Divan.TV to use blockchain to ‘tokenise’ video streaming platform

Ukrainian over-the-top service, Divan.TV, has announced plans to ‘tokenise’ its offering, creating a new blockchain-enabled version of its platform.

The company said that Divan.TV 2.0 aims to “eliminate intermediaries and benefit users, content owners, and advertisers” and will be part of a new wave of blockchain technology companies that it expects to revolutionise the pay TV market.

Divan.TV 2.0 will use a ‘freemium’ model. Users will earn up to the equivalent of US$10 a month in the platform’s D1T token by watching movies and TV shows, which they will be able to spend on premium content.

The D1T token will be the platform’s payment method between users, content owners and brands. Viewers will get 30% of the advertising revenue the platform gets in D1T tokens; content creators will get 50% of ad revenue; while the remaining 20% of revenue will be a platform service fee, used to cover operating costs and support business growth.

“Through decentralisation and an internal token economy where all parties directly transact with one another, we solve the main market problems,” said Andrew Kolodyuk, founder and Chairman of Divan.TV and founder and managing partner of AVentures Capital.

“Viewers can benefit by earning our tokens and having free access to premium content afterwards, brands can reach target audiences through advertising. Content creators get a larger, and well-deserved, share of the ad revenue pie.”

Divan.TV said it expects its new model to reduce piracy and fraud, increase transparency and solve the problems of “improper targeting and data manipulation”. The OTT service currently claims two million users across 195 countries.