free and it will likely stay free for at least 6 months. <p>All payments go straight into the video producers own Paypal account so they make all the profits, no margins are siphoned off.<p>This concept is currently a 'minimum viable product' with just the most essential features incorporated, nevertheless it achieves the goals I set out for this product and I hope you find the concept interesting.<p>It could be used for any archive of online video information and all the variables can be adjusted.<p>I would love your feedback....