OpenTV a way to deliver training? Would you buy?
Now that I'm getting close to finishing the book one of the things I'm thinking about is offering a Core Animation training class. I've been brain-storming over ideas about how to deliver that training. The traditional means is reasonable I think and I'll probably do a class through my friends at About Objects but I'd also like to do something innovative with online delivery.
Lynda.com has one approach that I think I like. For those not familiar you pay a subscription to get access to tons and tons of great training. They have lots of good samples and stuff for you to grab to get a feel for if you like the content or not so you don't get left feeling like you made a mistake. You know what you are getting going into it. A decent model. I don't know though how much I'd make from providing them additional content.
Enter OpenTV Network. I like the model and as a content provider getting 85% of the revenue is a great deal. [Philip Hodgetts has an interesting write up of what he thinks of this (I think he is the founder of Open TV) new distribution and a pricing model.] The basic idea is that you open a 'tab' with OpenTV and when you spend a preset amount (say $15 or something) or over a preset time limit (once a month) your tab would be settled with your credit card (like a bar tab). So when you buy a 5 minute video for $0.25 you won't see a single twenty-five cent charge on your credit car. Instead all the videos you buy would show up as one charge.
So the question is, what do you think? If I did a 3 to 5 minute video of how to do something with Core Animation would you pay a quarter for it? Would you subscribe to it at 6 to 8 episodes a month? Is it worth it to you to have a video podcast type format to learn CA with. Doing simple one off stuff like my quick and simple intro to CA here are one thing. But doing a consistent video podcast is another, it takes a lot more commitment and investment (well I really want a new mac pro anyway, but this would be a great excuse).
I'd be interested in buying online CA courses. For me the perfect format would be short videocasts (3-5 min as you suggest) on how to do certain things with CA.
The ideal format would be video podcasts via iTunes or direct link. It needs to go to the iPod.
I don't know about subscription model and pricing. Perhaps paid subscription a la Daring Fireball RSS feed? On one hand I don't want to pay for something up front that is never delivered. On the other hand I'm not too fond of lots of small payments.
But all of this is less important if the content is really good.
Posted by Joachim on January 22, 2008 at 02:24 PM MST #
Thanks Joachim for the comment.
Re:On one hand I don't want to pay for something up front that is never delivered. On the other hand I'm not too fond of lots of small payments.
I think this is part of the beauty of OpenTV's model. You only pay for what you want. You could grab just one pod cast for the particular topic you are interested in and you would not be billed until your 'tab' comes due.
I might give it a shot once they get fully launched and see how it goes.
Posted by Bill Dudney on January 22, 2008 at 03:29 PM MST #