Where did Utreon go? You’ve probably heard about Utreon, a video hosting and streaming platform launched a few years ago as an alternative to YouTube.
However, if you have been keeping up with the latest YouTube alternatives, you might have noticed that Utreon is no longer around. So, what happened to the platform?
Below is a detailed review of Utreon, what happened, and some interesting facts about the video platform.
Utreon rebranded as Playeur
If you haven’t heard about Utreon in a while, it’s for a good reason: the platform rebranded to Playeur.
The company has not offered much information about their reasons for rebranding. However, according to Playeur’s roadmap, the rebranding occurred in 2023 after the completion of the Beta stage.
Despite rebranding, nothing much changed about Utreon, and its features are still available in Playeur.
In fact, since rebranding, the company has introduced several more features, including video purchases and rentals, YouTube and Twitter integration, a content moderation system, and an intelligent content recommendation system.
Therefore, if you are looking for Utreon, you can find the platform (with some new cool features) on Playeur.
The platform was built to offer an alternative to YouTube’s use of algorithms
Utreon creators built the platform as a better alternative to YouTube, especially concerning content creation.
According to Edward Bayer, one of Utreon’s creators, the company was hoping to solve several challenges facing YouTube, namely:
- Issues revolving around the use of algorithms to recommend content to users.
- Problems with content discovery, moderation, monetization, and lack of transparency surrounding these issues.
- The appearance of YouTube’s subordination to Google’s interests
According to Bayer, many YouTube content creators had also become disillusioned with the platform after the 2017 Adpocalypse, when the platform demonetized several channels.
The demonetization of YouTube channels was in response to an uproar by advertisers, who were angry that the platform was pairing their ads with violent and hate speech content on the platform.
Unfortunately, YouTube introduced a vague, automated system for demonetizing “inappropriate” channels to appease the advertisers. Consequently, many content creators with good channels were caught in the crossfire with little recourse.
With many content creators unhappy about YouTube, Utreon creators jumped on the opportunity by looking to create a platform that would offer a more supportive system for content creators.
However, according to Bayer, while looking to challenge YouTube, Utreon did not want to go to the extreme of totally free speech with no censorship, as many other YouTube alternatives have done.
It offers several features to support content creators
Playeur is purposefully designed as a video platform for supporting and promoting content creators. To this end, it has several features lacking in mainstream platforms like YouTube.
One of the top features of Playeur is its subscription-based monetization system. Content creators can set up different subscription tiers on the platform for their followers, just like on Patreon.
In fact, many see Playeur as a blend of YouTube and Patreon (regarding monetization), and the company’s original name—Utreon—may have been a play on that similarity.
In addition to monetization, Playeur offers a human-controlled content discovery algorithm, which allows viewers to decide what they want to see.
Unlike YouTube, which uses an automated (and vague) algorithm for displaying videos, players focus on metadata and filters. This allows users to select what they want to watch and prevents a scenario where a single entity makes the ultimate decisions on content discovery.
Fair content moderation is another top feature that Playeur offers to content creators. Unlike YouTube, which is often accused of heavy-handed censorship, the platform allows content creators to post about issues that are usually unfairly censured on mainstream platforms.
For example, due to Playeur’s fair content moderation, the platform is now seen by many as a haven for gun content, a topic that has become heavily censored on YouTube.
Playeur does not have an ad revenue monetization system
Many proponents of Playeur praise the platform for offering better content monetization features. In addition, one of Playeur’s selling points to content creators is that they earn more from their monetization than other platforms.
However, one area where Playeur is lagging is ad-based revenue. According to the company, the ad-based revue feature has yet to be rolled out, although it could be introduced in the future.
However, while the platform does not offer ad-based revenue to content creators, it does offer them a way to earn passive income. This is made possible by offering Playeur Plus, a subscription-based membership plan, to the plaform’s viewers.
Currently, the platform has three Playeur Plus tiers (ad-free with unlimited downloads, amongst other features), starting at CAD 5.99/month. 55% of the subscription fees are shared amongst content creators based on the videos watched by each user.
The platform is selective of content creators
An interesting thing about Playeur is that, unlike platforms like YouTube, it is pretty selective of its content creators. Aspiring content creators must first apply before being allowed to post content on the platform.
On top of that, not every content creator is accepted on the platform:
“We are only accepting select creators at this time that would best suit our use case, while we continue to scale infrastructure.”
The few accepted content creators must meet several requirements, such as being established on platforms like YouTube, Patreon, and OnlyFans.
Hopefully, the selective acceptance of content creators will change once Playeur becomes more established. Consequently, this will allow more people to share their content on the platform.
Playeur is one of the several YouTube alternatives that are popping up
Playeur is just one of the several video hosting and streaming platforms that have emerged as alternatives to YouTube and other giant video platforms in recent years. Some other notable names include Odysee, PeerTube, LBRY, Bitchute, Veoh, and Dtube.
These alternatives have come to offer solutions to common issues like extreme censorship, poor content monetization, and ad overload plaguing many mainstream video platforms.
While platforms like Playeur are not large enough to break the monopoly of giant mainstream video platforms, they are quickly gaining popularity daily.