Reel Cash Brings Full Transparency to Streaming Services Ratings for the Benefit of Subscribers and Talent Worldwide

The growing dominance of streaming studios over traditional media has impacted contract negotiations for actors and writers in 2014 and again in 2017 with no access to verifiable statistics on viewership for any given program.

Cryptocurrency startup Reel Cash aims to change that by launching a global initiative on Wednesday July 25 that enable SVOD subscribers to be paid for sharing their viewing data with a film industry digital token that also funds original content including features and streaming series.

“Users maintain pseudonymity by authenticating through Stellar account keys when necessary, preserving privacy,” explains Reel Cash Lead Developer Rez Khan. “We also distribute a public key as a way to verify authenticity of the server.”

There have been a lot of attempts to crack Netflix’s (NASDAQ: NFLX) black box, including a new initiative by Nielsen (NYSE: NLSN), but for some reason none of those initiatives ever considered the rights of the subscriber to be compensated for their viewing data or even give them the opportunity to opt-in or opt-out.

“The Netflix and YouTube (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Terms of Service simply announce to subscribers that they agree to the collection of their viewing data,” said Reel Cash founder Jeffrey Carr. “In an era of increased attention and legislation for consumer privacy, that really shocked us.”

ICOs and digital token launches like Reel Cash have the potential to break up centralized structures like the major studios in favor of a more equitable, distributed one like Reel Cash. “The next time that SAG-AFTRA, IFA, or WGA has a contract negotiation coming up,” says Carr, “we hope that they’ll contact us. We’d be happy to give them access to our REEL DMP without charge.” This data can also be provided to agencies and law firms to help negotiate the best deals for their talent clients as well as content financiers in the industry.