As a busy grad student with an unpredictable schedule, I find myself sporadically consuming content online 5 minutes at a time — on the train, in between classes, sometimes in my Uber and right before bed. I naturally gravitate towards watching videos when I need a quick energizer, which has become a key means to satisfying my information and entertainment needs. However, finding something worthwhile often takes sifting through heaps of crappy videos and falling prey to trendy clickbait. I recently came across Hyper, a video magazine that lets the pros do all that heavy lifting so that we may spend less time searching for quality video content and more time actually watching it.
Short-form video is dominating mobile content consumption
In 2013, various studies have predicted that video is the future of content marketing. Today, we see that prediction take form:
- YouTube has over 1B users and is still growing
- Facebook recently doubled its daily video view to a whopping 8M in less than 6 months
- Snapchat now boasts 400M snaps daily, getting the once skeptical DJ Khaled on board and now averages 3M views/snap (major 🔑)
- Twitter is making big bets on video and spent $86M to acquire and embed Periscope into its platform
The trend is clear — short-form video is here to stay and Hyper has figured out how to deliver a magical experience watching videos.
Hyper delivers the best and newest videos to you daily through a seamless experience
Hyper delivers anywhere from 6 to 12 curated videos (1 to 20 minutes in length) daily through an incredibly simple, yet beautiful interface. Unlike other platforms, Hyper has HUMANS (not algorithms) find the best and newest content on the web.
It seems to be winning in that department because these featured videos tend to show up trending on Facebook and Twitter a few days later (Humans 1, Machines 0 — thank goodness). Hyper delivers this experience in a way that I find absolutely breathtaking, following many principles of good product design.
High-quality, purposeful curated content
While video platforms are not new, what makes Hyper different is the type and quality of content that the app surfaces. With a team of film-makers and journalists hand selecting content daily, Hyper achieves what seems to be a perfect balance between variety and purposeful content — it can be something we’re not typically drawn to, but can appreciate and learn from.
Simple, beautiful interface
In case you haven’t seen it yet, the product is beautiful with its grid layout, bold typography and consistent color palette. But it’s not just beautiful, it’s also very thoughtfully designed.
- Ridiculously simple. Hyper cuts through the noise with a clear “less is more” approach. Similar to Snapchat, the clean UI is driven by gestural interactions — you can play and pause with just a tap anywhere on the screen, unlike other video players that awkwardly force you to press a tiny button. Rewinding and fast-forwarding on the app is also unconventional, but highly intuitive — simply drag your finger across the screen in the desired direction and the video responds almost instantaneously, which takes me to my next point.
- Fast. Very fast. There is no discernible lag between the moment I tap the screen and the moment when the video begins playing. Likewise, navigating between and playing new videos is lightning fast. This makes for a delightful experience, especially as I’m consuming shorter, light-weight content. However, this does beg the question of how Hyper can operate so rapidly — is it running in the background loading videos and eating my data?
- Clean, unobtrusive interface. Hyper’s curators must be so convinced about the quality of the chosen content that they do not offer any other alternative. And it works perfectly because I tend to consume most of the content presented each day, one video after the other. It also helps that there are no ads to be found anywhere, and it doesn’t require me to enter any user information — zilch, nada.
Guilt-free, no notifications.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about Hyper is that I find myself opening the app almost daily without any notifications. The content is really that awesome, especially for those of you who hunger for something more intellectually substantial. In a world where apps are constantly pinging you to boost their engagement numbers, Hyper refreshingly manages to provide an honest experience that brings you back by virtue of its quality rather than forcefully by flashy features.
Hyper is still in its Beta phase and has already delivered what many other videos platforms have failed to deliver — an incredible user experience for short-form videos. However, it’ll be interesting to see how Hyper deals with the challenges of scaling and monetization while maintaining the authenticity of its underground artistic appeal. To explore some of these tensions, there are three monetization models that Hyper could pursue, but I believe that freemium would be most suitable. Here’s why:
- Advertisements: This could result in higher volume and lower cost to implement, but this detracts from the user experience. For an app that stands to cut the noise, this would really take away from some of its core value that Hyper provides.
- Paid App: Hyper is one of those high quality apps that could get users to pay for download and remain faithful to the product. However in doing so, Hyper would prevent users that are not comfortable paying for app from partaking in the awesome experience it provides. As a result the aggregate volume of purchases would likely be significantly lower.
- Freemium: By subscribing to a freemium model, Hyper would allow all users to download the app and experience its amazing content and design. Hyper could limit the number of videos that users can view per day from say 12 to 3, and users would be able to unlock each day’s entire edition by paying a subscription fee. This would essentially mimic the purchasing habits associated with magazines — users can pay a flat $5–15 per month — a competitive price point that is in line with most freemium content apps.
Hyper will have some tough trade-offs to make in the future once they pursue monetization and scaled growth, however, I believe they can compete on the same level as other major video platforms as long as they stay committed to their vision.
