Uscreen Review – Is This All-In-One Video Membership Platform Worth It?

Video has become an essential medium for generating revenue online. Recent reports show that over 53% of US adults watch video content online daily. With statistics like that, it’s easy to see why creators need a reliable platform on which to offer their videos on demand.

Enter Uscreen. 

Uscreen is a popular membership platform for content creators that has been around since 2015. The company was founded by PJ Taei who wanted to create a “Netflix-like” streaming service for video creators. The platform is ideal for building a stronger brand, creating a loyal community, and maintaining a sustainable video streaming business without having to learn code.

Read the rest of this Uscreen review to discover more about its features and functionalities.

Is Uscreen Worth it?

Uscreen is absolutely worth it for serious video creators. The all-in-one membership platform is used by over 25,000 creators and entrepreneurs and it can help you build your video streaming service, as well. 

The platform allows you to launch a paid membership that includes a complete on-demand video library. 

Uscreen also has live streaming capabilities, as well as its own community space. Creators can build a community space and run everything from their own branded website and OTT (over-the-top) apps.

This means you don’t have to worry about managing multiple (and costly) subscriptions for different apps and tools or trying to get them to work together seamlessly. 

Instead, you’ll work from one dashboard and pay a single monthly subscription to take care of all your VOD needs. Not only will you save time and money, but you’ll also save a lot of effort and frustration when you don’t have to continuously switch between different apps while managing your business. 

Who is Uscreen Good For?

Uscreen is ideal for any video creator whose audience is willing to pay for their content. 

Below, I’ve listed a few use cases to help you determine whether or not Uscreen is right for you.

• Beginner Vloggers: Uscreen is perfect for you if you don’t have a large user base yet, but want to start monetizing your content right away.
• Content Marketers: If you create lots of video content, Uscreen can help you grow and monetize your audience in the most effective way possible. You’ll be able to easily create pay-per-video channels and members-only streaming subscriptions.
• Course Creators: If you create e-learning courses that include video content, you’ll find Uscreen to be an affordable platform to host and share your video content.
• YouTubers Ready to Scale: YouTube is great for sharing free content and ad-based video-on-demand (AVOD). However, once you’re ready to scale and fully monetize your content, Uscreen has the features you need.

Uscreen Functionality

Uscreen has a wide range of functionalities to help you build and launch your streaming service, and monetize your videos. 

Here’s a closer look at some of its most prominent features.

1. Ease of Use

Uscreen was built by content creators for content creators. The platform’s ease of use is one of the main reasons why so many businesses prefer it over other VOD solutions. 

When you sign up, you are met with a simple, user-friendly interface and customizable theme options to make your job easier. 

Choose a template, change colors, and fonts, and add your branding elements, such as your logo. 

You can also add integrations to allow you to work seamlessly with all your favorite apps and tools. 

All of this is possible in just a few clicks. No tech knowledge is required, and in minutes, you’ll be able to start selling and distributing your videos to a global audience.

2. Customizable Video Player

Uscreen has beautiful, customizable themes for all types of businesses in every industry. Some of the theme categories include

• Entertainment
• Health and Fitness
• Arts and Crafts
• Yoga and Lifestyle
• eLearning
• Kids 
• Faith and Spirituality

You can tailor your media player and apps to match your brand identity. The customization features make it easy for you to craft a unique brand identity that lets you carve your niche and distinguish yourself from other VOD platforms out there. 

Uscreen’s high-quality, secure player is available on all plans. It comes with a range of built-in features that you’ll love, including resume watching, which allows users to resume watching where they last left off. It also has an “autoplay next video” feature. 

Another standout customization feature of Uscreen is that it allows you to bundle your video content into collections, series, and episodes. 

You can also upload custom thumbnails and offer picture-in-picture, captions, and subtitles, and set up trailers and previews to help entice more clicks. 

Each plan in the all-in-one platform comes with a video quality picker, video speed adjustment, and optional offline viewing.

You get a Netflix-style video catalog, and you can share live streams for up to 10 hours, depending on which plan you’re on. Get up to 150 hours of video storage, and add up to three admin users.

Additional video customization options include:

• Customizable Website and Sales Pages: Using the platform’s landing page builder, you can create a custom homepage and unique website pages (e.g. catalog and category pages) that appeal to your target audience.
• Customizable Themes: From the homepage to the checkout page, you can pick a theme that aligns with your brand. You can even include custom checkout fields to collect addresses and other information from your visitors.
• Custom Domain: Add professionalism to your business and further boost brand recognition by connecting Uscreen to a custom domain.

The features listed above barely scratch the surface of what you can do to customize your Uscreen platform. 

You can also add other pages and FAQs, terms and conditions, etc. There is no cost to adding additional pages to your site. You even get additional freedom to further customize your content with custom filters that allow viewers to easily sort through your content using various categories such as duration, type, and so on. 

You can also localize the language on your site. Set a single master language for your apps and storefront, and then add multiple languages for subtitles and video files, depending on where your audiences are located.

3. Easy-to-Use Video CMS (Content Management Features)

Uscreen’s centralized video CMS features are among the top reasons why it’s considered by many to be the best VOD platform out there. 

The platform has a simple CMS system that allows you to upload, organize, and distribute video content from one convenient place. You can do it all without the need to go through a lengthy learning curve or learn complex processes. 

The ability to upload and manage your content in a single central admin area and create seamless navigation for viewers is a powerful feature for busy video creators. Any updates to your content, collections, and extras are automatically, and instantly rolled out to all your apps, which saves you a lot of time and effort.

Here’s a quick rundown of the built-in video CMS features on Uscreen:

• Video on Demand: Your users can access your media distribution system to select the videos they want to watch.
• Live Streaming: Depending on your plan, you’ll get one hour, 10 hours, or 30 hours of live streaming video included.
• On-Demand Live Attendees: Add 500 simultaneous attendees on the first two plans, and unlimited attendees on the custom plan.
• Auto Record Live to VOD: In addition to being able to upload pre-recorded videos, you can also auto-record live to your Uscreen platform.
• Drip Content Feature: Uscreen also lets you drip and schedule content so you can release your videos at a pre-determined time.

4. Flexible Video Monetization Options

Uscreen is an indispensable asset for video creators looking to monetize their content. The OTT solution is used by many popular video streamers because it’s a complete video monetization platform that makes it easy for you to sell and distribute your video content to a global audience. 

There are built-in monetization and billing tools, and you can choose from a variety of powerful monetization models to earn recurring revenue from your content, including:

• One-Off Purchases: This is a simple approach to monetizing your video content. Users can simply purchase your videos with a one-off payment through the integrated checkout system.
• Subscription Plans: The membership and community features on Uscreen allow you to sell subscriptions on any of the platform’s premium plans. You can even sell multi-tier subscriptions, whereby you set up different levels of subscriptions to give users access to different levels of content. 
• Subscription Upsells: There’s a subscription upsell call to action feature on the platform that lets you trigger an upsell to get members to purchase higher-tier plans.
• Pay-Per-View: In addition to memberships, Uscreen offers pay-per-view rentals as a way to monetize your content. 
• Advertisements: You can show ads on your videos. The platform connects you to relevant advertisers seeking audiences like yours. 
• In-App Purchases: The platform’s e-commerce integration makes it easy for viewers to purchase your goods with one click while watching your videos.

As you can see, there are plenty of ways for you to generate recurring revenue from your videos on Uscreen. 

If you are looking to sustain your streaming business in the long term, simply choose whichever avenue makes sense (or a combination of all of them) to ensure your streaming business’s success. 

Multiple Content Pricing Options

While on the topic of video monetization, it’s important to note that Uscreen offers you various ways to price your content. 

As a content creator, you can price your videos in whichever way you like. You have maximum control over your online revenue streams. For example, you can choose:

• One-Time Sales
• Subscription Tiers
• Rentals
• Unit Pricing
• Bundling
• Upsells
• Discounts
• Coupons
• Gift cards
• Free Trials
• Freemium

… and much more.

I particularly like the platform’s discounts and coupons feature. It’s a great way to garner loyalty for your brand. You can easily create special offers which you can then share on your website, social media, email, or any other platform where you connect with your target audience.

Easy Payments

Uscreen allows you to take payment from anywhere. The platform offers world-class payment processing solutions, including well-known options like Stripe, PayPal, and Authoize.net. 

You can accept all international payments (130+ currencies), and receive credit and debit cards regardless of which Uscreen plan you’re on. 

There is even a free payment processing option, Uscreen Gateway, that you can use to get started risk-free.

Here are a couple of noteworthy features of Uscreen’s payment tools:

• Instant Payouts: Although Uscreen payments and PayPal require a 30-day hold on payments, Stripe allows for same-day payout, which is super convenient for content creators.
• Share Revenue With Other Content Creators: Uscreen lets you calculate views per instructor, trainer, or author using the Authors’ report for revenue-sharing.

5. Branded Mobile and TV Apps

A membership app allows you to distribute your content anywhere so you can engage your community wherever they are across all web browsers and devices, including Android, iOS, and OTT platforms like AmazonFire TV, AppleTV, and Roku. 

Uscreen offers you the ability to launch your own branded app for mobile TV fast with no coding skills required. 

The platform’s simple drag-and-drop interface makes it possible for anyone to launch a video streaming app for TV your mobile devices without having to touch a single line of code.

You can distribute your content everywhere, enhance user experience with built-in features, and benefit from being in your members’ pockets at all times. 

This means you can have your own mobile app and boost engagement, sales, and revenue without having to hire expensive developers to do it for you.

All you have to do to get started is sign up, customize, launch, and share your app.

The intuitive platform makes it easy for you to seamlessly manage membership apps to help you establish your online presence and grow your audience.

Here’s what the interface looks like 

You’ll get optimal branding freedom, allowing you to personalize the look and feel of the app to perfectly align with your brand. Create optimal member experience for maximum engagement and make sure that your brand shines. You can also add an additional mobile app for just $200.

6. Built-In Community and Calendar Features

It’s clear to see that Uscreen excels when it comes to monetizing your content. One of the ways it does that is by providing you with robust community features to help you encourage participation and forge strong bonds with your audience.

The platform makes it possible for you to go live straight on your site and use the live chat feature to interact with your visitors in real-time.

The chat window on Uscreen comes with built-in moderation capabilities. You can see the overall number of active users and participants. 

Other features of the Uscreen video membership and community software platform include the following: 

• Customized User Profiles and Avatars: Registered users each have access to their own profile page. There, they can customize their personal details, including their name and avatar. They can also update their login and billing information.
• User Comments: From the Uscreen dashboard, you can spark the conversation with comments. Respond to user comments and manage all conversations right from your dashboard. You also have full control over who has access to comment on your site.

The built-in calendar features allow you to foster deeper connections with your members and make it easier for you to schedule content releases so you can keep members in the loop and manage everything effortlessly from one place.

The community and calendar features include: 

• In-App Notifications
• In-App Purchases
• Offline Viewing
• Content Calendar
• Resume Watching
• Play Audio While the Phone is Locked

7. Video Hosting and Usage Limits

Uscreen has reliable video hosting. Thanks to its robust infrastructure and innovative streaming technologies, the platform offers fast video playback in full HD which means you will be able to deliver high-quality content to your streaming business customers with no stutters or frame drops.

The amount of resources available to you depends on the plan you are on. However, compared to other VOD platforms, Uscreen still offers way more value thanks to features like unlimited video streaming and unlimited bandwidth on all plans. 

Here’s a closer look at what you get:

• Unlimited video streaming
• Unlimited bandwidth
• Unlimited uploading and encoding
• Unlimited number of products
• Global CDN delivery
• 100 hours to 200 hours of video storage
• Multiple admin roles
• Simultaneous viewers

Uscreen’s player also lets you create a library of videos that you can share with a global audience. This is a super useful feature, particularly when you offer videos that are designed to be viewed in a specific order (e.g. a TV series or a video course). 

And, with the autoplay feature, you’ll be able to provide your audience with a smoother transition from one video to the next.

8. Full HD Live Streaming

Uscreen’s live streaming feature offers your audience the five-star live viewing experience they deserve. You can choose whether you want to make the event a free one, or if you want to monetize it. 

You can build dynamic live streaming on your platform, complete with real-time user interactions. This allows you to engage your viewers in real-time, helping you enhance user satisfaction and boost brand loyalty.

Being able to deliver a high-end viewing experience is a great way to attract and retain customers in today’s saturated streaming industry. People want a hassle-free live streaming experience with convenient access to all the latest features. 

You can also enable live chat whenever you do a live-stream event. This allows you to easily engage with your audience during your show. 

The real-time chat box includes a handy moderation feature that allows you to view the total number of participants and active users for that live session. You can choose a time and date for your event, and users will be able to pre-purchase it. 

Uscreen even lets you display a countdown time on the event page as a way to increase urgency and encourage pre-registration and sales. 

9. Security and Content Protection Tools

Uscreen has robust security protocols, including a free SSL certificate, full data ownership, and HLS video encryption.

As a Uscreen user, you never have to worry about your content being pirated. The platform protects your income by protecting your content in various ways. For example, your content is protected via

• Encryption
• IP Tracking
• Download Protection
• Simultaneous Login Protection
• Malicious Bot Detection, and Rejection

This means you get to keep all your hard-earned revenue from monetizing your video content.

10. Marketing and Automation Tools

The Uscreen platform has world-class marketing, sales, and customer retention tools to help you automate every aspect of your business so you can grow with ease. 

This means you don’t have to do any of the heavy lifting. Instead, you can leverage the built-in video marketing and automation features such as the ones listed below to run your business effortlessly:

• Payouts
• Coupons and Reports
• Sales Data
• Customer Invoices
• Upsells
• Cross Sells
• Gift Cards

…and much more

Uscreen’s built-in marketing tools make it easier for you to promote and sell your products. All plans come with e-commerce integration that allows you to integrate products into your video player experience to make it easier for viewers to purchase your goods using an external shopping cart. 

Uscreen’s Marketing Toolset includes: 

• Abandoned Cart Recovery: The abandoned cart feature allows you to increase your revenue by recapturing lost sales. You only have to set it up once, and it’ll automatically send a series of emails to help you recover up to a third of your lost sales.
• Affiliate Program: Uscreen’s affiliate platform integrations allow you to set up your own affiliate program so you can easily track referrals and commissions from your dashboard.
• Landing Page Builder: You can create stunning, high-converting landing pages (e.g. a trailer video to attract new audiences) from right within your account using the platform’s simple DIY landing page builder.
• Sales Funnel Builder: Uscreen has a built-in sales funnel tool that allows you to create a simple funnel to acquire email addresses from your viewers. This removes the need to use a separate landing page or email marketing solution, which further reduces your monthly costs for running your streaming business.

These are just some of the tools you can use to expand your streaming business on Uscreen. One of the biggest benefits of using these tools is that it allows you to reduce churn. 

The platform’s built-in marketing and automation tools help you prevent cancellations and improve customer satisfaction and retention. 

For example, if a user tries to cancel their membership once it’s been enabled, they’ll be asked to provide feedback, after which they’ll be sent a series of win-back offers and emails as a way to attempt to keep them on as paying members.

11. Membership Analytics

As a video content creator, you understand the importance of analytics. The right metrics will allow you to automatically recognize and zero in on top-performing videos in terms of watch time, views, audience engagement, and more. 

This will allow you to replicate success and create more content that resonates with your viewers so you can stay on top of your game. 

Uscreen understands this, which is why the platform provides you with real-time video analytics to track your performance and help you succeed as a video streamer. 

You can view metrics such as:

• Video Views
• Watch Time
• Top Videos
• Device Analytics
• Sales Analytics
• Financial Analytics
• Top Countries

Your analytics dashboard will also give you access to tools for tracking royalties. Since you’ll have access to individual trainer, author, cast watch time, and views, you’ll be able to use these metrics to track royalties. 

Uscreen also gives you access to website heatmaps so you can view how visitors interact with your site. You’ll have to integrate a third-party tool like HotJar into your Uscreen platform to get these metrics.

There are additional integrations you can choose from to track more metrics, such as subscribers’ lifetime value, churn rates, social media campaign performance, and much more.

All in all, the marketing and analytics tools on Uscreen (both native and integrated) rival all other video-on-demand platforms, making it a worthy option for anyone who wants to unlock the true potential of their videos.

Uscreen Pros and Cons

Exploring the Uscreen platform has revealed an interesting combination of benefits and limitations. 

Below, are some of the platform’s most prominent pros and cons to help you understand what Uscreen can and cannot do.

Pros: 

1. Easy to Use: Uscreen is a robust video hosting platform with powerful on-demand streaming capabilities. 
2. Full Customization Options: Uscreen’s video player is fully customizable, allowing you to match your brand identity and distinguish yourself from other streaming services online.
3. Flexible Monetization: As a Uscreen user, you can easily distribute and sell your video content to a global audience thanks to the platform’s powerful monetization models.
4. Accept Major Payment Options: You can accept Paypal, Stripe, and credit cards on your video streaming website. 
5. Award-Winning Support: Uscreen has trustworthy customer support available 24/7 to help you accelerate onboarding and get to market faster.
6. Robust Analytics: Uscreen provides in-depth analytics to help you track your performance so you can optimize your content strategy. 
7. Bulk and Dropbox Uploading: All Uscreen plans come with the ability to bulk upload videos, as well as upload from Dropbox.

Cons: 

1. Limited Customization Options: Uscreen has limited video player and checkout customization options, which may be a dealbreaker for some advanced users.
2. Costly Pricing Plans: Although packed with value, Uscreen’s pricing plans may be out of reach for many beginners.
3. Complex Integration Process: The process of integrating third-party services with Uscreen using the platform’s API can be long and frustrating.

Uscreen Competitors

Choosing the right VOD platform is the key to success in the streaming business. While Uscreen is a powerful solution with a range of features that cater to diverse needs, it also has a few shortcomings. If you are searching for an alternative to Uscreen, here are three of its top competitors to consider. 

Uscreen vs Vimeo OTT

If you’re wondering which is the best OTT platform for your video business between Uscreen and Vimeo OTT, the answer is simple. Both platforms are end-to-end solutions that offer the best tech, affordable pricing, and dedicated customer support. 

Like Uscreen, Vimeo OTT offers features like video hosting, global content distribution, and full HD live streaming.

Your choice will depend on the types of advanced features you require. Uscreen is the best choice if you want instant payouts through Stripe. It also offers a broader range of built-in, customizable themes, and it comes with custom filtering features that you won’t find on Vimeo OTT. 

Another reason to choose Uscreen over Vimeo OTT is that you get a free trial for 14 days to test out the platform before committing to a paid plan.

Uscreen vs MAZ Systems

MAZ Systems is yet another viable alternative to Uscreen. It offers a simple but comprehensive solution for anyone looking to monetize their video content and establish a powerful presence online.

You’ll find many of the same features, but the main differences are in the payout methods. Unlike its competitor, MAZ System only offers payout through app stores. 

Another difference is that the platform does not offer video hosting and streaming as part of its services. This means you have to pay an additional fee for your video hosting. Usually, OTT services like Uscreen include video hosting as part of the package so users don’t have to rely on third-party services. 

Also, MAZ Systems doesn’t offer a free trial, and you don’t get customizable themes or a fully white-labeled design (like you do on Uscreen) which makes it harder for you to align your streaming service to your brand. 

Uscreen vs Dacast

Like Uscreen, Dacast has robust customization capabilities. It allows you to tailor the look and feel of your platform to align with your unique brand identity. 

You can build a custom video website, create OTT apps for web and TV/mobile devices, and get a fully white-labeled design for your video streaming platform. 

Dacast also offers a free trial so you can test out the core features on the platform. Unfortunately, there are no customizable themes. You only get your choice of three themes, and there isn’t much you can do to customize them in order to make them unique to your brand. 

The platform also lacks other features that come standard on Uscreen, including the ability to add chapters and curriculum, add collections and episodes, and custom filtering.

Pricing

This all-in-one membership platform for video creators offers plans for apps, video, community, and live streaming that pay for themselves as your business grows. 

You can opt for the monthly plan, or save 20% by paying annually. 

The platform offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required, and premium plans are as follows:

• Growth Plan: $149/Month: This plan is ideal for creators who want to grow a small video membership online. It includes 0% fees on one-time purchases, and you get a Netflix-style video catalog. You can live stream for up to one hour, and you get 100 hours of video storage. Add 1 admin user, and get a free onboarding session. 
• Pro Plan: $499/Month: This plan is perfect for serious creators looking to grow a robust community online (both mobile and web). It includes all the features in the Growth plan, as well as live streaming for up to 10 hours, five community channels, and your own mobile app for Android or iOS. Users on this plan also get a dedicated success manager, as well as additional features like shoppable videos, Zapier integrations, and affiliate marketing tools.
• Custom Plan: Contact Support for Quote: This plan includes everything in the Pro plan, as well as additional features for established creators who need full brand control on all devices. You get full-featured mobile apps, TV streaming apps, custom live stream packages, and support for your customers to help you scale with confidence. This is the perfect plan for video creators who require white-labeled branding and API access. It also includes the Uscreen partner program which you can use to create an additional source of revenue for your business.

Product Support

Uscreen is a complete membership platform with everything you need to launch a branded membership and community. There’s also a responsive support team on hand to assist you in getting to market faster. 

You get accelerated onboarding from the Uscreen team, with users on the Growth plan getting one onboarding session, and those on the Pro plan getting three onboarding sessions.

Users also get 24/7 support via chat, email, and social media. Uscreen has an active community of users on Facebook and YouTube where you can get answers to your questions. 

The type of support you get depends on the plan you’re on. For example, Growth plan users get email support, and Pro plan users get email and chat support. Plus plan users get priority support, as well as support for their customers so they can scale with confidence.

Integrations

Uscreen has seamless integrations that allow you to add various apps and tools to the platform. This way, you can manage your entire streaming business from one place without having to cobble different software tools and try to get them to work together.

Whether it’s marketing tools, affiliate integrations, or chatbots, the platform has you covered. 

Some of the Uscreen integrations include:

• HotJar
• Google Analytics
• Google Tag Manager
• Facebook Pixel
• LinkedIn Integration 
• Rewardful
• Refersion
• Outgrow 
• Drip
• MailChimp
• ProfitWell

You can also add thousands of other apps and tools using the native Zapier integration on the platform.

Is Uscreen Legit?

Still not sure Uscreen is right for you? Here’s a quick recap of some of the platform’s core features and functionality to make it easier for you to make up your mind.  

• Build vibrant membership communities
• Livestream to any device
• Drive subscriptions and generate leads
• Enable in-app purchases for added reach
• Keep your users and your content safe
• Keep your audience updated with in-app notifications
• Match your visual identity across the web and apps
• Promote your business using email and social media

In a nutshell, Uscreen is a comprehensive video streaming platform that’s ideal for businesses that want to monetize their video content and establish a strong online presence. 

You get robust customization options, allowing you to tailor the look and feel of your unique platform to align with your brand identity. 

Uscreen is the best and most affordable way to create your own video subscription service without having to worry about the technical side of building your own platform from scratch. 

If you’re ready to start making money from your videos, sign up for a free 14-day trial on Uscreen to start monetizing your content right now.

FAQ: 

What is the Difference Between YouTube and Uscreen? 

The difference between video-sharing platforms like Uscreen and YouTube is that YouTube is a free network of videos that allows users to watch free content, whereas Uscreen is a platform designed to help video creators monetize their content through premium monetization features, such as subscription plans, pay-per-view, ads, and in-app purchases.

Does Uscreen Have an App? 

Yes, Uscreen has an app that allows you to launch your own branded membership platform with zero tech or coding skills required. The app comes with a centralized CMS feature with dynamic changes, detailed analytics, and in-app notifications, as well as built-in community and calendar tools. You can customize, launch, and share your membership app to establish and grow your audience.

What Are The Best Uscreen Alternatives?

The best Uscreen alternatives include Vimeo OTT, MAZ Systems, and Dacast. The right platform for you will depend on your needs and priorities. For example, if you want live streaming capabilities, then Uscreen and MAZ Systems are great options to consider. 

Is Uscreen Free to Use?

Uscreen offers a free 14-day trial that allows you to test out all the software’s core features risk-free. The platform has predictable, transparent pricing for premium plans and same-day set-up so you can get started right away.

Do I Own My Uscreen Audience?

Yes. You own your audience data and billing information. You also own 100% of your content and assets created on the platform. Unlike other video streaming platforms that withhold your data and limit your growth, Uscreen simply serves as a means to distribute and monetize your video content.