What's up guys! Two of my animator friends and I decided to build a streaming platform strictly dedicated to independent animators like ourselves and those on Newgrounds.

We decided to call the platform Fiyah.TV

We've been working on the platform for over a year now and we're happy to finally show the beta to you all in order to get some direct user feedback from the animation community.

For some background, my friends and I graduated from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit in 2016 and immediately saw how difficult it was to earn a living as an independent animator. So we choose to teach ourselves programming and design while working full time jobs.

When building the platform, we were greatly inspired by Twitch, Netflix and Youtube. Hence, Fiyah.TV allows anyone to create their own animated series that fans can support via subscriptions similar to Twitch. The subscription feature will be up and running next week. There is also a live stream on the home page where different shows will be featured, like television.

For now, we ask that anyone interested feel free to post their own show. Just notify me here when you do and I'll approve it.

QUICK POINTS:

1) The platform is still in beta so you'll probably encounter a lot of bugs. Please report any bugs you find here so that we can patch them out.

2) We ask that the shows you create have coherent themes that link each episode to one another, akin to what you'd see on TV.

3) You can post existing content that you've already created.

4) Please do not upload copyrighted content or pornography or your series will not be approved.

5) Please feel free to completely critique any aspect of the platform because we want to make sure that the platform is built for animators by animators.

Thanks for reading and looking forward to your feedback 😊

This actually looks pretty freaking cool. I love the idea of a live TV channel right on the home page, that could be an amazing way for people to find cool new content when there's more shows up. As for the shows on there now, they look like some really interesting concepts and I definitely hope to see more of them.

I've gotta say, I'm pretty impressed and I think this could be a great website for animators looking to make series-based content (Since that seems to be what the main focus is). Honestly, a part of me is tempted to come up with a series for the platform just to get in on the ground floor. I can see some real potential here.

This one's getting bookmarked!

Thanks! We'll take all the feedback that we can get. The overall goal over the next 5 months is to have the creation of an apple tv app in progress. We have to do for animators what twitch did for gamers.

If you think of any core things you think we should add, post it here!

Short version: The animation industry is booming and the creators aren't. I think a Series/Story driven platform will draw up more public support for independent animators. We want to do for animators what Twitch did for gamers.

Long version: Mostly because YouTube and NG arent built around individual subscriptions like twitch is. We want to place an emphasis on creators growing their i.p and directly being supported without the need for large publishers. Obviously, there wont be much traffic at first, but I believe that pushing creators towards series/story driven content will draw large interest over time. Why? Because, people love to invest their time in stories.

Part of the big push is to convince animators that they don't need to create 5 - 10 minute labor intensive shorts. They should create smaller, simpler 1-3 minute episodes that slowly build a world over time, with some episodes having less animation than others. I don't mean that creators shouldn't try on specific episodes, more that when building a narrative driven story, sometimes people are just talking, or planning, or thinking. These type of scenes can be accomplished with good drawing and appropriate holds. That's the type of content that'll capture people and have them check again for a new episode. AFAIK, there's no platform for animators that pushes them in this direction. I think its why comics and manga have crazy cult followings, they're expected to create narratives that people can follow.

When it comes to views, this is why I'm already focused on building an apple TV and Roku version of the site. I have to do everything in my power to legitimize the platform in order for it to become mainstream. The content doesn't have to be unique to the platform either. The focus just has to be on fostering an environment where creators can grow their stories and be directly supported.

It won't be perfect at first, but with enough critique, it could be a game-changer.

i like this idea, but what's in it for the animators? also would people be able to collaborate through that website?

Thanks! and awesome question.

For the animators, the built in subscription feature should be up shortly. We'll do the work of getting more views to the platform to increase exposure for each animator. We're really going to try to help animators build brands around their show so that they can sell merchandise. All without ever giving up rights to their I.P.

I'll also announce it on another thread but we are launching monthly contests for posting episodes. Starting with our initial $5,000 competition. More details on this in a few days.

What if like, i got a good as bomb show, but i got just a tiny bit of high school girl hentai in it?

Thanks for responding! As an overall policy, we wont allow explicit pornographic content on the platform.

However, we're going to be going by something we call the 'Beserk standard'. This means that you can post content that shows nudity(nipples) but no genitals are allowed. When it comes to intercourse, you cannot show penetration. Essentially, keep the hot parts tasteful.

With that being said, feel free to post your show. Just Make sure to mark the the with an appropriate rating.

That would be awesome! What do you think would be the best way to go about that?

All are welcome and skill level doesnt matter! Can't wait to see what you create.

I don't think this is a necessarily bad idea, but due to advertisement feel of this thread I can't shake the feeling that this isn't the place to do this, as JessePajamas said before on a thread that's on a website that does the very thing that you're doing here with your website. However, this still is an interesting concept that might work if you get a sponsor who's ad you can play like they do on twitch, but it will take a while to get the ball rolling on this. You guys make fun videos and the idea (on paper) is a virtuous one if done right, so I'm going to say It's nice to see people supporting animators, but see that you don't mistreat this cool idea

We're definitely gonna get some sponsors later on but the main focus of the site is to give people already posting animations a new way of getting monetized support without relinquishing their I.P. Until we get a good amount of views, my friends and I plan to just fund contests using our day job cash.

I absolutely agree with the advertisement critique. It'll definitely be understandable if mods take the thread down. An Idea I had was sponsoring joint contests that would require posting to both Newgrounds and Fiyah. I'd have to speak with the mods first though.

"but see that you don't mistreat this cool idea" << That is the entire focus right there. Its really why we choose to get direct community feedback first. Whatever critique you have of the platform, throw it right at us. A lot of aspects of the site have improved since people started giving direct feedback.

That would be awesome. Feel free to message me with any questions you might have.

AYYY we got Lord Bung to post Confinement to the platform! Making big progress😎

Definitely a cool concept! Both YT and Twitch has never been/has long stopped being the best place for animators. NG is already a viable option but it's always been more geared towards a social media sort of platform, with focus on interactivity. This one feels more specifically oriented, reminiscent of webcomic sites like Webtoon and Tapas in my opinion but for animations.

Small question: How do you plan to gain income for your site? Will it rely on ads like YT or aim for some kind of paid subscriptions/voluntary donations (like NG's supporter system)?

I hope the UI improves over time but regardless I'll be checking it out.

Dang, I love that series. Great move.

Thanks! "Definitely a cool concept! Both YT and Twitch has never been/has long stopped being the best place for animators. NG is already a viable option but it's always been more geared towards a social media sort of platform, with focus on interactivity. This one feels more specifically oriented, reminiscent of webcomic sites like Webtoon and Tapas in my opinion but for animations." <--This is exactly why animators needed a specific platform.

We want to avoid traditional ads completely. That way we don't end up like Youtube where advertisers hold power over us, causing adpocalypses. We're going to go more with the Twitch model of direct $5 subs to the animator you like, we plan on withholding 20% of the subscription after taxes.

UI is definitely a work in progress, especially mobile. Big update coming this friday though as well as more info on our upcoming $5000 contest!

Just approved your show!

Your episode is currently processing, as soon as its done, I'll put it in the stream!

Keep giving us critique and feedback!

It just finished processing. It should be in stream shortly. Great episode!!!

That was a great pilot. If you could reach out to him, that would be super helpful.

What's cool is that you'd both be automatically entered in our upcoming $5k contest. Your shows are hilarious!

This sounds very lit, I want to help out any way I can

Posting a show is the best way to start. I'm about to post my own show's episode 1 tomorrow😎.

So far we have a super small team of 3 people so all help is greatly appreciated. I've made a discord for it as well.

At this point, any kind of feedback also helps. I'm directly programming the site so any bugs can be sent my way.

can you link me the Discord?

Sorry for the delay!

Here's the link: https://discord.gg/2xYxrB

I've wanted to do something like this for years, so I'm glad someone else did. The site looks really cool so far, I like how in-depth everything looks. I could definitely see myself using it for future series, although I do have 6 episodes of an older series I could throw up there.

A few questions:

1. Is there a way to schedule uploads to post at a certain time? Being able to upload a bunch of complete episodes and schedule them to publish at future times (say, once a week on a certain day) is super helpful and is a feature I really wish Newgrounds had.
2. I see you're using actual TV content ratings for the shows, are the ratings applied to the show overall or are ratings applied to individual episodes? I know some people would probably find it annoying to rate individual episodes, but I think having the option to do so would be good, especially for shows where content varies between episodes (like how Aqua Teen Hunger Force has plenty of episodes rated TV-PG, TV-14, and TV-MA)

This site seems like it has a lot of potential. Also y'all should be proud that in about the same amount of time you've actually put together a functional streaming site with no budget whereas Butch Hartman has done nothing despite having a successful kickstarter to fund his streaming service. Congrats lol

First of all, thank you for the positive feedback! We really appreciate it. If you already have an existing show, feel free to post it, it would qualify for the $5,000 contest we just launched, with a grand prize of $2,000. You can see more details about it on the site.

1) We will definitely be creating a schedule feature. Many people have brought this up and I intend to build it into the platform within these next 2 weeks. I just have to finish up the subscription module.

2) We like the idea of episode ratings and we're discussing the best way to implement it.

I completely forgot that Hartman had that Kickstarter almost a year ago. It seems like they're trying to raise $50 million now, lol. We're just trying to build it from the ground up for the animation community. So all critical feedback is welcome.

Interesting platform, I'm excited to see where it goes. For the contest, do we go ahead and post our series normally on the Fiyah.tv site and get automatically entered into the draw, or is there a special process? Will the contest be judged by the website creators, or will it be popularity-based?

You'll only have to post to get entered into the contest. In the contest, popularity will matter however, the final results will be based on Animation, story, shot selection and pacing.

We should probably add that last part to the contest popup. I'll add it ASAP.

Ye, I'll post the first episode either tonight or tomorrow. I'm a bit hesitant since the first couple episodes aren't very good lol. I mean, I still think they're funny but a lot of the jokes are super edgy (no worse than south park though) and the animation is pretty lifeless, y'all might still enjoy 'em though.

Hell yeah, good to know.

You're definitely doing a better job than Butch lol. I'll definitely give more feedback as I use the site more. Only odd thing I've noticed so far is when viewing shows from the episode pages, there's no full screen button, but clicking int he bottom right corner of the player still makes it full screen.

Thank you so much for even considering to post as well as for the feedback.

Don't even worry about the quality or style. We're going to have very many different contests for different styles( action, comedy) so that everyone has multiple chances to win.

I'll make sure to address that fullscreen issue tonight. KEEP ON GIVING US FEEDBACK

P.S. for now, use the site with Google Chrome, there's a glitch when signing up on safari. Gotta address that tonight as well

I tried to upload an episode but it now has a big red 'X' icon over it. Is there a file size limit for the episodes or some other technical specifications for uploads?