Ooyala Introduces Paywall Feature

Online video platform Ooyala is introducing "Ooyala Paywall" this morning, a feature that allows customers to charge for their video. Paywall is integrated with online payment processor PayPal so that selected videos can be paid for with a user's PayPal account or with a credit card. The demo makes it look pretty simple for Ooyala customers to set up and experiment with Ooyala Paywall; they choose which on-demand or live videos to include, how much to charge for rental, how long after start-time the paywall appears and how long the rental period will be. They can experiment with pricing and get reports on activity.

As the online video industry continue to mature, utilizing a range of different business models will be increasingly important. In particular, as connected devices proliferate, which allow familiar on-TV viewing and better experiences, I believe a perception change will begin to occur as users are more in the mindset that paying for content is the norm. In other words whereas many people equate the Internet with "free," with 90 million+ homes subscribing to multichannel video services, plus millions more buying or renting DVDs and or subscribing to services like Netflix, TV viewing is more associated with "paid." That's not to say getting users to pay for online video will be a slam-dunk, but connected devices are going to help a lot.

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Categories: Technology

Topics: Ooyala