Unreel Entertainment is launching a new platform called Unreel.me, which provides tools to build your very own video streaming site and app.
Those sites can include videos that were uploaded directly to Unreel.me, as well as content posted to social networks. And they can be monetized advertising, paywalls, subscriptions and merchandise sales.
As part of the launch, the company is also announcing a $1 million “Creator Appreciation Fund,” where the first $1 million earned through Unreel.me sites will go entirely to creators. After that, the standard revenue share deal will be 85 percent to creators, 15 percent to Unreel. The platform itself will be completely free.
There are a number of startups experimenting with giving creators ways to reach and monetize their fans outside of YouTube and social networks — Victorious, for example, allows them to build their own mobile apps.
Asked via email how Unreel.me is different, co-founder and CEO Dan Goikhman said, “Unreel.me is designed for ANY content owner or aggregator to be able to launch their own streaming sites and apps on any platform, and is focused on truly making it available to EVERY creator to use, and any creator can use it today and get set up in less than a minute!”
Goikhman (who was previously co-founder and chief revenue officer at mobile ad network Mojiva) added that Unreel.me sites will be able to take advantage of the video analytics technology that the company has already built, with capabilities in visual search, as well as content recommendation and personalization.
Unreel has raised $1.5 million in seed funding from Digital Ignition Entertainment and angel investors. You can see some of the initial Unreel.me partners and their websites on the Unreel.me homepage.