Motionbox, the New York-based video sharing site that has differentiated itself by offering users the ability to edit and view specific segments within long uploads, has a new, unique monetizaton scheme: The company has just launched a subscription service that allows viewers to upload an unlimited amount of high quality files and share them with friends and family.
It’s sort of a “Shutterfly” for online video — a mix of free and premium services. In addition to hosting the big files, it is also selling “motionbooks,” little flip books that show 15 seconds of a video segment. (You’ll see a demo in this interview.)
How this will all turn out is tough to say, but advertising is not the only game in town.
Check this out: IBM just came out with a big study titled “The End of Advertising.” From the results Marshall Kirkpatrick at Read/Write Web extrapolates that as many as 11% of YouTube users would switch to a subscription model.
It will be interesting to see what happens. If Motionbox gets it right, it could create a new trend in online video — and a sustainable business model.
Chris dropped by the Beet.TV studio last week to fill us in.
— Andy Plesser
Update: Here’s the take on Motionbox and its new features by Rafe Needleman at Webware.
