The problem with Animoto is that the PRO account doesn’t allow you to sell videos you create to clients unless you are a photographer (or similar where the client is an individual and not a business).
If you do sell to businesses you are breaking the terms of the license. Animoto have however brought out a special license to get around this – here is what they said to me about it. This is what they told me :
As our commercial terms of service do limit distribution of videos to other businesses, we recently launched a product addressing your needs called the Reseller Account. As an authorized Animoto Reseller you can provide video creation services to other businesses including restaurants, hotels, retailers, real estate agents, and even photographers.
The account costs $499 per year and allows you to distribute videos to businesses for a further $25 per video payment to Animoto.
So to become a reseller you have to pay Animoto $499 per year plus$25 per video sold.
A Better Alternative to Animoto
Enter ProShow Web – the web version of ProShow Gold. The ProShow Web service has been launched by a company well versed in video production and with a long history of the same. I think the ProSHow Web solution is better than Animoto’s – by a long way (use of text, transitions, video and general control is better, cheaper). You can build short slideshows with the free version, and their PRO account allows you to sell the videos you make to whoever you want. $150 per year is the cost of the PRO license compared to Animoto’s $249 + $499 + $25 per go.
Here is my first attempt at using ProShow Web. Note that because I am using the free account, the transition options are limited. But I can see that if I upgraded, I’d have more control.
What is nice is that you don’t have the same character restrictions that Animoto places on text slides. Pro Show Web allows up to 242 characters. And (although I haven’t been able to include one here), if you have a video clip (max 30 seconds per clip – but you can have as many as you want in a single video), you can choose to keep the sound or mute it.
If you keep the sound it plays against the background music very effectively and this means you can probably use ProShow Web for a better quality of promotional video. One where you actually can be heard to say something.
And finally, like Animoto, the video you get is different each time you rebuild it.
