To reinvent itself and preserve jobs, a Johannesburg-based startup has quickly built and launched an end-to-end online video streaming platform – Send it – that enables content creators to monetise their audiences through free, or pay-to-view, live broadcasts.
Co-founders James Coetzee and Brandon Muller say Send it is an easy-to-use platform that allows users to create a unique webpage for their online broadcast, choose to monetise it or grant free access and then go live at the scheduled time.
The platform launched in about mid-May and is currently free for anyone to use that is hosting free live broadcasts.
For those hosting paid streams, Send it charges a 5% fee, which goes toward covering the cost of credit card processing fees.
Coetzee says the startup has been in the event and media industry for many years and has seen the devastating financial impact that Covid-19 has had on many related creative industries of late. He explains that there are lots of chefs, fitness and dance instructors struggling to make ends meet.
However, Muller notes that, unfortunately, until now, there has not been a ‘one-stop-shop’ tech platform for these creatives to use to generate income by delivering pay-to-view live broadcasts.
Send it has also built an enterprise solution that enables the delivery of zero-rated or reverse billed video content either live or on-demand. This means that enterprises can foot the data bill for their end-users.
A conferencing solution will also be included in this enterprise suite in the future.