Big news! We’re thrilled to join the Vimeo family.
Excited to share that VHX is being acquired by Vimeo! Very proud of what our team has accomplished and what we’ll be able to do by joining forces.
The new VHX HTML5 player
We built a brand new video player.
We’re making tools for publishers that are serious about building their video business. So we rethought our player from the ground up. It’s now built in HTML5, the industry standard for video. It’s really fast, looks great, and it’s highly scalable. (For that day you get two million new fans.)
WHAT’S NEW
- It looks great everywhere. The player looks and behaves the same across all desktop and mobile devices. So your customers get the same great experience, even if they’re watching on an old browser.
- It’s really fast. It’s important to get audiences engaging with your content ASAP. The new player loads instantly, with super fast playback and seeking.
- Robust analytics tracking. Analytics are built right into the player, so you can track specific playback and better understand your customers’ viewing habits for any video. (Stay tuned for even more data options in the VHX Admin.)
- It remembers you. Preferences like volume and video quality are saved, so you can come back to watch tomorrow and it will know that you want the sound up loud.
- Many options for quality switching. We now offer both adaptive streaming and manual quality switching. We’ve also bumped up our bandwidth tracking and playback for people with slow connections — especially helpful for international customers.
- Improved accessibility. This was a top priority for us. We’ve revamped our entire subtitle system to be powered by the WebVTT standard, which will provide the best support across devices. Sellers can upload SRT or VTT files in the VHX admin and we’ll convert to both. Plus, the new player has full keyboard support. Try “F” to go fullscreen!
- Built-in Chromecasting: It’s already right there in the player! Customers can instantly beam any VHX video to their TV.
SAME BUT EVEN BETTER
- Direct integration with the VHX Checkout. Customers can purchase anywhere your trailer is embedded. No really…anywhere!
- Redesigned share options. It’s even easier for customers to post your videos to different social networks.
- The best global content delivery networks (CDNs). CDNs are the networks of servers that delivers your video. Our number one priority is ensuring video playback is fast and high quality, anywhere in the world. So we’ve revamped the back-end architecture to deliver video content from the top CDNs, like Akamai, Amazon Cloudfront, and Fastly. In less technical terms: We got you.
Our community already has 1.2 million customers and more than 500 million minutes of video. We’re committed to making the video experience really really good for your audience. They’re paying for great content, and we’re going to make sure they get it in beautiful sparkling HD. So publishers can continue to craft everything from documentaries to web series, instructional videos, feature films, and comedy specials. And we’ll take care of the tech behind it all.
See the new player in action on your own site, or right here/right now:
Launching today: Your own subscription network, powered by VHX
Streaming video services are more popular than ever, but it’s incredibly expensive and difficult to launch one. It’s easy to forget that it’s taken Netflix almost 20 years to get to where they are today.
In everything we do, we’re working to make it easier for people to build businesses selling video directly to their fans. Over the last three years we’ve helped thousands of filmmakers, studios, and distributors sell their work from their own websites, from a $5 comedy special, to a $10 feature film, to $40 for every episode in a series, and everything in between. We’ve heard the requests for tools to charge customers every month — especially from people selling webisodes, TV shows, catalogs, and classes.
So today, we’re launching VHX Subscriptions. Now, anyone can launch their own streaming video service at no upfront cost, and charge fans monthly or annually for unlimited access to their videos. Upload your work, set a price, and start selling instantly, all from your own website — powered by the world-class watching experience and customer support we’re known for.Like the rest of our platform, this feature is open to anyone, you get full access to your customer data, and it’s free to get started. We can’t wait to see what the video-making world does with it. Check out our demo site, or see it in the wild with Black&Sexy NOW. And, don’t hesitate to email us or tweet @vhxtv with questions!
Power your own video subscription service w/ VHX!
(Source: vhxtv)
Look for VHX in Zype’s new Distribution Connection!
Meet Zype. They make it easy to monetize your videos on multiple video platforms, and they provide the technology to help creators and distributors build their own apps. Obviously, they share our goal of making it as easy as possible for you to build a sustainable business selling your videos. So, we’ve joined forces!
We’re excited to be the first partner in Zype’s Distribution Connection program. They made awesome use of our API so that in just a few clicks, Zype users get set up to sell their videos via VHX, right inside the Zype dashboard.
With this integration, you get the full spectrum of ways to manage your video – from branded apps, ad-supported video, subscription options, and now transactional direct sales. So that’s pretty convenient!
Learn more about how to use the VHX Distribution Connect here.
(Source: vhxtv)
Sonic Highways releases worldwide + so much bonus content
Sonic Highways continues the journey that Dave Grohl started with acclaimed documentary Sound City. The series is a love letter to the amazing music scenes of eight American cities, told through intimate interviews with legendary musicians and all-around important music people. (Oh, and President Obama.) It’s part history lesson, part Foo Fighters concert, part reminder of how music communities develop their own rad sounds.
Sonic Highways originally aired on HBO, but now anyone can download and stream the whole series, directly from the band’s website, powered by VHX. There are even more extras when you buy the full series package: extended interviews, 5.1 audio versions, and 2 hours of brand new behind-the-scenes footage. It’s a lot of rock. Watch it here.
(Source: vhxtv)
Social Gifting is here!
Today we’re launching a new feature: Social Gifting. When you buy a video with social gifting enabled, you get your copy plus three free rentals to pass on to other people. People who receive a free gift are encouraged to buy a copy so they can share with 3 more friends. It’s all the modern magic of watching your favorite stuff on the Internet, meets the good old days (c. 2005) when you could loan your favorite movies to your friends.
Traditionally, retailers of digital content have gone to great lengths to make their products hard to share. We’re doing the opposite. Why? Because watching movies is a social experience. Being able to share something you love with your friends makes fans happy and helps grow the audience for your work. That’s a win-win.
“Account sharing is a pervasive phenomenon,” says VHX CEO Jamie Wilkinson. “The solution is not to block sharing, because sharers are people who are using your product and falling in love with it. The solution is to build sharing into your product.”
This is our way to bring sharing out of the world of physical goods and into the digital era. Check out Kickstarter-legendary doc series The Double Fine Adventure, indie drama The Ever After, and Japanese animated nun-wrestler love story Kick-Heart to see it live in action.
VHX publishers, you can turn on social gifting in just a click! Visit our Forums for suggestions on how to make it work with your fans.
(Source: vhxtv)
"If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."
An old African proverb. (via soxiam)