FanTV Creators Reach Millions on Sui

In an era when digital content creation is booming, there is no shortage of platforms where people can upload their videos and music — and where fans can find entertaining and informative content to consume. But there’s a big problem in how all this content is being monetized, and it all comes down to transparency. Web3 startup FanTV solves the traditional monetization model by bringing content creation onchain.

“In the centralized system, the top 1 percent artists make 90 percent of the revenue,” said Prashan Agarwal, founder and CEO of FanTV. “Whether it’s Spotify or YouTube, creators are rewarded with revenue share. And the algorithms are so skewed that only the top 1 percent of creators get 90 percent of the views.”

This weighting makes it nearly impossible for new content creators to establish a following and generate revenue from their work. “The algorithms dictate the lives of these creators,” said Agarwal. 

As a counterforce, FanTV is going about content creation and monetization in a completely new way, using Sui’s unique object-oriented data structure, Enoki, AI, and an ethos of transparency to empower creators and improve user experience.

Cracks in the creator economy

FanTV founder and CEO Prashan Agarwal has serious cred when it comes to digital media. He’s the former CEO of Gaana, once the largest commercial music streaming service in India, boasting 180 million monthly users. It was there that he began to recognize some of the inherent flaws in centralized content systems — ranging from discovery to distribution and monetization. 

At the core of the problem are enigmatic algorithms that prioritize a small number of creators’ work, limiting the kinds of content users are exposed to. In addition, content creators don’t typically begin making any money until they achieve certain thresholds of consumption or engagement. All of that adds up to only a small percentage of creators reaping significant rewards for the work they put in.

Agarwal envisioned a decentralized Web3-based platform that democratizes content distribution and monetization — and that makes the algorithms that drive the platform more straightforward and transparent. This vision is what laid the groundwork for FanTV and an earlier product, a music NFT marketplace called FanTiger.

Empowering creators with platform ownership

FanTV is built around the concept of platform ownership, where both creators and users earn platform tokens for their engagement. This model not only incentivizes creators to share quality content but also rewards users for their participation — whether it’s watching, sharing, or bringing in new users. 

“From the very first view, creators start earning tokens, and users can accumulate tokens just by consuming content,” Agarwal explained.

FanTV incorporates a range of features specifically designed to benefit content creators. It reduces barriers to entry by making it free to upload content and giving creators an onboarding bonus. Then it lets them start earning tokens from their very first view, unlike platforms such as YouTube, where monetization is gated by view counts and hours watched. Users can tip creators in FanTV tokens. And by issuing rewards in the form of tokens, users also get a bit of ownership in the platform.

With an aim of even further democratizing the space, FanTV offers AI features to help ease the content creation process itself, turning text into video, creating custom backgrounds, and editing video via voice prompts.

Adding Sui to the playlist

In May 2024, FanTV transitioned to Sui from a previous blockchain. The initial decision to make a move was driven by a need for scalability and lower transaction costs.

“Our biggest challenge was scalability and gas fees,” Agarwal said, highlighting how Sui’s efficient infrastructure allows for faster and more cost-effective transactions.

However, when the FanTV team looked into the Sui ecosystem more deeply, they realized it would enable them to do even more for users. 

“The scalability, the Move language, the tools that Sui uses, and given that everything is an object in Sui makes it super fast to implement,” said Agarwal. “At the same time, Sui has an inbuilt, sponsored transaction tool called Enoki, which makes the user experience better because they don't have to spend tokens for every transaction.”

Chart-topping growth

Since adopting Sui, FanTV has seen remarkable growth, onboarding over 5 million wallets and facilitating more than 10 million transactions. It’s the number one video streaming platform on the Sui ecosystem, with approximately 1.5 million monthly active users with an average session duration of about 90 minutes, a number far exceeding similar platforms. 

FanTV’s reach is global, with users from over 57 countries and content available in multiple languages, including regional Indian languages, Chinese, Korean, and English. It has attracted big names in the crypto space, onboarding creators with massive followings, such as Kashif Raza, CryptoCab, Crypto Shyam, Cryptonian Hinamshu, Dishant Chaudhary, and TREVINvsNFT.

And the company has much more growth in its sights. Initially focused on music, FanTV has expanded to include vlogs, comedy, and educational content, growing to serve the wide-ranging interests of a growing user base. It also added short-form video, similar to TikTok and Instagram Reels, and recently launched live streaming as a beta product.

Next on the roadmap is an airdrop program, as well as an upcoming feature called Creator Keys, which will allow fans to buy a particular creator’s Key to unlock exclusive benefits. Creator Keys will create avenues for direct creator-and-fan engagement as well as additional revenue channels for creators. According to Agarwal, this feature can even be used to sell merchandise or performance tickets.

With Sui as its partner, FanTV is poised to continue innovating in the creator economy, bringing power back to the creators and the fans who make these spaces thrive.