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*** 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!

----------------------------------

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 

3 Responses so far.

  1. Reckful says:

    Great interview! You are spot on with the questions you asked.

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