{{Short description|Former video hosting website}} {{update|inaccurate=yes|date=October 2010}} {{Infobox company | name = Revver | logo = Revver-logo.png | fate = Shut down | former_name = ChangeTv | founded = {{Start date|2005|05|05}} | defunct = {{End date|2011|08|20}}<br>({{Age in years, months and days|2005|05|05|2011|08|20}}) | hq_location_city = New York City, New York | hq_location_country = U.S. | area_served = Worldwide | website = [https://web.archive.org/web/20110703142159/http://www.revver.com/ www.revver.com] }}
'''Revver''' (originally known as '''ChangeTv''') was an American video sharing website that hosted user-generated content. Until its shutdown in 2011,<ref name="Hérault">[https://irishherault.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/dailymotion-frances-answer-to-youtube/ The Evening Hérault], Revver (started a year earlier, in 2004) – shut down last year</ref> Revver attached advertising to user-submitted video clips and originally offered to share ad revenue with the video creators. Videos could be displayed, downloaded, and shared across the web in either Apple QuickTime or FLV format. Revver allowed developers to create a complete white label of the Revver platform.
==History== Revver was founded by Steven Starr, Ian Clarke, and Oliver Luckett in 2004, and was based in Los Angeles. The website launched on October 29, 2005, and received investment from Bessemer Venture Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Draper Richards, William R. Hearst, III, Comcast Interactive Capital, and Turner Broadcasting.<ref name="Revver in Online Reporter">{{cite news |url = http://www.onlinereporter.com/article.php?article_id=7401 |title = Comcast, Turner Invest in Revver |work = www.onlinereporter.com | date = 2006-08-11 |access-date = 2006-10-21 }}</ref> Oliver Luckett and Ian Clarke departed the company in late 2006, while Steven Starr stepped down as CEO in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Adario Strange |title=Revver CEO Steps Down |url=https://www.wired.com/2007/06/revver-ceo-step/ |website=Wired |access-date=31 May 2026 |date=8 June 2007}}</ref>
In September 2006, a new design was introduced, along with a user dashboard, a web-based uploader, and Flash as a video delivery method. Around the same time as the release, prominent YouTube user lonelygirl15 signed a promotional deal with Revver.<ref name="lonelygirl from AP">{{cite news |url = https://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-09-13-lonelygirl15-confession_x.htm |title = Creators confess to Lonelygirl15 mystery |work = Associated Press via USA Today |publisher = Associated Press |date = 2006-09-13 |access-date = 2006-10-21 }}</ref> After this relaunch, Revver's video count went from 20,000<ref name="Revver in Business Week">{{cite news |url = http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2006/tc20060810_636975.htm?chan=technology_product+review+main+index |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071022201737/http://businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2006/tc20060810_636975.htm?chan=technology_product+review+main+index |url-status = dead |archive-date = October 22, 2007 |title = Revver: A Video-Site on Pause |work = businessweek.com |publisher = Business Week |date = 2006-08-11 |access-date = 2006-10-21 }}</ref> to 100,000 videos.<ref name="Tribune">{{cite news |url = http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0610150251oct15,1,1574851.story?ctrack=1&cset=true |archive-url = https://archive.today/20081202074635/http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0610150251oct15,1,1574851.story?ctrack=1&cset=true |url-status = dead |archive-date = 2008-12-02 |title = Ad buyers beware |work = Chicago Tribune |publisher = Tribune Co. Inc. |date = 2006-10-15 |access-date = 2006-10-21 }}</ref> The site's most popular user, a creator of videos mixing Mentos into Coke, had generated a payment to its creators of US$50,000.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2007-09-13-revver_N.htm|access-date=19 May 2014|newspaper=USAToday|date=2007-09-14|last=Graham|first=Jefferson|title=Posters reap cash rewards at video-sharing site Revver}}</ref> In November 2006, Verizon Wireless and Revver announced a deal to make Revver videos available to subscribers of Verizon's V CAST service. Through this deal, Revver videos did not contain advertisements at the end, but Revver shared half of the revenue from the venture with content creators.<ref name="Revver, Verizon deal in Forbes">{{cite news |last=Hau |first=Louis |date=2006-11-29 |title=Verizon To Broadcast Revver Videos To Cell Phones |work=Forbes |url=https://www.forbes.com/markets/2006/11/29/verizon-wireless-revver-markets-equity-cx_lh_1128markets12.html |url-status=dead |access-date=2006-12-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061207023317/http://www.forbes.com/markets/2006/11/29/verizon-wireless-revver-markets-equity-cx_lh_1128markets12.html |archive-date=December 7, 2006}}</ref>
Revver was acquired by LiveUniverse for US$5 million in February 2008.<ref name="LiveUniverse Buys Revver for More than a Song (about $5M)">{{cite news |url=http://newteevee.com/2008/02/14/liveuniverse-buys-revver-for-more-than-a-song/ |title=LiveUniverse Buys Revver for More than a Song (about $5M) |work=www.newteevee.com |date=2008-02-14 |access-date=2008-05-28 |archive-date=2008-05-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512025337/http://newteevee.com/2008/02/14/liveuniverse-buys-revver-for-more-than-a-song/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> LiveUniverse stopped making regular payments of shared ad revenue to video creators several months after the acquisition. Since August 20, 2011, for unknown reasons, Revver shut its doors.<ref name="Hérault" />
==Revenue model== Revver was the first video-sharing website to monetize user-generated content through advertising and to share ad revenue with the creator.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.cnet.com/Start-up+Revver+zooms+in+on+Net+video+sharing/2100-1025_3-5924327.html|title=Start-up Revver zooms in on Net video sharing|publisher=CBS Interactive|work=CNET}}</ref>
In 2006, Revver was awarded the Most Influential Independent Website<ref>[http://www.tvweek.com/article.cms?articleId=30864] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070429030540/http://www.tvweek.com/article.cms?articleId=30864|date=2007-04-29}}</ref> by Television Week, nominated for an Advanced Technology Emmy Award,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.emmyonline.org/emmy/advmedia_nom_release.html |title=Technology & Engineering Emmy Award Nominees Announced |access-date=2009-04-20 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090422061138/http://emmyonline.org/emmy/advmedia_nom_release.html |archive-date=2009-04-22 }}</ref> and honored as one of the 100 most promising startups by Red Herring. In 2007, Revver announced it had paid out its first million dollars<ref>{{cite web|url=http://newteevee.com/2007/09/12/revver-reaches-one-year-1-million/|title=Revver Reaches One Year, $1 Million|author=Jackson West|work=newteevee.com|access-date=2011-08-14|archive-date=2010-08-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100823174125/http://newteevee.com/2007/09/12/revver-reaches-one-year-1-million/|url-status=dead}}</ref> to online creators and syndicators.
The defining feature behind Revver was the '''RevTag''', a tracking tag attached to uploaded videos. The RevTag displayed an advertisement at the end of each video. When clicked, the advertiser was charged and the advertising fee was split between the video creator and Revver. RevTags were trackable across the web; because the RevTag was part of the video file itself, the technology worked regardless of where the video file is hosted or displayed. Users were further encouraged to share by Revver's affiliate program. An Affiliate was a user who helped to promote videos, through email, sneakernet, peer-to-peer sharing, or posting on their own website or on social networking sites. Revver affiliates earned 20% of ad revenue for sharing videos. The remaining revenue for each video is divided equally between the video creator and Revver.
Revver's upload license allows for redistribution under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Creative Commons License.
==Criticism== In February 2008, Revver was sold to LiveUniverse, which abandoned the creator/syndicator revshare model, starting a precipitous decline in users. On December 9, 2008, Revver sent a message to all its users saying that earnings from June were transferred, and the other earnings would be transferred 'as soon as possible'. But several of Revver's most popular content providers including ScrewAttack and That Guy with the Glasses publicly posted complaints of LiveUniverse owing them vast amounts of money on their websites and began moving their content over to blip.tv.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thatguywiththeglasses.com/site-news/general-updates/2483-revver-be-dead |title=Revver be Dead |publisher=ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com |date=2008-11-14 |access-date=2008-11-14}}</ref> To date, neither company has been paid. Many public complaints appeared in the Revver forums indicating that LiveUniverse would not respond to inquiries.
In 2010, the State of California listed the status of LiveUniverse as "Suspended."<ref>[https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ca/C2750342 LIVEUNIVERSE, INC. :: OpenCorporates]</ref>
== See also == * Viral video * Comparison of video services * Web 2.0 * Metacafe * Break.com
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{Cite web |url=http://www.revver.com/ |title=Revver |access-date=March 28, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111127231526/http://www.revver.com/ |archive-date=November 27, 2011 |url-status=bot: unknown |df=mdy-all }}
{{Video digital distribution platforms}}
Category:Defunct video on demand services Category:Former video hosting services Category:Internet properties disestablished in 2011