Jason Kilar’s Vessel to launch in the New Year

Former Hulu boss Jason Kilar is set to launch his new video venture Vessel early next year, providing “early access to the web’s best short-form videos” for a low subscription fee.

Announcing details of the service, Kilar said that advanced access to content on Vessel will cost US$2.99 per-month, while a free, ad-supported version, where videos become available after their early access period, will also be offered.

“Vessel’s business model (subscription and advertising) will deliver unusually attractive economics for creators,” claimed Kilar, who said that the service aims to help content creators build “sustainable, enduring businesses.”

According to Vessel, while digital content creators often only earn “low, single-digit dollars for every thousand views their videos generate,” on its service they can hope to earn roughly US$50 for every thousand views – “up to 20 time the levels earned from free, ad-supported distribution”.

Vessel is billing itself as a “critical, missing piece of the puzzle for content creators,” with video makers that use the service free to continue earning money by distributing their videos on sites like YouTube, after Vessel’s early access period.

As of yesterday, content creators are able to apply to use the service, with a consumer launch of Vessel to follow in the New Year.

Kilar is running Vessel with former Hulu CTO Richard Tom, both of whom left Hulu in early 2013. The service reportedly raised US$75 million in funding earlier this year.