Former Hulu Boss Launches YouTube Rival 'Vessel', Offers Free One Year Subscription
All aboard! Ladies and gentlemen, you may now hop on Vessel, a streaming video website that was previously an invitation-only affair during its beta phase. To kick off the launch of the service, you can enjoy access to the site free for an entire year at no cost, after which the $2.99 per month subscription will kick in, should you decide to stick around.
What is Vessel? It's the brainchild of former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar and CTO Richard Tom. The premium service offers viewers early access to the videos and shows produced by prominent short-form creators before they're served up to other sites for free.
"Creators offer their new videos exclusively on Vessel for a limited time, typically 72 hours, after which they are available for free on Vessel and anywhere else creators want to make them available (whether it’s on their own website, on YouTube or elsewhere)," the Vessel team explains in a blog post.
There is a wide range of participating creators -- everything from Phil DeFranco's show "The Vloggity" to clips from NBC's The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. You'll even find PC hardware reviews from LinusTechTips and online interwebcomic bits from Cyanide & Happiness.
The question remains, will users pay for access to this kind of stuff? Perhaps not right away, hence the free access for a year, which will allow Vessel's reputation to grow.
At present Vessel is available on the web and on iOS devices. An Android app will be developed sometime in the coming months.
What is Vessel? It's the brainchild of former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar and CTO Richard Tom. The premium service offers viewers early access to the videos and shows produced by prominent short-form creators before they're served up to other sites for free.
"Creators offer their new videos exclusively on Vessel for a limited time, typically 72 hours, after which they are available for free on Vessel and anywhere else creators want to make them available (whether it’s on their own website, on YouTube or elsewhere)," the Vessel team explains in a blog post.
There is a wide range of participating creators -- everything from Phil DeFranco's show "The Vloggity" to clips from NBC's The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. You'll even find PC hardware reviews from LinusTechTips and online interwebcomic bits from Cyanide & Happiness.
The question remains, will users pay for access to this kind of stuff? Perhaps not right away, hence the free access for a year, which will allow Vessel's reputation to grow.
At present Vessel is available on the web and on iOS devices. An Android app will be developed sometime in the coming months.
