Built By YouTubers, Nebula is a Rising Star in Streaming
Nebula platform screenshot
By Niya Dobreva
When one hears the word “nebula,” the immediate associations are the colourful, breathtaking images of clouds of gas and dust in space. However, a new nebula has emerged - in the form of a video platform.
Nebula was started by Dave Wiskus, a video creator and owner of the creator network, Standard.
Standard connects video creators (mostly YouTubers) and provides them with valuable resources - ranging from design guidance to sponsorship opportunities and analytics regarding their channels - in exchange for a share of the revenue accumulated through the channel. It acts as a talent agency and a production company. It also gives them access to its new streaming service, Nebula, where one can freely post video content that otherwise might get “lost” in YouTube’s algorithms.
In a unique approach, Standard not only provides resources for YouTubers but it also gives them a share of the company (an equity stake). It is, as Wiskus says, a platform “by creators, for creators.”
So what is Nebula?
Nebula is a video subscription platform created with the intention to help YouTubers become independent from YouTube’s algorithms. It’s designed to complement the creators’ YouTube channels, rather than work in competition.
Nebula gives creators a space to experiment with videos that they might fear to post on YouTube - because their views might drop off as a result of experimental content, or they might get pulled up by YouTube’s automated flagging system, or get punished for copyright infringement and lose money. Nebula aims to complement the YouTuber’s channels by allowing them to experiment and be real without necessarily losing any views on YouTube.
Not that kind of Nebula
Through their profiles, creators can send followers, eager to see more and different content, over to Nebula. Instead of taking a cut from the creators’ AdSense revenue, Standard only collects fees when the company manages to connect YouTubers with brands that they can work with - thereby creating a platform that supports one’s passion projects.
The way Nebula pays its content creators is very different from the way YouTube does. They are not paid based on views - views are actually not even displayed on the platform. Each month 50% of the subscription fees goes into a pool along with the total amount of watch time. Each creator is then paid proportionally to the amount of time people have spent watching their videos. This means that if a creator went viral and generated 60% of Nebula’s watch time that month, they will be paid 60% of the gathered pool of fees.
Recently, Nebula has been working on improving customer’s experience on the website by making it run more smoothly. Wiskus adds that the platform wants to integrate creators’ merchandise next to their videos.
In addition, Nebula is supported by the nonfiction streaming company CuriosityStream that offers a subscription deal of $14.79/year for both CuriosityStream and Nebula. On its own, Nebula costs $5 / £3.60 per month and already has 200,000 active subscribers.
CuriosityStream and Standard also sponsor Nebula’s originals which helps creators produce their own projects that are specifically aimed for the platform’s audience.
Nebula is definitely a rising star in the universe of streaming services and its future seems to be promising with many new innovative developments and an increasing number of subscribers.