Vessel app opens up to all with hopes of rocking YouTube's boat

Online video startup Vessel has opened up for all, following its launch as an invite-only app in January. Although not a direct rival to YouTube, it’s one of the most credible challengers yet to that service’s monopoly on shortform video creators.

Currently available as a website or iOS app, Vessel serves up videos from a growing roster of YouTubers, TV firms and music labels, with at least 72 hours exclusivity on each video before it appears on other services.

Vessel’s plan is to charge a monthly subscription of $2.99 to watch videos during their exclusive period, although there will also be a free tier offering videos that are past that period, or weren’t exclusive to Vessel in the first place.

The 72-hour aspect is part of the startup’s brand, to the extent that anyone registering for Vessel during the first 72 hours after its full launch on 24 March gets a year’s free access to its premium tier.

“We have been working hard to welcome more creators to Vessel and to refine the service, adding new features and performance enhancements that make the experience of watching videos through the platform even better,” wrote founders Jason Kilar and Richard Tom in a blog post.

“Most importantly, we have been listening carefully to feedback from consumers, creators and our advertisers about how we could improve the service.”

Vessel’s pitch to creators is that they’ll make more money from having their new videos exclusively on its service for at least three days than they would on YouTube.

“If you are a creator on the free web, the cheque that comes out to you after the distributor takes their cut is about $2.20 per thousand views, or maybe $3. We’re projecting that creators will make over $50 per thousand views for the period of time they’re making their video available on Vessel for early access,” Kilar told the Guardian in January.

The headline was carefully chosen. Vessel isn’t trying to sink YouTube’s boat: in fact, it’s encouraging its creators to continue building their fanbase on Google’s site, not least because that means more people who might be led to Vessel – creators get a referral fee every time one of their fans signs up for a subscription.

Even so, Vessel is a challenge to YouTube’s authority – one that YouTube is meeting by launching a new initiative to fund content by its biggest stars – the number of prominent YouTubers in talks with YouTube to launch second channels is no coincidence – as well as upping its efforts to court brands and thus increase creators’ advertising income.

Vessel’s launch is just one of the ripples in an online video pond that until now has been dominated by YouTube. Others include Facebook – currently averaging 3bn video views a day on its service – and Snapchat with its recently-launched Discover feature for shortform video.