Video monetization
How to Monetize Videos on Your Own Website
Pick the model. Set the price. Sell from your own site.
Video monetization for clubs, studios and arts groups: which model fits a live event, a program or a replay library, what platforms take, and how to sell on your site.
Live class for members
Sold from your own websiteSell every ticket and pass on your own site
Match the model to the video
Decide per video, not per site. A ticket suits the one-off night, a membership suits the weekly schedule, and the table further down does the matching.
Set the price, know the fees
Build a ladder: single ticket, monthly, full year. On your own WooCommerce store the card processor takes the only cut of each sale.
Stripe charges 2.9% + 30¢ per domestic card in the US.
Buyers pay, then they watch
Ticket holders pay at your WooCommerce checkout and open the stream from their confirmation email. Visitors without the order can't watch, because WpStream keeps the stream closed to them.
Buyers watch the live stream and, once you publish it, the replay on the page where they paid.
Turn on Lock to Website and the stream is displayed only on your website, never on anyone else's.
Pick your model
Which way to monetize videos: pay-per-view or subscription?
For an organization, video monetization means earning from the video it owns by selling access to it. Pay-per-view is one payment for one event or one video.
A subscription is a recurring payment for a program or a library. The video decides which one you sell. Not the platform.
Both video monetization models run on the same site, and the strongest offers combine them.
The table below matches each kind of video to its model, and SVOD vs TVOD has the full definitions.
WpStream has no ad support, and the pricing page lists "No Ads" on every plan. If ad revenue is your model, WpStream is the wrong tool.
| Your video | Sell it as | Why it fits | On WpStream |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your video: One-off live event (final, gala, premiere, workshop) | Sell it as: Pay-per-view ticket | Why it fits: One payment for one event: buyers "pay a specific fee to access and watch a particular event" (WpStream docs) | On WpStream: Pay-Per-View Live Channel with a price |
| Your video: Recurring program (weekly classes, a season, a series) | Sell it as: Subscription: monthly, annual or season pass | Why it fits: Members pay for the schedule, not the session (why single sessions start from zero) | On WpStream: WooCommerce Simple Subscription, with Global Subscription Mode or Attach to Subscription per program |
| Your video: Replay library | Sell it as: Inside the subscription, or pay-per-view per title | Why it fits: The library carries the weeks members miss | On WpStream: Pay-Per-View VOD made from a recording, or VOD attached to the plan |
| Your video: Live event plus its replay | Sell it as: One pay-per-view product, switched to Video on demand after the event | Why it fits: Buyers rewatch without paying again | On WpStream: Change the product type from Live stream to Video on demand (WpStream support) |
| Your video: Program plus a special event | Sell it as: Subscription, plus a separately sold pay-per-view event | Why it fits: The season pays the bills, the final sells on its own | On WpStream: Global subscription, plus the final as a product not attached to it |
Six ways clubs, studios and theatres price a stream
Each price below comes from the organization's own page, checked September 26, 2026. Most of them sell more than one shape.
The GLVC Sports Network sells a single game, a month and a full year at the same time, and each fan picks the commitment they want.
Single-game pass
The GLVC Sports Network keeps single-game pay-per-view at $15 per broadcast for 2026-27. One home game, one payment, no commitment: the easy yes for a visiting family.
Monthly subscription
GLVC charges $32 per month. The River Yoga in Denver sells a $29/Month Stream Membership with live classes and the library of on-demand sessions.
Season pass
GLVC's Full Year Access Pass covers the 2026-27 academic year for $145, with an early bird rate of $135 for fans who bought by August 14.
With a season pass, the money usually comes in before the season starts.
Short pass
New for 2026-27, GLVC sells a 4-Day Baseball/Softball Pass for $20, which gives fans 96 hours of access.
It fits a tournament weekend better than a monthly plan (four days, not four weeks).
Performance ticket with a replay
San Francisco Opera sells each livestream performance for $25, and every ticket includes the recording on demand for 48 hours. After that window, the replay closes.
Library-only tier
Big Shoulders Yoga in Chicago charges $80 a month for its online membership with live classes, $35 for the on-demand library alone and $15 for a single online class.
Subscriptions are won or lost
after the first payment.
Members leave every month
Antenna's Q3'25 report puts U.S. specialty SVOD churn at 6.6% a month, a figure that has ranged from 6.6% to 9.2% each month since 2023. Sports SVOD churn stands at 5.1%.
At rates like these, a program likely has to keep selling just to stay level.
Some members leave by accident
Recurly's July 2026 benchmarks put median annual churn for digital media and entertainment at 4.14%, and 1.59% of it is involuntary: a payment failed.
By our math, failed payments cause roughly 38% of that churn (1.59 of 4.14 points).
Recurly's fixes: "intelligent retry logic, automated dunning emails, and Account Updater services".
The annual answer
Our view: a season or full-year pass is paid once, up front, so there are fewer renewals that can fail.
It also suits the fan who already plans to watch every home game (and would rather not think about billing again until next season).
What does a video monetization platform take from each sale?
Platform fees come in types, not as one number.
A hosted platform can take a share of each sale, charge a monthly fee for each subscriber, charge a flat plan, or mix them.
Card processing usually sits on top, unless the platform says its commission already includes it.
Vimeo OTT Starter uses the per-subscriber model: $1 per subscriber a month.
App stores add their own cut, but only when you sell inside an iOS or Android app.
Google Play, for US users from June 30, 2026, charges a 10% service fee plus a 5% billing fee on auto-renewing subscriptions. A sale at your own website's checkout doesn't pay it.
On your own site with WooCommerce, the card processor's fee is the only cut of each sale, and the platform bill is a flat plan.
| Fee type | How it is charged | Example (vendor's own page) | Card processing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fee type: Revenue share | How it is charged: A percentage of every sale | Example (vendor's own page): Patreon: 10% on the standard plan, for pages published after August 4, 2025 | Card processing: On top: 2.9% + $0.30 |
| Fee type: Per-subscriber fee | How it is charged: A monthly fee for each paying subscriber | Example (vendor's own page): Uscreen Growth: $149/month billed annually + $1.99 per subscriber | Card processing: On top |
| Fee type: Per-transaction commission | How it is charged: A percentage plus a fixed amount per purchase | Example (vendor's own page): Dacast paywall: 9.9% + $0.40 per purchase, from the Event plan ($63/month billed annually) | Card processing: Included: Dacast says the commission "factors in" processing |
| Fee type: Flat plan | How it is charged: One plan price, no cut of sales | Example (vendor's own page): WpStream: from $24/month (Lite), metered in hours; payment goes through your own WooCommerce store | Card processing: On top: your processor's fee only |
| Fee type: Card processing | How it is charged: Paid to the processor on every card sale | Example (vendor's own page): Stripe (US): 2.9% + 30¢ per domestic card. PayPal Checkout (US): 3.49% + $0.49 | Card processing: This is the processing fee |
| Fee type: App-store cut | How it is charged: Only when subscriptions are sold inside an iOS or Android app | Example (vendor's own page): Apple: you receive 70% in a subscriber's first year, 85% after | Card processing: Not charged on your own site's checkout |
Buyers pay your WooCommerce store. WpStream charges hours, never a cut of tickets.
Lite
Lite: $24/month, $190/year or $36 one-time. 100 broadcast hours, 500 viewer hours, 25 recording hours, up to 200 viewers at once, 5 live channels.
A 1-hour class watched live by 40 members uses 40 viewer hours. Twelve classes a month use 480, inside Lite's 500.
Plus
Plus: $59/month, $490/year or $89 one-time. 250 broadcast, 2,000 viewer and 100 recording hours, up to 1,000 viewers at once, 15 channels.
A home game with 250 fans at once is over Lite's 200-viewer cap, so it needs Plus. Recording hours count the length of video you keep in your library. Compare every plan.
The trial
The pricing page says it: "All paid plans include unrestricted PPV streaming." Start with the free trial.
Its starter resources (100 viewer, 20 broadcast and 10 recording hours) come with every feature, monetization included.
Fair comparison
When is YouTube or a hosted platform the better choice?
To monetize videos on YouTube, a channel needs "1,000 subscribers with 4,000 qualified watch hours in the last 12 months", or 1,000 subscribers with 10 million qualified Shorts views in 90 days, per YouTube Help.
YouTube then pays 70% of net revenues from channel memberships. If discovery matters more than direct sales, YouTube is the right place.
A hosted platform is the better choice if you have no website or no one to run WordPress, or if you need native mobile and TV apps.
Uscreen's App Essentials plan includes "2 Mobile Apps (iOS & Android)". WpStream sells on your website and documents no native TV apps. Our platform comparison lists the options.
If you already sell tickets or memberships and want the buyers, the orders and the prices on your own site, sell there, on a self-hosted stream.
Sell access to video on WordPress in four steps
WooCommerce takes the payment. WpStream reads the order and shows the stream or the replay only to buyers.
Pay-per-view needs free WooCommerce; recurring billing also needs the WooCommerce Subscriptions extension, $279 a year on woocommerce.com. Four steps put a paid live stream on sale.
Product
Create the pay-per-view product
Go to All Channels, then Add new Pay-Per-View Channel. Set Product data to Live Channel, add a price and publish.
In Channel Settings, enable Record Live Stream before you turn the channel on.
For a recorded class, use Create new Pay-Per-View VOD from the recording, or upload an .mp4 or .mov.
Subscription
Build the membership
Create a Simple Subscription product with a price and a period.
For one pass to everything, enable Global Subscription Mode and paste in the product ID ("This is similar to Netflix", say the docs).
For one plan per program, set Attach to Subscription on each channel or video.
Access
Decide what buyers see
Before buying, a visitor sees the Add To Cart button, or "You did not yet subscribe to this item" on a subscription item (you can edit that message).
After buying, members open the stream from the confirmation email link or My Orders.
Go live
Turn the channel on
Turn the channel on and go live from OBS with the server and stream key, or straight from the browser.
Run a short test first: test streams use broadcast hours, because the channel is active.
After the event
Ticket buyers keep the replay
A pay-per-view live stream always shows the live player, so the recording doesn't appear on the product by itself.
After the event, open the same product, change its type from Live stream to Video on demand and pick the recording under Choose video.
Everyone who already bought it keeps access and rewatches without paying again, as WpStream support confirmed in a customer ticket.
Some organizations sell a fixed window instead: San Francisco Opera gives ticket buyers 48 hours on demand.
Video unavailable. Please try again later.
Before you open the box office
Nine checks to run before the first ticket or membership goes on sale, in the order you’ll meet them.
Nine checks before launch
01
Pick a model for each video with the table above before you build a single product, and write the choice down for your team.
02
Estimate viewer hours: runtime times the people watching. A 1-hour class watched by 40 members uses 40 viewer hours, so multiply by your monthly schedule.
03
Check your biggest night against the viewer cap. Lite allows 200 viewers at once and Plus 1,000, so size the plan for the final, not the average.
04
Install WooCommerce. Add WooCommerce Subscriptions ($279 a year) only if you sell recurring plans; a pay-per-view ticket works without it.
05
Set the price ladder: single ticket, monthly and full year, with an early bird date that gives fans a reason to buy the season now.
06
Confirm you hold the rights to stream the match, the performance and the music in it. YouTube Help asks channels to “clear the rights” too.
07
Enable Record Live Stream in Channel Settings before you turn the channel on. The record setting can’t change while the channel runs.
08
Run a short test stream and a test purchase from a non-admin account. Test streams use broadcast hours, so keep them short.
09
After the event, publish the replay for ticket holders. Then edit the not-subscribed message so visitors know exactly which pass or ticket to buy.
Sell the home game before the whistle, not during it.
What paid-stream organizers say
Excelent Brand
I run pay wall live streams on Rumbleinthebronx.live who I use WPstream for. I contacted them to introduce myself, and discuss what I would like to do.
They had a very fast response time in replying, and have very excellent customer service. Their platform is real easy to understand, and use.
I want to give them a 5 star rating. I would give 10 stars if I could highly recommended.
I’ve been waiting for something like this
Excellent plugin. i can finally quit using zoom for live streams and monetize content easily.
Read on WordPress.orgAwesome find
★★★★★WpStream @streaming4wp #STRAIGHTALK Live Video Plugin for all your Live Streaming needs on WordPress. Monetization with WooCommerce.
It only took a few minutes to upload and activate this plugin if you plan on doing any video streaming and you want full control of your data.
Go deeper on video monetization
How To Sell Access To Live Streams On Your Website
Gate live streams with WooCommerce and WpStream, step by step, with the cost math and the recording trap covered.
How do I restrict video content to paying subscribers on WordPress?
The order check, three access models and a step-by-step setup for a program only paying subscribers can watch.
SVOD vs AVOD vs TVOD: Which Model Fits Your Stream?
Subscription and pay-per-view models explained with real revenue benchmarks and audience thresholds, to find the one that fits your program.
Questions about selling your video
No. On your own website there’s no minimum: one sold-out performance or a class of 40 members is enough to start, and the subscriber thresholds belong to YouTube’s Partner Program, not to a site that sells its own tickets.
With WpStream, what you need is a plan with enough viewer hours for the people who actually buy.
Count five items: a WpStream plan from $24 a month or $36 one-time, free WooCommerce, WooCommerce Subscriptions at $279 a year if you sell recurring plans, card processing per sale (Stripe takes 2.9% + 30¢ per domestic card in the US) and your WordPress hosting.
The full cost breakdown does the math.
Yes.
Run a global subscription or season pass for the weekly program, and sell the final as its own pay-per-view product that isn’t attached to the subscription, because the WpStream docs say a global subscription covers everything except unattached products.
The GLVC Sports Network sells single games, months and full-year passes side by side.
Yes, when you switch the same product from Live stream to Video on demand after the event: everyone who bought the ticket keeps access without paying again.
Turn recording on in WpStream before the channel goes live, because the setting can’t change while it runs.
Start from what members already pay in person, then build a ladder with an early bird date to pull sales forward.
Big Shoulders Yoga prices its online membership with live classes above its library-only tier, and on WpStream each rung is its own WooCommerce product.
Your ticket price competes with a subscription explains the one-off side.
Yes: the WpStream plugin runs on WordPress, and its WordPress.org listing says “Pay-per-view requires WooCommerce.” A membership plugin such as MemberPress can gate a free channel instead.
If you have no website and no one to run one, a hosted platform may suit your organization better.
You can make it harder: access follows the buyer’s order, Lock to Website keeps your WpStream player off other sites, and Encrypt Video makes on-demand files harder to download.
No setting makes sharing impossible. Read how video DRM works before a big event.
Viewer hours are the total watch time of everyone watching, paid or free: the WpStream pricing page’s example is 10 viewers watching for 1 hour, which uses 10 viewer hours.
Monthly hours reset and don’t roll over, while one-time hours don’t expire. When hours run out, the docs say a few limits “may apply” until you top up.
Ready when you are
Start your free trial
Try live broadcasting and replays on your website.