Jonathan Azeroual spent a decade working in finance before shifting his focus to helping content creators make money from their audiences. His startup, Promeet, applies blockchain technology to democratize monetization in the creator economy. 

Promeet allows anyone to instantly start charging fans to view live video events on a pay-per-second basis using cryptocurrency payments, with no subscriptions or fees beyond taking a 5% cut. Jonathan argues the traditional influencer sponsorship market is “dying” and platforms take too big a share, so creators need new ways to monetize their followings directly. 

He envisions Promeet revamping television programming and live e-commerce selling. But first, the startup aims to solve the key challenges of upending the status quo by favoring big platforms while educating people on blockchain-enabled monetization alternatives.

Bringing Banking Tech to Help Creators Monetize

Jonathan spent a decade working in finance at banks, hedge funds, and brokerage firms worldwide before turning his sights to content creators. “I have an MBA in finance. I worked for banks, hedge funds, you know, brokerage firms all around the world in London, New York, Paris,” he says. “For the past ten years, I’ve been working full-time in the crypto slash blockchain industry.”

What initially attracted Jonathan to blockchain was “the technology itself.” However, after a decade in the space, he began looking for new applications of the technology to solve real-world problems. “After ten years in that space, I kind of, you know, turn the table and say, okay, let’s find a problem people have like mainstream, and let’s try to solve it with this new technology,” the finance veteran says.

The problem he zeroed in on was how to help the 98% of creators who make less than $1,000 per year monetize their content. His solution is Promeet, a startup he founded that creates monetization opportunities for creators through blockchain technology.

“We basically built a tool that lets anyone, anyone in the world, start monetizing their live event in less than 60 seconds,” Jonathan explains. “And the only reason why we can build a product that doesn’t have any friction is because we use this amazing [blockchain] technology in the background.”

While the initial focus is on helping creators monetize their time and audiences, the Promeet CEO sees potential applications for the platform with brands as well. “These days, the big market is brands trying to sell products online,” he notes. “And [Promeet] can also take brands in that space, letting people pay on the spot for the products they want and love.”

Promeet’s Pay-As-You-Go Model for Live Video

The primary service Promeet offers creators is facilitating live video meetings and streaming on a pay-as-you-go basis. “We facilitate meetings—think about Zoom or video conferencing—and we are offering streaming,” Jonathan explains. “You can do video conferencing or live streaming. And for both, you can monetize on a pay-as-you-go basis.”

With Promeet’s model, creators only charge for the actual time viewers spend in their live sessions. This removes friction and allows fans to sample a creator’s content easily.

Jonathan positions Promeet as “anti-subscription,” allowing creators to monetize across platforms without locking fans into recurring payments. “You don’t want to commit on a yearly or monthly basis to consume content from myriad creators.”

As he notes, the pay-per-view approach democratizes monetization. Unlike platforms like Twitch, which only contract with 6% of channels, the financial expert says, “Anyone is free to start making money from their audience from the first second they sign up to the product.”

Promeet earns money by taking a 5% cut of creators’ earnings, with no subscription fees or premium tiers. “The business model is transparent—you get value from the product, and we get value from the service,” says Jonathan.

Standing Out by Monetizing Across Multiple Platforms

Jonathan believes creators must look beyond relying solely on brand sponsorships or a single platform’s monetization tools to make money. “The market of brands sponsoring influencers is kind of dying. The brands are not paying as much. And the problem is the agencies are actually taking a big cut.”

Instead, the banker-turned-entrepreneur encourages creators to directly monetize their audiences no matter where they have built a following. “If you have people that care about what you say, if you manage to create attention and views, why not monetize your content directly from your viewers?”

According to Jonathan, the key is being active on multiple platforms to reach different audiences. Promeet facilitates this with simple payment links that unlock pay-per-view on Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and more.

“It’s very important for creators to have a presence on three, four, five, six platforms to attract different types of audiences,” he advises. “Then you can start monetizing all those places instead of just one.”

When asked about strategies for creators to maximize reach and engagement across different platforms, Jonathan acknowledges there is no one-size-fits-all approach. “Every creator in their own space probably would have different techniques to attract an audience.”

Helping Creators Diversify Income Streams

Jonathan sees Promeet as a way for creators to diversify their income beyond traditional monetization models like subscriptions and ads. “We want to change the model and ensure value goes into creators’ pockets. We give them the freedom to choose their price and monetize their audience directly.”

By facilitating live pay-per-view video events with just a 5% fee, Promeet allows creators to get paid instantly with minimal intermediaries, according to Jonathan. “We’re targeting live events because that’s where people will most likely pay – when they are living the moment and giving you their time.”

He sees the biggest challenge as the current status quo, where major platforms capture most monetization from the creator economy. However, the industry veteran believes the biggest opportunity lies in education:

“Showing people that there is an alternative, powered by blockchain technology, that has a lot of promise to change people’s lives in ways we don’t understand today. There is an education part that needs to be done.”

Promeet’s Vision: Reinventing Live TV and E-Commerce

Jonathan sees major opportunities for Promeet to reinvent two huge markets in the coming years: television and e-commerce.

For television, his vision is to create a new model where anyone can produce and broadcast live shows that others can discover and pay to watch. “We can build a platform where everyone can create live content that anyone can consume. If you want to visit the Egyptian pyramids with the best guide in 30 minutes and pay $2 for it, some people will try that,” he says.

The idea is to have a central hub where people can channel surf through an array of live shows, events, and experiences from around the world – bypassing traditional TV channels and networks.

Jonathan also sees potential for Promeet to transform e-commerce in a “live context.” Much like how Shopify enables anyone to create an online store, he envisions Promeet allowing direct video selling. “You can show me products, and if I like what I see, I can just pay you on the spot, and you ship me the goods I paid for,” he explains. “You actually see what you buy and can talk to someone if you have questions.”

By bringing the interactivity of live video to e-commerce transactions, Jonathan believes Promeet can provide a more engaging shopping experience.