Horse Hero.. now have to pay to view??

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MissDeMeena

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I've just tried to watch a new video, 14mins long, and only seen a 30sec clip before it stops.. i then noticed a £3.50 to view tag at the top..

I thought this was a really good site, with some great videos, and i have to say, i was wondering how she was funding it, i thought maybe advertising.. however it seem they need more
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but i don't see myself paying to see anything.
 
I'm really disappointed about this
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The home page describes £3.50 as a small fee but for about 15min??? It does allow unlimited viewing but I rarely watch a video more than once. I'm sure this will exclude the vast majority of any young people who use the site. I'd far prefer to be bombarded with advertising...

Maybe (hopefully!) the viewing figures of the training videos will drop dramatically and prompt them to have a rethink!
 
i think you always had to pay to view the full lenghth clips. I remember watching the clips of a couple of the management ones and being really concerned at some of the practises shown (e.g. loading horses in head collars with no hats or gloves) because although we all do that, we are not providing an information video that people are paying to see and being led to believe is good practise. it is better to show safe practice as per the health and safety regs particularly when people are paying for this service. i did bring the subject up with one of the people involved in the site so maybe they have changed it.
It is a good idea, and they work really hard at it but they seem to be a bit misguided in some areas.
 
There is no such thing as a free lunch , the lady that runs the site was waiting until enough traffic had built up on th esite , it will be interesting to see what happens from here on in , any data that people have put in when joining will probably also be for sale
 
Lu, I agree with what you are saying. I watched the Laura B vid yesterday when it was free and was concerned that she didn't put a riding hat on for the film. I know dressage riders don't bother but she should be showing safe practice to the kids watching.
 
£3.50 sounds way too much to me, I'd have thought charging 50p might actually get some takers and make a little bit of money- at least to start off with
 
and sadly thistle, it wasnt only that video and not only that person and i appreciate what billyslad is saying but that doesnt affect my opinion that if you are using supposed luminaries as an example of practise and making people pay for it, you should be a little careful.
 
Agree with Boss and L_M I can understand trying to generate revenue, and building it up then introducing charges is a standard way of doing it (OH and I are about to do something similar with a rugby-related site
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) However, I think they are misguided in going in at £3.50, it sounds very steep. People will be comparing it in their own minds with downloads from iTunes, for example. 50p or 75p sounds a lot less and would be a lot more palatable, she could always ease it upwards over time once people were familiar with the idea of paying to view.

ETA: Can't comment on the safety issues as I don't really use the site but Lu's point is well made. Even if she doesn't actually ensure everything is doen "correctly", some sort of blanket warnings about protective equipment etc would be easy enough to edit in.
 
I just think that it is one thing if you clearly state this is tat person's opinion on a site that is free to view and quite another if it is a paying service which is encouraging people to cough up so they can 'learn' from experts. i suspect if someone was badly hurt loading a horse after following the two differnt lots of 'expert advice' on that subject, there would be proceedings. And unfortunately it wasnt only the loading where there were some obvious errors.
but as i said, i discussed this with one of their presenters so hopefully the matter is being addressed.
 
Such a shame. I really liked this site and until my desk moved into an open plan office not a private one I used to watch quite a bit on there.
She would be better off charging a small amount as previously suggested, 50p-£1 and doing something along the lines of open an account for £5 and watch unlimited videos for a month but £3.50 for one vid - dream on.
I hate to say it but bye bye horse hero's - this isnt the climate to be greedy or unrealistic !
Gutted.
 
Actually I think some of those videos are absolutely cracking, Fiona has put so much effort, money and time into it. Why should it be free. Therefore I would not mind paying to watch, but £3.50 per video is a bit ridiculous, would prefer an annual subscription/one of payment fee for full use of the site.
 
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would prefer an annual subscription/one of payment fee for full use of the site.

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There is an option to pay £48.00 for the year.

I can't understand why there isn't more (any?!) advertising on the site. Along with the regular banner advertising there could be ads you're forced to watch at the beginning (and even during the longer videos), the sponsoring of videos, promotional videos - the possibilities are endless! Also it would be so useful for specialist companies e.g. dressage products advertised on dressage videos. Maybe this is in the pipeline but I would have thought this would be the first option...
 
I found some of the music really annoying to the point where I wanted to turn the sound off when watching Harry Meade jumping. Wouldn't want to pay £3.50 for it.

I am surprised that HH aren't selling to Country TV and Horse and Country, as it would making cracking mini slots.
 
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Such a shame. I really liked this site and until my desk moved into an open plan office not a private one I used to watch quite a bit on there.

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hehehe I won't tell your boss that!
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I can understand everyone's points - the HH team put in a lot of time and effort and in a way we are expecting a lot for it to be free - especially with good quality videos.

Fully back lu's points re: safety. Personally it goes over my head as I have my own regards to safety, but I am of an age to make my own decision - some younger viewers may not which is why I agree with you, lu.

Shame though. Bye bye HH
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I think it is a mistake to suddenly ask for money to view the training videos-why didn't they try to increase advertising money? Unfortunately, I won't be subscribing any time soon; I much prefer to purchase DVDs, or take lessons. Loved the Laura B videos, but that was about all I watched. I think my HH days are over....
 
Hey guys, let's get it in perspective. There are still around 16 high quality videos per month entirely free of charge coming onto Horse Hero. That's not to mention around 180 already on there that are also free! Someone compared the cost of our videos to iTunes downloads. In fairness, they are more comparable to training DVDs which cost up to £25.00 a shot. If you put 4 of our training videos together to make an hour long DVD, you'd be hard pushed to find one for £14.00 which makes ours excellent value. In any event, one or two training videos will be free for a limited time each month, so if you keep your eyes peeled for info' on the home page as to when they will come up, you'll never need to part with a penny!
 
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