Vessel was a commercial video service launched in early 2015 by former

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

executives Jason Kilar and Richard Tom. Vessel was acquired by

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...

on October 26, 2016 and was closed on October 31, 2016.

History

The service resembled

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

, whereby a viewer could watch videos for free. However, viewers could add "Early Access" at a $3 monthly or $20 annual fee to their account, which allowed them to view videos a minimum of 72 hours before the video is released to the general public. Vessel then created mobile applications for

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

and Android devices which optimized the videos for mobile viewing. The idea behind the site was that creators would be able to gain more revenue from their videos than on YouTube due to the subscription fee as well as advertisements. After the site was created, YouTube personalities such as LinusTechTips, Craig Benzine, Connor Franta, Shane Dawson, Doug Walker, Caspar Lee, Tanya Burr, '' Good Mythical Morning'', '' Epic Meal Time'', Super Best Friends Play, Marcus Butler, Kent Heckel, LaToya Forever, Delaila Johnson, Tre Melvin and Jack Vale signed up to have their content streamed on Vessel. On October 26, 2016,

Verizon Communications Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...

announced that it had acquired Vessel, and that it would be shut down on October 31. Vessel's team was hired to revamp Verizon's fledgling video streaming service

go90 go90 was an American Internet television service and mobile app owned and operated by Verizon Communications. The service was positioned as a mobile-oriented "social entertainment platform" targeted primarily towards millennials, featuring a ...

(resulting in 155 members of the service's existing staff being laid off), with Richard Tom retained and appointed as chief technology officer of Verizon Digital Entertainment. Kilar departed after the sale.

References

External links

* Internet properties established in 2015 Internet properties disestablished in 2016 Defunct video on demand services Subscription video on demand services Defunct subscription services IOS software 2016 mergers and acquisitions Verizon acquisitions Former video hosting services {{website-stub

History

See also

References

External links