The Tron Foundation and BitTorrent are ready to begin internal testing of a new video streaming service called BitTorrent Live. They will call the platform BLive in short. The platform is aimed at mobile streaming and allows users to earn BitTorrent's native token BTT. This was announced on Wednesday.
On BLive users can create live video content, connect with like-minded people and potentially earn from their broadcasts. The video platform also has an instant messaging system and services to deposit and withdraw BTT and other cryptocurrencies. The platform will also support credit cards, third-party payment systems like PayPal, Google Wallet, Android Pay, Apple Pay, WeChat and Alipay.
Tron's CEO Justin Sun believes that BLive will help all content creators to make some money. He also called live streaming 'the dark horse of online communication'. However, the platform will take 70 percent of all advertisement income and content creators will get 30 percent.
BLive will launch an alpha test in the third quarter of this year, followed by a beta test in the last quarter of 2019. Early 2020 we can expect BLive to get its full commercial release.
Video streaming makes more on Twitch
In the world of video streaming there are two major parties to look at: Youtube and Twitch.TV. The former is best known for its normal videos, while the latter is dedicated to streaming.
Streamers on Twitch gets 50 percent of the subscription fees, while they also earn 'a share of the revenue generated from any ads played on their channel'. On a daily basis over 15 million people watch live streams on Twitch, and influencers like Ninja have become self-made millionaires. An estimation indicates that Ninja made 3.9 million dollars from subscriptions in 2018. Regular advertisements added another $500.000 to that.
Tara Babcock streaming on Twitch
On YouTube the revenue share between content creators and the platform is 55/45. The biggest YouTuber is PewDiePie, with more then 100 million subscribers. He does more than 500 million views per month. This would estimate his income from ads alone close to one million dollars per month. Sure, he doesn't stream on YouTube, but it's about compared revenue shares.
Now, take a moment and see what Justin Sun had to say about streaming platforms:
“It gives rise to outstanding content creators who have thousands of followers but don’t get their fair share of advertisements and virtual gifts.”
Justin Sun, blog post by BitTorrent on Medium (28/08/2019)
Justin Sun is talking about a fair share, but BitTorrent takes a higher percentage of the advertisement revenue than other platforms. Now you might say that BLive will reward every content creator, and not only partners. That's true, but by showing more ads ultimately there's one party really getting better from it and that's Justin Sun, The Tron Foundation and BitTorrent.
I'm happy that Tron and BitTorrent are finally getting usable products in their ecosystem, besides BitTorrent Speed of course. But we're still talking about a centralized system here where The Tron Foundation and BitTorrent get the major part of all the revenue.
Posted from my blog: https://www.nederob.nl/2019/08/28/live-video-streaming-soon-on-bittorrent-blockchain/