*** ApocTV.com has secured an exclusive interview with Hashd.tv's CEO Martin Wyss. I also brought Mark from bananaconda.net to co-interview Martin with me. ***
Exclusive Interview with Hashd.tv's CEO Martin Wyss
[ApocTV]: How did the name "Hashd" come about and what is the meaning?
[Martin Wyss]: Our first idea was
to name the streaming service Hash.tv, related to the hash tag used by
Twitter (#). However, this domain was already taken, so we used a
combination. Hashd is a combination of Hash and HD for High
Definition. Our idea is to tag streams and videos, so you will easily
find videos and streams related to your keyword. This feature is yet to
be implemented but it will allow for simple quick keyword tagging, this
in combination with our HD streams leads to
Hashd.tv.
Are there any features to Hashd that 'other' streaming sites don't have that you would like to tell me about?
While our tagline
"Livestreaming innovated" at this moment might seem deceiving, that is
due to our beta version having little to none of the innovative features
we have in mind. In this current version, I'd say there
are two little nice features. For example we allow streamers to tick an
option if they so desire which will only let viewers who have turned
AdBlock off, this is completely the streamer's decision to make, and
we're simply giving them the option.
Another
small thing is that unlike other streaming platforms, you are able to
create multiple streams under one account, with names that do not have
to coincide with your Hashd.tv account name, we believe this makes for a
more user friendly system. However, those
are very very small things in a list of ideas we have, which most of
will be available as we progress away from the Beta phase. For example
once our new design is on, we plan to experiment with the 'Featured
streamers' part of the website, where instead of
simply letting popular streamers take up the whole place we want to
reserve a timeslot every week that displays small and upcoming streamers
for a whole day, we believe in building a proper community up, and many
of those small streamers have insane quality
content that never gets any attention.
One of the signature features to Hashd is the ability to block viewers from using Adblock. How exactly does Hashd do this?
It is pretty
simple, without going into technical part of things, we can detect if a
viewer has AdBlock turned on. If the streamer has it turned on, then our
player will be 'blocked' to him, the site will simply display
an image that basically says 'The streamer has requested that you turn
AdBlock off in order to view this stream'. We are aware it can be a
controversial feature which is why like I mentioned before, we leave the
decision completely up to the streamer.
The rumor is that Hashd will offer higher CPM payouts for partners than competitors, can you tell me any more on this topic?
This is a very
important question that requires proper explanation. There's many
factors involved as to why our CPM payouts could be quite more
attractive to partners. For starters, it's much easier to become a
Hashd.tv
partner at this stage where we are still growing bigger. The minimum
average viewers required to attain partnership and a respectable CPM at
Hashd.tv is a lot easier than on other streaming platforms, but that
particular feature is mainly aimed at small-mid
sized streamers, what about the bigger ones you might ask?
Well, for
starters we're well aware that our streamers and viewers is what makes
us, without them we're nothing and thus we aim to develop a healthy
transparent relationship. For the really big partners
we can offer the revenue share CPM program, instead of the flat rate,
and they would really get the amount we earned, no hidden fees involved.
We have already made some healthy deals with various Ad Agencies
worldwide which allows us -with confidence- to say
that we are capable of being on par with the flaterate CPM in the
market, and we can even go further with the revenue share. We also offer
subscriptions like other competing platforms, and the percentage we
take out of each subscription varies from one partner
to another, it will be agreed upon in our contract with the partners.
So yes, you can say that we offer higher CPM technically, but it's not that simple as saying we will
always offer higher CPM. It depends on the partner, it depends on
the preferred revenue method, and a few other aforementioned factors.
Does Hashd offer percentage-based revenue sharing or flat-rate for partners?
I guess this
question has already been answered before, our main option is flat-rate
CPM, but we can also offer revenue sharing depending on the streamer's
status and numbers.
For North America, where are your ingestion servers located?
We've heard rumors that there's no ingestion server on the west coast (ie Los Angeles).
Any plans to expand?
We have servers in
Dallas, Texas. However, since we had issues and were forced to switch
server software right after our Beta launch, we haven't activated those
servers yet, they will be up in the next few days.
This is just the
beginning, of course we plan to expand further than Amsterdam and
Dallas, one of the main reasons we launched this early is to test
everything and allow the public to be involved as we grow further
and remove every obstacle in the way.
Initially rumors were that Hashd is Own3d.tv, just with a new name.
Does Hashd have any affiliation with Own3d or any other streaming sites?
No, we are not
affiliated with Own3D.tv in any way or form. We started Hashd.tv from
scratch and we’re located in Zug, Switzerland. We can see why people
could relate us to Own3D as we're using Bootstrap as well, we decided to create a very simple clean design until we implement our new design soon.
Not only are we
located in a different country and run by an entirely different team,
but we also have a completely different business model from Own3D.tv. We
will not promise things we can not afford, even if it
means that we don't land any of the big streamers for a while, we
simply can't go out and pay some streamer a large sum simply for signing
with us, that business model will inevitably lead to failure. We are
growing step by step, and we believe with our server
structure, upcoming innovative features, and true interaction with our
community we will reach our goals.
What are your philosophies on what makes a great streaming service?
Our main goal is
to deliver a high quality streaming service, with innovative features
that the community truly wants to see. We believe that the key to
success is interacting with the community, listening to every
single suggestion, and always delivering based on feedback. However,
there's one aspect that I just mentioned that we believe can make or
break a streaming platform; the business model.
Do you have any features that might help low traffic/volume streamers with excellent content to expand their viewership?
Yes, it's one of
the things we discuss a lot within our team, looking at all those
streamers who do not get the proper viewership despite putting in a lot
of effort and having an amazing stream. I already mentioned
this but doing a rotation of small upcoming streamers in the Featured
Streamers on our homepage is an idea we hope to implement once we go
live. Reserving one day every week, or an hour every day only for small
upcoming streamers.
We also plan on splitting
each game into further categories, which means when you hover over a
certain game you'll get a list to choose from : All, Pro Players, Shows,
Tournaments, Streamers for example. This means that the chance of a
small streamer being exposed to the public viewer
is a lot higher whenever someone browses based on a specific category
in mind.
Those are just two
things we have in mind, there's many more ideas that we will filter
through when it's time to implement the extra features. If anyone out
there would like to suggest a new feature, related to this
part or anything, please feel free to e-mail us at
suggestions@hashd.tv.
A great
streaming service needs great broadcasters, what are your strategies to
try to pull in high quality content producers? (ie Signing bonuses or
other methods)
Like we have
expressed before, we're not fond of the signing bonuses idea, we don't
think it's a wise way of spending money most of the time. However, it
could be possible in one or two situations, we are still studying
that possibility carefully to make sure we don't steer away from our
business model. When we look at this issue we find ourselves aiming to
get low traffic high quality content producers that do not get much
attention at the moment, and helping them grow bigger.
Since it's extremely hard to get a well-established content producer
due to contracts currently running with competing services.
Is there anything else you'd like to highlight to your future viewers and broadcasters?
We highly
appreciate feedback, it's essential to our growth, so please feel free
to drop us any feedback you have through the appropriate channel. We
plan to grow bigger with our viewers, you will notice our progress
if you visit us often during this beta stage, you essentially become a
Hashd.tv beta tester by using our service right now, whether as a
streamer or a viewer.
It has been great
working with our viewers so far, when we ran the HotS showmatch and we
hit our very first 1,000 viewers it helped us know exactly where our
issues are, and will allow us to fix them systematically.
We plan to hold more of these showmatches and also bigger steady tournaments in the near future, so stay tuned for more updates!
Thank you so much for your time and best of luck in moving into a bright future!
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Huge thanks to both Martin and Raoul from Hashd.tv for the interview. I'd also like to thank Mark from bananaconda.net for being co-interviewer with me!
Make sure you check out Hashd.tv !
-ApocTV
