"...I haven’t really checked up on the Rooster Teeth model, but to expand on what I was thinking of-
Let’s say you have show that puts out a 30 minute episode every other Monday- an episode every two weeks. You make it available for free- but you only get it in 5-minute chunks on a couple of days a week. Monday and Thursday, say.
Over the two week period between the release of one 30 minute show and the release of the next 30 minutes, you give away 20 free minutes- giving you a backlog of 10 minutes for freeviewers.
In the next two-week cycle, you produce another 30 minutes and you screen another 20 minutes for free.
You’re up to a 20 minute backlog.
Over two months you end up with (4x30min episodes=120mins of content) and (8x5mins freeview=40mins of freeview), leaving an 80 minute backlog of content to lure new paying customers.
Potential customers get to see your show in a cut-down trickle, while actual customers get it in it’s full glory- and all your site content is trumpeting what’s in the new show, and how big the archives are, and which are the most popular episodes (which may or may not be available to freeviewers, as they might be in the backlog limbo).
For sure, people might rip the content and torrent it, or dump it onto YouTube, or otherwise try to work around your distribution- that’s almost a given in the internet environment, though. The thing is, customers won’t have to torrent the files, or suffer the YouTube cuts- they can watch the show in bite-size chunks on your site for free, or subscribe and get it in more meaty portions.
Wait, that didn’t come out right. Anyway.
It’s a model that makes it convenient for content grazers, who just drop in twice a week to watch 5 minutes of programming. It’s convenient for new subscribers, who get access to that backlog and can binge. If it’s backed up by a solid community and extras (podcasts can be quick and easy to produce, commentary and behind-the-scenes content can be similar, shooting scripts and animatics can be shown, outtakes and cut scenes and whatnot), it’s a good investment for ongoing subscribers.
As an aside, kill advertising for paying customers, or make it an option (an upgraded account of some kind). They’ve paid you already- give them the content, not banners and those stupid video inserts that try and sell a car before watching a man get kicked in the dick on YouTube...."
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