VHX has been working hard to make it easier for independent content owners to sell their videos online. And now it’s working to make it easier for consumers to find and enjoy the content that they’ve bought off the platform, with the introduction of a video library that stores all their purchases in one place, along with the launch of an iOS app.
Over the past few years, VHX has powered direct-to-consumer sales of video content online at a time when selling your content direct to fans has become a pretty popular idea, especially among comedians and independent filmmakers. The breakthrough example for this type of success came with Louis C.K.’s direct-to-fan release of a comedy special a few years ago; since then, a number of other people with an independent fan base have begun marketing their own content online.
Rather than go through the usual distribution channels, content owners and producers are finding they can more profitably sell their videos and attract audiences on their own. And, for the most part, consumers seem to be on board with the idea, as well.
VHX now has more than 3,000 titles on the service, according to co-founder Jamie Wilkinson, and more than a million customers have purchased something sold through its service.
To date, most of those sales have happened through the content owners’ sites. They’re able to do this because VHX provides a turnkey solution for selling and distributing videos, enabling content owners to just upload files into its backend and host videos wherever they want.
But as its library of content for sale expands, and as new users show up to purchase it, inevitably users will end up owning more than one title distributed through VHX. That’s already happening, Wilkinson said, with more than 60,000 customers owning two or more pieces of content sold on the platform.
To make it easier for VHX customers to keep track of their content, the company is introducing a library where all their purchased videos will be stored. Users can now view their libraries on the VHX website itself, or they can access it through a new VHX iPhone app.
With the app, they’ll also be able to do a lot of cool other things. Like, for instance, download a piece of content for offline viewing or Airplaying the video through Apple TV directly onto their televisions.
In addition to iOS, VHX is working on an Android app, which is coming soon. And over time the company will also work toward making its service available on Roku and other connected TV devices.
While having libraries and an app will give customers new ways to access their content, it also opens up new opportunities for VHX to make sales. That is, by providing a destination for owners of its content, over time it will be able to suggest new releases and other titles that consumers might want to purchase. By doing so, it’ll be able to make more sales, which means more money for content owners on its platform, as well as itself.