Answers
SVOD vs TVOD vs AVOD.
Three ways to charge for video, and which suits you.
Every video-on-demand service earns money in one of three ways: a subscription for the whole catalog (SVOD), a payment per title (TVOD), or ads in front of free viewing (AVOD). Here are plain definitions, a side-by-side table, and which model fits an independent creator with a small audience.
Video hosting for filmmakers · 5 GB free · Paid plans from USD 9/month
By uncompressed.io · Updated October 2026
Short answer
What is the difference between SVOD, TVOD and AVOD?
SVOD (subscription video on demand) charges a recurring fee for a whole catalog, TVOD (transactional video on demand) charges per title as a purchase or rental, and AVOD (advertising video on demand) is free to watch and funded by ads. For an independent creator with a loyal but small audience, TVOD and SVOD usually earn far more per viewer than ads.
- SVOD: recurring fee for a whole catalog
- TVOD: pay per title, to buy or rent
- AVOD: free to watch, paid by ads
- Small creators usually earn most from TVOD, then SVOD
- uncompressed.io does SVOD and TVOD, not ads
Definitions
The three models
in one sentence each
SVOD: subscription video on demand
Viewers pay monthly or yearly and watch anything in the catalog. Netflix is SVOD. Revenue is recurring as long as the catalog keeps growing.
TVOD: transactional video on demand
Viewers pay for one title: a purchase to keep streaming it, a download, or a rental for a viewing window. Movie stores and premieres are TVOD.
AVOD: advertising video on demand
Viewers watch free and ads pay. Most of YouTube is AVOD. The creator earns a share of ad revenue, which needs very large audiences.
Side by side
SVOD, TVOD and AVOD compared
for an independent creator
Hybrid models are common: a subscription with paid premieres, or free viewing with a paid ad-free tier.
Which suits you
A practical rule
by what you make
Match the model to the release schedule, not to what the biggest services do.
One feature film, nothing scheduled: TVOD. Sell a purchase and a cheaper rental, add a free preview cut, and use coupon codes for festival audiences.
Regular releases, a series or classes: SVOD, with a monthly and a yearly tier, a free trial per tier and gift memberships. Sell each big new release as TVOD too, for people who do not want a subscription.
Building an audience from zero: AVOD on a large free platform is a discovery channel. Platforms keep a share there: YouTube pays creators 70% of net revenue from channel memberships, per its own help page. Use free viewing to send people to the films they pay for.
What uncompressed.io does and does not do
SVOD and TVOD on uncompressed.io
Read from the live price list. Verified 2026-10.
| Commission on sales | 0 percent, at any volume. Buyers pay into your own payment account; your card processor's fee applies. |
|---|---|
| What you can sell | Purchases (stream forever), downloads, rentals with a viewing window, memberships with monthly or yearly tiers, bundles and series. |
| Member tools | Free trials per tier, coupon codes, gift memberships, refunds and free access from your earnings page. |
| Your storefront | A shop under your name at yourname.uncompressed.io/on-demand, or on your own domain. Buyers need no account. |
| Picture quality | Films stream as you exported them: no re-encode of video or audio, with an optional lighter copy for slow connections. |
| Viewing hours included | Lite 1,000, Pro 5,000, Max 15,000, Studio 25,000 hours a month, then USD 29 per extra 20,000-hour block. Playback never pauses. |
| Plans | Starter free (5 GB, one film at a time); Lite USD 9, Pro USD 39, Max USD 99, Studio USD 219 a month; yearly is one month free. |
| Leak Shield (optional) | Every buyer gets their own invisibly marked copy; the open web and torrent indexes are searched; a confirmed leak names and blocks the buyer and sends the takedown. USD 99 a month or USD 1,188 a year, any paid plan. |
| Inclusion window | The streaming platform is included with every paid plan for members who switch it on before 31 December 2026, and stays included for them afterwards; after that date new activations add USD 39 a month. |
Plans and add-ons: pricing. The whole cluster starts at the creator platform guide.
Questions
Frequently asked
What is the difference between SVOD, TVOD and AVOD?
SVOD (subscription) charges a recurring fee for access to a whole catalog. TVOD (transactional) charges per title, as a purchase or rental. AVOD (advertising) is free to watch and paid for by ads.
Which is better for an independent filmmaker, SVOD or TVOD?
TVOD for a single feature or premiere, since fans pay once for the film they want. SVOD once you release regularly, because members pay every month for what comes next. Many creators sell new films as TVOD and keep the back catalog in an SVOD tier.
Is AVOD worth it for a small creator?
Rarely as the main income. Ad revenue depends on very large view counts, and on large platforms the creator gets a share of what the ads earn. AVOD is useful for reach: a free trailer or short on an ad-funded platform can send viewers to your paid films.
What is FAST?
Free ad-supported streaming TV: scheduled channels of ad-funded programming, like cable channels delivered over the internet. It is a variant of AVOD.
Can one service use more than one model?
Yes, and most do. Hybrid services combine a subscription with paid premieres, or free ad-funded viewing with a paid ad-free tier.
Which models does uncompressed.io support?
SVOD and TVOD: monthly and yearly membership tiers, purchases, rentals with a viewing window, downloads and bundles, with 0% commission. It does not run ads, so it is not an AVOD platform.
Run SVOD and TVOD from one shop.
Memberships, purchases, rentals and downloads come with every paid plan (Lite USD 9, Pro USD 39, Max USD 99, Studio USD 219 a month), with 0% commission, paid into your own payment account.
Sources
- 1.YouTube partner earnings overview (read 12 October 2026)