YouTube. What did we do without it? It’s become both a noun and a verb. You want to see a music video? Great - let’s YouTube it! That cute puppy clip? It’s on YouTube! Relive Edelman’s famous Super Bowl catch? YouTube it up!

Well, Martell Broadcasting Systems wants to end all that. They’ve developed Zenither, and they want people to start saying “Let’s Zenither it up!” instead. While Zenither doesn’t roll off the tongue quite the same way YouTube does, it offers a lot of features YouTube doesn’t. (Plus, be honest - whoever thought “Google” was a good name for a company? And look how that worked out.)

Zenither is a streaming video platform that allows creators to run their own television network using nothing more than a laptop. They can also keep 100% of their ad revenue. They’re looking for investors via StartEngine because they want to be the first video streaming app funded and owned by the content creators themselves.

Right away, the ad revenue thing is a pretty big deal in the YouTube comparison. YouTube controls all of their ad space and heavily limits how content producers can profit from ads. Zenither would do the opposite - creators would have full control over ad space and profit.

Zenither would also eliminate regional distribution restrictions, allow users to schedule an entire week of hourly or serial programming in minutes, and provide playback quality that is formatted for clear display on all devices. Revenue would be generated by a select few subscription channels with a monthly fee. Founded by former VP of a Hollywood film studio and ex-YouTube MCN founder, the development team has created software projects for companies such as Microsoft and AT&T. They know what they’re doing.

Zenither’s main problem is going to be competing with the YouTube name. However, once it’s able to do that, YouTube should watch out. People want to make profit from their content, and Zenither lets them. Just wait...people might start pressing that little red play button on Zenither soon instead of on the ‘Tube.