Over the past few years, the online video world has seen an influx of live streaming apps and all of their accompanying hype. Periscope, which launched in early 2014, was acquired a year later by Twitter and currently boasts 10 million users. And Meerkat, which debuted in February 2015, has reportedly seen the amount of time users spend with the app double each month since its launch. StreamUp is a new upstart that’s looking to be a “Netflix of live video.” YouNow, however, is its own beast.
Founded in 2011 by CEO Adi Sideman, YouNow is a live streaming app with a built-in social chat function and creator monetization capabilities through users’ purchases of virtual goods and gifts. And users are loving what they see, enough to rapidly propel YouNow’s business forward in the last few months alone. The broadcasting app recently closed a $15 million funding round. YouNow also hired Gregory Strompolos, a former Fullscreen executive, as the app’s new Director of Business Development.
Sideman, who is one of the many featured industry speakers set to appear at Stream Con NYC from October 30-31, 2015, is bullish on the future of real-time platforms. Here’s what he had to say about YouNow’s recent success and what the app company has planned for the future.
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Tubefilter: How did YouNow get started? What were the original goals/intentions behind the venture?
Adi Sideman: I have long been involved in user generated video — even before the Internet. I created hundreds of web and mobile apps, and four companies. In 2011, I founded YouNow as a live-video social network that enables audiences and performers to connect in real time. It was an organic evolution to user-generated live video.
TF: YouNow has gained rapid popularity since it first launched. What do you attribute this success to? (Can you also provide some basic metrics about where you are at right now and your growth?)
AS: YouNow took off in the summer of 2014, when we offered a better mobile experience and adjusted some of the social features. We currently have around 100 million user sessions a month, 150,000 active broadcasts per day, and 50,000 hours of content created each day. 70 percent of users interact on YouNow by liking/sharing/commenting or gifting.
YouNow’s growth reflects the evolution of social media, video and mobile, and their transition to real-time — from text on blogs to real time text on Twitter and messaging apps, from photos uploaded as albums to Facebook to real time photos on Instagram and Snapchat, and now from videos uploaded to YouTube to real-time video on Twitch, YouNow, and other apps. Social video engagement is an inevitable behavior as consumers demand more real-time communication and a tactile feedback loop.
TF: Where did the idea for monetizing through virtual goods come from? How has this worked out for creators on YouNow?
AS: It was very organic. We had an earned currency, and our audience was requesting to purchase more of it. At the same time, we wanted our broadcasters to earn. So it was a natural next step to connect the two into an organic revenue stream.
Creators are delighted with the opportunities to earn on YouNow. Many creators earn a living on YouNow. In fact, we hear that many of them earn more on YouNow than on YouTube. The virtual goods also enhance the experience of the users who buy them. It helps them gain status, as well as provoke feedback and recognition from their favorite broadcasters.
TF: How will YouNow keep building a name for itself in the ever-growing world of live streaming platforms? And in the face of monsters like YouTube?
AS: The entire Internet is evolving not only to video platforms but to real-time platforms. So there is room for many different flavors of live video. We have only seen increased usage and engagement as the market gets educated about this new format and as other services join us in the space.
We are proud to have made a strong impression with the creator, teen, and millennial crowds who are especially loyal and passionate about us. In fact, YouNow users spend an average of ~50 minutes per day on the service. And 70% of those on the platform actually interact in some way. We are both a network and a community, and that is unique.
TF: What’s the best thing happening with YouNow right now and what are your goals for 2016?
AS: We are excited to see millions of users adopting the platform and YouNow’s own stars growing organically on the network, gaining traction and influencer status. Creators are using YouNow to engage their audiences and drive to action. Young stars, such as Connor Franta, use YouNow to raise serious money for charity. Recently, YouTubers Caspar Lee and Joe Sugg did a broadcast to promote their new comedy DVD. During the broadcast, they sold over 8,000 DVDs as pre-orders, which drove their DVD to #1 on Amazon and iTunes.
Media companies, like Buzzfeed, Huffington Post and Refinery29, are using the platform to connect with users on a more intimate level. We will certainly be seeing more of this. New features like Guest Broadcasting give creators and media companies another tool that helps them further connect and engage the audience, enabling them to participate in the content.
Guest broadcasting allows an audience member to immediately be featured alongside a broadcaster on screen. The broadcaster and the guest can both interact in front of the entire viewing audience. Guest broadcasting empowers creators to invite collaborators or their fans to join them onscreen, musicians can collaborate across continents, and dance battles, cook-offs and drawing contests can unfold seamlessly. Guest broadcasting also enables fans to meet their YouNow idols face-to-face.
Looking ahead, our goal is to lower the bar for on-camera participation. We have some great new social features coming up, enabling audiences to participate and interact with each other, even more than they do today.
TF: What kinds of creators have seen success on YouNow? Why?
AS: The successful creators are interactive, they embrace the new format, and they interact with their audience back and forth in real time. They build and nurture their audiences by regularly broadcasting — whether it’s music, talk, art, beauty, fashion, etc. And they openly appreciate their fans. We have a mix of homegrown talent, like musicians Emma McGann and Hailey Knox, artists like Snowmarite, and entertainer Zach Clayton. There are also many top YouTubers like Dan Howell (who has 1M fans on YouNow) and Phil Lester, as well as Top Viners like the Dolan Twins and King Bach who see great success on the platform.
TF: Years from now, what legacy would YouNow like to leave in the live streaming world? What do you want it to be known for?
AS: We will always be proud to have been the early innovators. It’s exciting to see YouNow talent being discovered, leveraging their YouNow success to break singles into the top of the charts, being selected for reality TV roles, etc. It’s a revolution. People can find an audience without having to stand in line for gatekeepers — they have direct and immediate access to an audience. And the audience curates the network, deciding what gets discovered. Together, the audience and the creators are collaborating within a completely fresh entertainment format that is participatory and interactive and new. And the fact that we have created that – that is rewarding.
You can hear from Sideman, along with a host of other live streaming and online video executives, at Stream Con NYC. Get your tickets right here.
