Books, movies and TV shows have long relied on a so-called windowing strategy to maximize profits on new releases. First-run movie tickets and hardcover books grab the big dollars from the biggest fans, before cable runs and paperbacks reach secondary audiences at lower prices.

Jason Kilar, who built Hulu into a leading TV and movie subscription service, thinks windowing could also bolster the profits of short, online video makers. His new service, Vessel, which opened to beta testers last week, will charge subscribers $3 a month for three days of exclusive access to the kinds of clips that have typically appeared on YouTube for free (with ads). “Watch your favorites here first,” is Vessel’s tagline.

At the start, subscribers will be able to watch Vessel videos, generally 90 seconds to 15 minutes in length, on the web or via an iOS app for iPhones and iPads. An Android app and connections to set-top boxes, game consoles and smart TVs are coming later. Subscribers still see some short ads along with the videos. Videos will appear free with more ads after the three-day exclusivity window ends. And, at that point, video makers will be free to post their clips to YouTube or other sites.

Kilar says the goal isn’t to overthrow free sites like YouTube but to improve the economics for video makers to entice more and better content online. "Vessel was created to serve as a critical, missing piece of the puzzle for content creators, with Vessel playing one part among many that collectively help creators achieve their dreams,” he wrote in a blog post last month.

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Vessel's pitch to video makers is straightforward. Vessel will pay out 60% of its subscription revenue and 70% of advertising revenue in return for the exclusivity window. YouTube celebrities now usually get only 55% of ad revenue from Google (GOOGL) and typically make a few dollars per thousand views of their videos. Vessel estimates it will pay out 20 times that return -- $50 per thousand views -- for the videos it carries exclusively.

Already an assortment of top YouTube stars and mainstream media networks have signed on. The list ranges from Shane Dawson, who has over six million subscribers to his parody videos on YouTube, to the massive Machinima videogame network to the record label Warner Music Group. Most of their videos will still end up on YouTube after the three-day window.

Paying up for exclusive content

Some analysts are comparing Vessel to HBO (TWC), ESPN (DIS) or Netflix (NFLX). “Consumers have bought millions of video subscriptions online already,” notes Rich Greenfield, analyst at BTIG Research. "Although it is more premium content, Netflix has had global success with over 50 million subscribers."

Greenfield sees a virtuous cycle developing, as the subscription dollars attract more and more talent to Vessel’s service. Two million subscribers could sign up, which would be more than enough to get such a dynamic rolling, he says.

But Google isn’t passively watching all its top YouTubers defect to a competitor, either. The company has been offering significant bonuses to top video creators in return for multiyear exclusivity deals, the Wall Street Journal reported last month.

The biggest question for Vessel, though, is how many of the people who like to watch short videos are the kind of people who will pay $3 a month for early access. "The real challenge for Vessel will be to develop a following of consumers that find it valuable to return to the service day after day or week after week,” says Brett Sappington, director of research at Parks Associates, which surveys online viewers regularly. "They have to have enough new content to keep folks coming back."

Vessel won’t benefit from one of YouTube’s greatest strengths, the incredibly viral spread of popular videos, Sappington warns. "While a video can go viral on YouTube and can be watched by anyone, Vessel's pay wall will likely prevent a video from being watched by anyone that is not a subscriber,” he says.

And Vessel CEO Kilar isn’t the only one experimenting with pay-video for short clips. Vimeo announced a partnership with Maker Studios, the Walt Disney-owned network that pulls in almost 10 billion Youtube views a month, to create exclusive content. The new clips will appear initially only for rent or purchase on Vimeo’s on-demand service. Facebook (FB) has also been recruiting short video makers in what’s seen as a possible challenge to YouTube’s dominant position.

Vessel hasn’t announced when it plans to open to the general public, but the launch is expected soon. Until then, it’s anybody’s guess whether there’s a big audience willing to pay for small videos.

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