Just two days I spoke about StartYourTube, a website which allows you to start your own video sharing service, however niche, to cater for people similar to you.
StartYourTube uses the popularity of YouTube in a number of ways, by mimicking the name, and using the sale of YouTube to Google for $1.6 billion to entice people to sign up.
It’s not the only site to use YouTube to increase its own profile, and one which has done it brilliantly successfully is GodTube, a Christian video sharing site which has just obtained funding to the tune of $30 million. We first spotted this site about a year ago.
$30 Million Investment
Rafat Ali at Paid Content reveals the news of the $30 million injection of cash from investors, on top of the $2.5 million which the site had already secured earlier in its life.
What’s amazing about this level of funding is that the site only launched last summer in Dallas, Texas, but has seen itself become one of the fastest growing websites on the Internet.
Massively Popular Niche
GodTube is now so popular that it boasts 2 million users a month – nothing compared to YouTube of course, but enough to warrant a huge investment.
The company’s CEO and co-founder Chris Wyatt was previously an executive producer at CBS, so knows television.
What he also seems to have realised is that the future is Web-based, and his decision to focus his attention on that side of the business now looks to be completely justified.
YouTube For Christians
The site is basically a YouTube for the religious, allowing Christian programming to be shown on the Internet freely and easily.
The site was started on a $300 script, so the technology used has had nothing to do with its success. Rather, its the brilliance of taking a proven concept, adding an inspired but ultimately stolen name, and targeting a huge audience.
Inspired Business Model
As well as video uploads, the site offers churches the chance to stream their services live through a program called Godcaster, which the site charges a subscription fee for.
GodTube is undoubtedly a huge success, and proves that new start-ups can compete with YouTube by offering something niche to a needy audience. Maybe I will sign up for StartYourTube after all.
