The Web2 iteration of the internet promised to democratize the global media landscape; however from video streaming to social networks, a few big platforms dictate what content gets seen, how creators get paid, and how user data gets exploited. This, in effect, has left many content creators feeling short-changed and powerless as platforms like Instagram, Meta continue to reap the lion’s share of advertising revenue while artists and influencers struggle to monetize their work.
To help resolve this imbalanced status-quo, POPOLOGY® Network has devised a decentralized broadcasting network that flips the existing script and offers a gamified, community-driven broadcasting platform, redefining how content is owned, curated, and rewarded, something that is in stark contrast to say a YouTube or Facebook, two platforms that do not distribute power or payouts across their users in a democratized fashion.
Within the POPOLOGY® ecosystem, content isn’t confined to a single site or feed; instead the platform includes a metasearch engine (the “POPsphere™”) that aggregates videos and streams from across numerous sources, surfacing media based on community curation rather than corporate algorithms.
Users become curators by assembling “POPcasts®,” i.e. playlists or channels of content recorded on blockchain ledgers for transparent ownership and tracking. In a sense, POPOLOGY® turns every user into a potential broadcaster or even a “citizen journalist,” empowered to curate digital culture on their own terms. Each curated stream can even be minted as a media-stream NFT, providing verifiable ownership of the curation and a new way to monetize influence.
A tokenized economy within a gamified environment
At the heart of POPOLOGY®’s ecosystem is a tokenized economy that aligns incentives for creators, viewers, and advertisers. Furthermore, the platform runs on a dual-token model wherein there is a main utility token (called POPOLOGY®coin) alongside an in-app points system known as POPs. These are basically non-tradable reward points earned through user activity or fractional units of the main token (the system fixes 1,000 POPs as equivalent to 1 POPOLOGY®coin).
Users accumulate POPs by watching streams, engaging with content, and curating or sharing broadcasts, and those points can later be redeemed for the main utility token or spent within the platform for perks like content boosting and premium features. In this way, POPOLOGY® provides a stable internal reward currency while still tying engagement to real crypto value.
Similarly, every viewer action is measured and incentivized such that watching a video to the end without skipping, allows a user to “mine” a batch of POPs. Similarly, clicking on a sponsored link or interacting with an ad can also earn bonus points while hitting the skip button can result in points being lost. In other words, the more actively a user participates, the more they earn.
Equitability is the name of the game
Perhaps most crucially, creators and influencers benefit directly from this model as the network automatically splits advertising and sponsorship revenues in a way that radically departs from the status quo. Rather than the platform keeping nearly all of the accrued ad income, POPOLOGY® shares 50% of net ad spend and even data revenues with its members, including the influencers who produce content and the fans who help amplify it.
All of these transactions are underpinned by a public blockchain ledger ensuring that when a brand sponsors a stream or an ad runs, the agreed-upon split is instantly and transparently distributed to the creator and engaged viewers.
Lastly, under the hood, POPOLOGY®’s core architecture (including its multi-source video search and decentralized streaming system) is backed by a recently awarded U.S. patent which covers a method of connecting up to 25 different content platforms via a blockchain-based metasearch engine, coupled with a tokenized system for equitable digital rights management and ad-revenue distribution.
Therefore, as discontent grows with today’s centralized media silos, POPOLOGY® offers a glimpse into a different path, one where content is community-curated, creators and fans are co-owners in the network, and even a few minutes of watching a video can earn a real stake in the platform’s economy.
