Last week there was a record deal in the world of YouTube – close to for a billion dollars acquired Disney's YouTube multi-channel network Maker Studios, which has over 55,000 channels, with 380 million subscribers and 5.5 billion views in one month.

Although Estonian readers may find these sales and viewership figures cosmic, we could also think of our own multi-channel network (MCN) creation, which would first focus on the Estonian or the Baltic market.

YouTube MCN

What multi-channel network is and why have large corporations become increasingly interested in YouTube networks? Disney is still popular on YouTube today, for example "Frozen" animation short clip has amassed over 164 million views, while its in the official explanation it is said that the main point of the acquisition is to understand the nature of YouTube based short video content, the technology and of course the large viewership.

MCNs generally also produce their own video content, but engage a significantly larger audience through their partner channels.

Creating an Estonian MCN?

Today, there is no network in Estonia or the Baltics that aggregates popular channels and pays channel creators. Several Estonian video game makers and others have therefore joined forces with Fullscreen Network, which is one of the largest networks in the world with 5,000 channels and approx. 3 billion views per month.

In order to start from scratch, it must be taken into account that as long as there is no YouTube Partner Program in Estonia, technically not all solutions can be taken into account. However, it is only a matter of time.

Certainly, the first Estonian-language MCN has great advantages over other entrants, at the same time it requires proper investments in the form of creating its own studio, and the payback period should be considered at least 3-5 years.

It should start regular video content mapping of popular producing channels, analyzing their capabilities and target group. The most important keyword is regular content, then the subscriber base of the channel, and only last should you monitor the viewership numbers.

However, MCN also means own content creation, which means that the company has its own studio in which the video content for YouTube is produced.

Example: Student TV

A few years ago, TTU students started the Tipikas TV project, a little later the analogous BFM/TLÜ Tudengi TV started, which means that video content for students is produced by students in two large Estonian universities. It is possible that the same is done in some other universities and several high schools / gymnasiums.

Today, both projects are relatively in the shoes of children or students, but we can imagine a situation where some company / organization has an overview / ability / contacts regarding all Internet-based programs of Estonian secondary schools and universities. Let's say that all channels have a total of twenty thousand subscribers and a few hundred thousand video views in one month. This is already a target group that would make even older TV media figures investigate what they are doing and whether they should buy the company.

If the same company or organization could at the same time collect and manage some other areas a'la sports, the purchase price would also be many times higher, because, for example, what sports company would not be interested in being able to spread its message by communicating with one partner in all of Estonia's most popular on basketball and football YouTube channels.

Who could?

I predict that today the ability to create an MCN based on Estonia and the Baltics will be available to the following:

1) Media companies a'la Eesti Meedia, which recently became the largest news media in Latvia. At the same time, I very much doubt that the Estonian online media today even understands the potential of YouTube - both Postimees and DELFI only press their own video players and live streaming on their YouTube channel is a very dark place for them.

At the same time, large media companies are definitely the first interested parties who would be interested in acquiring (read: not buying) an MCN with Estonian-language content.

2) Video production companies, who has technical and video production competence. It is somewhat easier for them to offer their techniques and knowledge to creators, so that the quality of the video content increases, and thus the audience and numbers.

With a relatively small additional cost, a number of smaller players could be included in their network, and they can be offered a studio and equipment if necessary.

The main problem is probably the understanding of Internet-based video marketing, because today video production companies mainly outsource to advertising agencies.

3) Advertising and marketing agencies, who have competence and contacts in the marketing world, but who, after reading this post, first think that "ok, let's offer the students of BFM and TUT some cardboard so that they can sell the sold-out advertising by us in their videos". With this attitude, they will remain advertising and marketing agencies, it will be very far from MCN.

In Estonia, YouTube content marketing is still at an initial level, because viewership numbers for one clip are considered more important than regular video content and the number of subscribers to the channel. In the near future, the first ones who are able to combine channels producing regular content together with fan bases in thematic packages will not only be players in the advertising market, but will also step on the toes of Estonian online media.

Summary

The Estonian-language market is very small, we cannot talk about cosmic sales or viewer numbers here. At the same time, there is no player on the market today who is able to gather popular domestic YouTube channels, support them in the creation and distribution of videos if necessary, and see this as an opportunity to capture a large target group. In the perspective of a few years, there is definitely an opportunity to earn a decent penny.