DIVAN.TV, an established video-on-demand platform delivering content in nine languages to more than 2 million users across 200 countries will be launching DIVAN.TV 2.0, a blockchain-based video streaming platform based on an ad-supported freemium framework.
While the platform already has a successful existing OTT video service, the team behind DIVAN.TV believes that television is set to be the latest industry to be disrupted by blockchain technology.
Solving TV’s Problems with Blockchain Technology
According to the company, the main problems facing television can be categorized into user problems, content owner problems, and advertiser problems. The main user problem is that the subscription model used by platforms like Netflix and HBO exclude a large population of users who cannot afford to pay the subscription fees. And those who can afford it are forced to pay for content that they do not want.
A major problem facing content owners is that complex rights and jurisdiction issues restrict their ability to distribute content all over the world, and there is also the constant and ongoing problem of content piracy.
For advertisers, a growing problem is that of ad blockers, which stop their messages from being seen and effectively ensure that their advertising spend is wasted. There is also the problem of an absence of adequate feedback since they lack a truly direct and unbiased link with their audiences.
Using blockchain technology, DIVAN.TV 2.0 Blockchain intends to fundamentally change the status quo by merging a freemium advertising model with a cryptocurrency framework that rewards users for watching ad-supported content and pays content creators up to 50 percent of ad revenues. With the proposed framework, content owners will be able to market their work worldwide without rights restrictions.
Users will also be able to partake in crowdfunding of their favorite television projects and advertisers will have direct, real-time access to users which will enable them to deploy programmatic messaging instead of the 20th century-style blind cast that persists in television today.
DIVAN.TV’s Ambitions
Whereas the original platform launched in 2011 as an OTT video operation specializing in Ukrainian and Russian language content, the team behind DIVAN.TV believes that the platform is well placed to disrupt the global television market with its token-based business model According to the company, its introduction of smart contracts into the television advertising area will largely cut out fraud in the advertising supply chain through enhanced transparency. Their ultimate goal is to become the standard protocol for video streaming by having other video streaming services, like Netflix, adopt their open API.
Users will be given the chance to passively earn credit while they watch ad-supported freemium content, which helps to carry out various functions to support the operation of DIVAN.TV 2.0 as a decentralized platform. These functions include file storage capacity, relay bandwidth and GPU capacity for video encoding, among others.
Using Real-Time Bidding (RTB) on smart gadgets, claiming to be the first for RTB on Smart TV, advertisers will be able to instantaneously and transparently purchase messaging inventory based on programmatic auctions that feed off live consumer data to determine what messaging would be most impactful at any given time.
When the new platform is fully developed according to DIVAN.TV, it will be the world’s first fully decentralized blockchain video streaming platform operating on a base of smart contracts and programmatic advertising with more than 120 million users worldwide and between $20 and $30 billion in market capitalization.