MindBites, a paid-content instructional video site that launched earlier this year, has introduced a mobile version that allows users to stream guides to their iPhones. Users that access the standard site from their iPhones will automatically be redirected to the mobile version.
MindBites differs from most of the other how-to sites because it requires viewers to pay to view a video (they can watch a one minute preview for free). Each video costs around $2.00 (less if users buy credits in bulk), and $1.00 of each credit spent goes to the video’s creator. The system is designed to increase content quality by providing a financial incentive for experts to create videos. This of course comes with a trade off - people are probably more likely to just head over to a free how-to site.
It’s nice to see how-to sites beginning to go mobile, especially since we often need them when we aren’t sitting in front of a computer. But the pay-per-view nature of MindBites will make the mobile site effectively useless for nonmembers - nobody is going to enter credit card information from their phones.
There are many other how-to sites on the web, including Howcast, 5min, and VideoJug, but few of them are mobile-friendly.
http://www.ehow.com has a mobile experience. check it out from your phone or type in wap.ehow.com.
interesting idea
Why would people not enter credit card info from there phone? I do with iTunes and I am guessing it is just as safe as entering it on my computer. Am I wrong?
I haven’t seen Mindbites but I assume you are paying for quality and credible advice and instruction. I use MonkeySee.com because they seem to be the only ones that feature people with easily validated credentials and it is free. 5 min is just an aggregator with no checks and balances and VideoJug told me to sweep my lawn with a broom (guess landscaping techniques in the UK are a tad different). Just looked at Howcast and while it has a nice interface, the few videos I saw seemed like they were just actors and campy narrations…I don’t understand taking advice or directions from sources without credentials. If I wanted uneducated advice on a matter I’d listen to my mother-in-law. Ha!
Thanks for the post Jason. One point I would restate though, is where you state “they require users to pay,” I would say (or add) that we “allow author to publish content for sale.”
Yes, for users this creates a different experience - just as the difference between “learning” by flipping on your tv and catching whatever the Food Network or HGTV happens to be showing vs. spending your time and money to go take a class, search out an expert, or go buy a book at Barnes and Noble. (As a side note, we do actually offer some content for free, including a set of Mobile Picks specifically for iPhone surfers and a Free View of the Day.)
History has shown that publishing has always been a spectrum of models from ad-supported to pay per content and every mixture in between. Entertainment content tended to be more ad-supported — e.g. when you wanted to be entertained you flipped on the tv or radio, while instructional content tended to be pay for content — when you need to learn something you buy a book, take a class, or spend a lot of time figuring it out yourself.
Truth be told, as an platform, we do plan to allow authors to offer ad-supported content, as well as other marketing alternative in the coming months. We just chose to start with the thing which they simply couldn’t so anywhere else — Create something valuable and get compensated directly for doing it.
Thanks again for checking out our iPhone site. We’re pretty happy with how it turned out. For anyone thinking about building their first iPhone site, we’ll also be publishing a post later today with our Top 5 learning from the experience.
On the whole Jason does have his reasoning for the pay-per-view model, but unfortunately a lot of those rules are thrown out online. There is such a plethora of content online which you can find with a simple Google search, that few people are actually going to pay to watch an instructional video online.
The good thing is it’s cheap, but people will inevitably ask why they have to pay at all. People try to get everything free online; ringtones, books, movies, music, and hell, even porn.
It’s going to be hard to convince people to pay for this video content when they’re already using a medium that allows them to find similar content for free elsewhere.
The value of Mindbites or other sites in this category will be determined by the quality of the advice in the how-to videos. I see that Mindbites and the other how-to sites allow for users to rate the videos. I would be curious to know from Jason how they qualify someone as an expert. Do they have any extra criteria? What makes Mindbites better from a content standpoint than its competitors?
This is a cool idea, there are lots of possible uses. I’m not in agreement about entering CC info, the tech isn’t any more or less secure than doing it otherwise. Plus, I use Paypal for stuff like this anyway and they have my billing info stored.
Now if they could keep me from locking my keys in my car, it would be perfect!
Anthony - Good points. I don’t think the rules are necessarily thrown out online (we heard too much of that in the late 90’s), but we did learn that it is a different medium and uses and consumer behaviors take time to evolve. I of course wouldn’t argue that all instructional content will be free, but that there is a place for for pay instructional content on the web as well. What’s interesting about all of the spaces your mention — ringtones, books, movies, music, and porn — is that there exist many businesses providing value to customers and making money selling each of those types of content in spite of everything available for free. So, why should instructional content be different?
Conrad - Our mantra is to let the market decide. Just as you read the back cover to understand who wrote a book before you sell out $20, we try to enable the market to judge who is credible and what is quality content.
This is a really interesting idea. Sure people can go to free sites, but as Jason mentioned the incentive to the producer of the video to create a really high-quality informative video is greater if he/she knows they will get paid.
This could be a great place for people with strong reputations in certain areas, to put up their content and do mini-tutorials and classes to help spread their knowledge. They will have to spend time figuring out who those content providers can be and how to incent them to produce valuable videos.
Great idea. Finally an intelligent way to give back to the content creators!