DaCast offers a completely self-service pay per view monetization system that is available the minute someone creates an account. There is no need for additional sign up, with full monetization features offered out of the box to create premium content while rates are user defined and from an included merchant account.
To monetize your live stream or video on demand stream, the DaCast system is set up to be flexible. The broadcaster controls and defines how much to charge for content and for how long from an included channel manager interface. For example, a broadcaster can charge $5 for an hour or day of viewer access. Broadcasters can even charge $0.50 a minute, turn on multiple purchases, and allow the viewer to stock up on as many minutes of content as they want to access.
The DaCast platform does take a small commission on each transfer done over the system. This commission is 9.9% plus $0.40 on each viewer purchase made to cover merchant account, PayPal, bank transfer and other fees that DaCast addresses for broadcasters.
To create a complete and compelling platform for monetizing video and audio, the DaCast service allows multiple rates to be attached to a channel. This goes beyond the ability to attach subscription and pay per view options to the same channel, which is possible with the system, and goes through providing viewers with a diverse level of options.
For example, a feed can be attached with the option to buy an hour of content for $5. At the same time, another pay per view option to buy access for two hours for $8 can also be added. This provides a compelling tool to upsell content, getting viewers to make additional purchases by looking at the savings. So someone might have normally only watched for an hour, but after realizing the $2 savings they might have been drawn to pay more than they were originally planning.
In total, five different pay per view rates can be added to the same channel. This gives broadcasters the utmost flexibility in deciding a pricing scheme that works best for them and their audience.
DaCast has developed a unique viewer payment system located directly in the player. This approach lets viewers access and purchase streaming content without having to leave the player. This is a quick five step process leading the viewer to select content, validate selection, create login details/login, select payment method and then quickly access the content they want. The system is also built to handle pre-buys, with the options for viewers to save their credit for later after making payment.
Viewer payment is accepted through credit cards or PayPal. All major credit cards are supported, such as Visa or MasterCard, and credit card purchases are done entirely from the Pay-in-Play interface. When using PayPal, the viewer will momentarily be redirected to PayPal’s site to validate their paying credentials after clicking on a given link. The first time viewers use the system, they will also have to validate an e-mail address in order to have receipts and access validation messages sent to them.
The Pay-in-Play system is very easy to use for viewers while still offering a rich level of payment options and features. A viewer focused walkthrough is also available, to show what the process is like ahead of time.
To ensure viewer security, all data collected by the Pay-in-Play system is enforced and protected. All payments processed by the system, from either the DaCast website or straight from the broadcaster’s website, are SSL encrypted to protect data during transmission. Viewers can purchase content with credit card information securely, in turn offering a reliable paywall solution that is backed by DaCast’s secure hosting.
