Video is big.  Whether it’s an aggregator site (that pulls in videos from all the other sites out there) or it’s a video hosting site.

We touched on Start Your Own YouTube Business Without OpenSource, and Start Your Own YouTube Business quite some time ago so we thought it’s time for an update.  The biggest update – the site we mentioned in the first post Start Your Own YouTube Business Without OpenSource is gone.  Couldn’t find it anywhere.  Who knows what happened to it.  If you know, would you mind commenting on this post and letting us know?

So, since then there have been a lot of new developments in creating your own YouTube business, one of the best scripts that we’ve seen out there is from a company called Alstrasoft.  The script is simply called Video Share Enterprise and at $199.00 — it’s very inexpensive for the features you get.  Keep reading to learn more…

AlstraSoft Video Share Enterprise is the ultimate solution for starting your video sharing and uploading community just like the big boys such as Youtube, DailyMotion and MySpace Videos and what’s more we now allow your members to share Audio and Photos as well. Video Share is our enterprise level audio, photo and video sharing software that offers a powerful and feature rich solution and most important of all, at an extremely affordable price.

Why online video sharing is such a hot market?

Well the YouTube phenomenon which leads to other large companies such as Google, Yahoo and MySpace launching their own video sharing website do not come as a surprise. With millions of members and over 70 million videos clips hosted on Youtube, it is no doubt that there is a huge growing demand that leads to more and more people viewing online videos.

In fact, a recent study of US internet user behavior found that almost a third of users have uploaded something homemade onto the internet and that includes video clips. Video sharing sites are also used as marketing tool for many media companies as well as video uploads by web users who are using such sites as a platform to showcase their work or discoveries.

Get more with Audio and Photo Sharing module!

No doubt video sharing will remain one of the dominant media in the social networking market but why restrict to only videos? Offer more with our photo and audio sharing module for your fans on your website. Now you can not only run a site like Youtube but stand out from your competitors by offering both picture and music sharing now!

Now how does this got to do with my existing or new online business?

Regardless of whether your site is a new start-up, an existing business or community, Video Share Enterprise is a MUST for your site. Online video file sharing will serve as a value-added service for your web visitors as well as a diversification of your revenues with the extra ad dollars earned from placing of ads in or alongside with the videos. In addition, the Video Share Enterprise boost an integrated Paypal billing system that allows you to create unlimited membership plans and charge members for hosting their videos online. Our latest FlashAds plugin allows your advertisers to include paid video advertisements into the video clips uploaded by your members.

Here are a few examples of what you can do with the video sharing software:

1. Existing portal or web directories offering users audio, photos or video sharing like YouTube
2. A car enthusiast forum offering members a video uploading service to showcase their cars and share with their fellow members
3. Great for social networking sites such as our E-friends software to offer their own video sharing service for your members
4. New start-ups that aspire to run their own niche video sharing and broadcasting site similar to You tube and Google Video
5. Run a video uploading and sharing service that allows users to put music video code into their MySpace and Friendster profile
6. Run your own niche website? Well sites that showcase ghost sightings certainly can’t do without offering members an option to upload their own horror encounters
7. Offer a blog or image hosting service? Why not throw in a video sharing service for your existing community as well?
8. Ideal for modeling agencies so that models can upload their videos and allow corporate clients to view the models’ portfolio
9. Drive your passion for starting your own e-business and discover new business ideas with Video Share Enterprise. After all it is covered by our Capital Protection Plus plan

A great example of what can be done with their script can be found at http://www.consolegoals.com/ - this is a real site using their video sharing script.

Key Features of AlstraSoft Video Share Enterprise

Audio Sharing Module

AlstraSoft Video Share Enterprise now boost with the audio sharing module that allows your users to share music the same way as sharing videos online like Youtube. This module is fully integrated into Video Share and comes with a unique flash MP3 player. Blow your competitors with this module and offer both Video and Audio Sharing!

Highly Customizable

AlstraSoft Video Share Enterprise is fully template driven and you can easily edit the design layout by modifying the template files or integrate with your existing design.

Multi-Language Module

Our multi-language module allows you to create as many language as you want for your web users. Simply create a new language file by translating the content and you are ready to offer multi-lingual option for your web users!

Real-time Video Conversion

Video files uploaded are converted on the fly and our Video Share script will allow members to stream videos using the built-in flash player with buffer support just like YouTube!

Flash Ads Plugin

Offer your advertisers the option to include their video advertisements into each and every video clips uploaded by your members. This revolutionary Video Share plugin enables the site owner to create unlimited advertising campaigns for the advertisers with stats report including number of viewers who clicked on the video ads as well as number of video ads shown, allowing you to create an integrated pay-per-click model with Video Share Enterprise.

Supports more than 20 Video Formats

Video Share Enterprise is designed to allow your members to upload a wide range of video formats that is supported by the codec library which includes: AVI, WMV, QuickTime, DIVX, MPEG and many more! For details on the full range of supported video formats, please refer to this page.

Embeddable Video Player

Our software features an embedded player where users can put videos on to their web page or MySpace/Friendster profiles.

Video and Profile Rating

Using AJAX technology, viewers will be able to instantly rate videos that are popular as well as rating of member profiles.

Messaging System

Video Share Enterprise also boost a built-in messaging system where members can easily communicate with each other by composing messages and send to their network of friends.

Integrated Billing System

Not only can you offer free registration for your member like YouTube. We also offer you an added option to charge membership fees with out automated billing system using Paypal to accept payment from users. Set up unlimited membership plans and charge members according to video upload space and bandwidth usage as well as setting the maximum allowable video upload per account for your free/paid members.

Click here to start your very own HIGHLY profitable video sharing site just like YouTube!

If video isn’t for you, check out their website and look at all the other products that they offer and start a potentially profitable internet business from.

Technorati Tags: create your own youtube, start your own youtube business, video sharing, video sharing business, video sharing for business, video sharing website, video sharing youtube

Have you read this post – Start Your Own YouTube Service WITHOUT OpenSource yet?  You should.  I get a lot of visitors to that particular page based on several search strings.  I can only guess what a lot of people have in mind.

So if you are thinking of starting your own YouTube business, I’d like to say STOP.

Lets look at the competition that you will face in the video sharing space:

YouTube

The “grand daddy” of all the video sharing websites out there.  With close to 100 million videos, 79 million users visiting the site and over 3 billion views – it will be tough to out do them.  Consider the amount of space needed to host that many videos and the bandwidth required to view them.  You can see why YouTube isn’t very worried.

Read more – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube.

Yahoo! Video

Did you know Yahoo! has video sharing?  I couldn’t find stats as to the number of videos, views or users but they’ve been around since 2006 initially as a video search engine and they finally got into the video hosting/sharing business.  Again another company with DEEEEP pockets.

Blip.TV

While still in BETA, Blip.TV is more than video sharing:

A new class of entertainment is emerging that is being made by the people without the support of billion-dollar multinationals. Our mission is to support these people by taking care of all the problems a budding videoblogger, podcaster or Internet TV producer tends to run into. We’ll take care of the servers, the software, the workflow, the advertising and the distribution. We leave you free to focus on creativity.

Again I could not find any stats on the number of videos, user base, views etc.,

Something that did catch my eye was what I found in their FAQ:

Tons of people come to blip.tv to watch great original programming, but that’s not the end of it. We’ve got a distribution network that reaches hundreds of millions: built-in syndication to AOL Video, Yahoo! Video, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, MSN Video, Google Video, Blinkx, iTunes and the Apple TV, Blogger, WordPress.com and much more.

I wish they would qualify “tons of people”.

Photobucket

Normally associated with image sharing, PhotoBucket also allows video hosting/storage.  They are not like Yahoo! Videos, or YouTube.  You can use PhotoBucket to store your videos, but with free accounts the service is limiting.

Who else it out there?  LOTS!  Check out the list:

• AniBOOM
• AtomUploads (part of AtomFilms)
• Big Think
• Blinkx
• Blip.tv
• Break.com
• Buzznet
• Crackle
• Dailymotion
• EngageMedia
• GameVideos.com
• GoFish
• Google Video
• Hulu
• iFilm
• imeem
• JibJab
• Kewego
• Liveleak
• Metacafe
• MSN Soapbox
• Myspace
• MyVideo
• OneWorldTV
• Ourmedia
• pandora tv
• Peekvid.com
• Photobucket
• Phpmotion
• Rambler Vision
• ReelTime.com
• RuTube
• Sapo Videos (only portuguese)
• Sevenload
• Stage6 (closed)
• Twango
• Vbox7
• Veoh
• Vimeo
• Vuze
• Yahoo! Video
• YouAreTV
• YouTube

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_sharing_websites

So now that you see the amount of competition, why would you want to start your own YouTube service?  Thinking the porn route?  There are quite a few similar services out there that allow user contributed videos and images (yes, you read correctly USER CONTRIBUTED porn).  Porn is big money and looking at some auctions taking place on DigitalPoint even the smallest sites are 1-3 thousand visitors per day.  If you can effectively monetize that traffic you could make a lot of money.

But listen I am NOT saying you should start-up a x-rated video sharing site.  I wouldn’t as it goes against what I believe in – but there is no denying that there is money to be made in these types of videos.

So what do you do?  You want to start your own YouTube service.

Consider a mashup.

A mashup is taking what several other services offer and making a new service out of it.  Here is what WikiPedia has to say about mashups:

In technology, a mashup is a web application that combines data from more than one source into a single integrated tool; an example is the use of cartographic data from Google Maps to add location information to real-estate data, thereby creating a new and distinct web service that was not originally provided by either source.

For example, you’ve seen individuals that take Google Maps data, combine it with information available from law enforcement agencies to map out areas that have high crime rates that can be seen visually.

That’s a mashup.

Rather than try and develop your own YouTube styled service, consider a mashup.  What information have you tried to find on the internet but had to go to 2, 3, 4 or multiple sources for the same data?  Is that information relavent to lots of people?  You have just got your mashup.  Now go and code.

See the beauty of the mashup is that you’ve probably got APIs that you can use.  You don’t need to host any of the videos or information – but you are pulling that data in from multiple sources and presenting the data to the visitor in a format that is better utilized.  You just need to hit upon something that will be popular.

Again as with any venture, if you expect to get thousands of visitors per day you need to find some way to monetize those visitors. 

The key is monetization.

What next?

Mashups not your style, or too much work?  Consider niche video sharing websites.  The examples are endless:

• Cooking
• DIY (do it yourself)
• Gardening/landscaping
• Woodwork
• Sports How-To i.e., soccer techniques
• Animation
• Technology

You would probably have more success in a niche area when it comes to video sharing since there are some key areas that people are always looking for information.  Example – right now, I’m doing my own cooking.  Recipe books suck.  The food never turns out right, but I learned a long time ago that it’s not always the recipe it’s also the person cooking.  The recipe may say 1tsp of something but in practice it’s more/less than needed.  Also the method in which the food is prepared also makes a difference.  Now if I could see someone making something, I can follow that.

DIY video sites are popular, I mentioned one in a post I made a few days ago How Do They Do That?! talks about one site where you can find just about anything under the sun.

Before you decide that running a video site is a bad idea, sit down and brainstorm about the types of videos you could host, think about mashups and niche video websites.  Yes there is a lot of competition out there, but if an idea is well developed, and executed and you can capture even a small segment of the market it could translate into significant profits.

 

 

Technorati Tags: do it yourself videos, niche video marketing, start your own youtube, video hosting, video sharing