Access Protocol — reinventing content monetization

Today, we are excited to announce Access Protocol — a new way for content creators to monetize their work while improving the ease with which a consumer can connect with and support creators.

The problems to tackle

Most revenue generated by content creators and digital media companies comes from selling advertisements. This monetization model, which was embraced at the advent of the internet, created misaligned incentives that have pushed many content creators and digital media companies to produce low-quality, often clickbait content.

Creators and more specifically digital media companies that have built premium brands can persuade their audience to pay for their content directly via business-to-consumer (B2C) subscriptions. Subscription monetization offers better revenue predictability (recurring revenue) and per user economics. As a result, many content creators have started to migrate towards a business-to-consumer (B2C) subscription model. This monetization model better aligns interests between the content creator and the consumer since it incentivizes the creator to continue producing value for their audience so that the consumer renews their subscription. However, there are tradeoffs.

The B2C subscription model’s paywall introduces friction and alienates some percent of potential consumers who will either never want to pay or never have the means to pay on an annual basis. Inherently, there are fewer individuals able to access content than those that are interested. In summary, this monetization model suffers from low audience penetration rates (often <1%) and suboptimal value capture.

Mainstream examples include

• Bloomberg has <400k paying subscribers out of the 60m-80m monthly active users (MAU)
• Netflix stock is down 63% from its all time high. The streaming company has lost over 1.17 million subscribers in 2022, with 970,000 subscribers lost in Q2 alone 36% of Americans share their Netflix account passwords. As a result, Netflix is rolling out a feature allowing subscribers to add extra members for an additional fee
• The Washington Post lost 10% of its subscribers between January and October of 2021 (Source)

Are there alternative web3 enabled models that reduce consumer friction while also improving creator value capture and reducing the exclusionary nature of B2C subscription models?

Access Protocol is introducing a new model. The protocol takes the recurring fees that premium creators enjoy today and pair them with reduced sign-up friction for consumers. The pairing will enable wider distribution of content and that broader access will lead to a better educated society long term. The design space achieved by Access’ alternative model unlocks entirely new ways for consumers and creators to engage with one another.

If you are excited about the future of the relationship between consumers and creators please email info@accessprotocol.co, we would love to chat!

A technology stack to support mainstream adoption

Digital content creation is the lowest common denominator for user onboarding into crypto. There are billions of users who consume content from digital media publications or independent content creators on a daily basis. Access Protocol intends to bridge the gap between mainstream consumers and crypto users to bring a better monetization model that benefits both consumers and creators.

The foundation’s largest consideration when making technology stack decisions was scalability. Long term, Access protocol will support tens of millions to billions of non-crypto individuals and as a result, choosing the right ecosystems with an eye towards the future is critical. The protocol will be launched on Solana followed by deployment on Starknet. Due to minimal transaction fees, a high growth ecosystem and existing infrastructure — exchanges, payment providers, custody solutions and wallet — Solana made sense as the protocol’s initial ecosystem.

A Starknet instance is in the final stages of development and is on track to be audited during Q3 2022. The Access ecosystem will benefit greatly from Starknet which is amongst the most promising and robust scaling solutions on top of Ethereum. More information on releasing Starknet support will be coming soon.

Roadmap to launch

Our technical infrastructure will be ready for launch in late-Q3 2022.

In the coming weeks and months we’ll have exciting news to announce such as:

• Initial launch partners who will integrate with Access Protocol.
• If you are a creator interested in working with Access as a launch partner please reach out to info@accessprotocol.co or fill out this form
• Details on how users can utilize access to read content produced by content partners on Day 1 of the protocol’s launch
• Details on protocol functionality and why this model is beneficial to content creators, digital media publications, and consumers alike

It is our goal to create a fully decentralized platform owned by creators and consumers who contribute to the ecosystem. In the spirit of that, Access has not received any investment to date and has been funded via community grants. More detail will be shared on the ecosystem’s path towards decentralization in the coming week.

If you are interested in participating in this alternative monetization model you can fill out this form to get in touch with our team to learn more.

To receive updates, please follow our Twitter account @AccessProtocol, or head over to AccessProtocol.co.