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Own It. Don't Rent It! Why Content Creators Must Stop Building on Borrowed Ground
Sep 18, 2026
If TikTok disappeared tomorrow — or YouTube changed its algorithm again — what would you actually have left?
Most creators have built their entire business on land they don't own. A platform that can change the rules, the algorithm, or the terms overnight. That's renting. And renting has a cost.
In this 15-minute session, Caren Glasser (The Tech Evangelist) and Jan Creidenberg, Head of Video Growth and Strategy at Open.video, break down what it really means to own your content, your channel, and your audience — so no platform decision can take it away from you.
You'll learn:
✅ The real difference between renting and owning your audience
✅ What content ownership actually looks like in practice
✅ How to control your own monetization — no platform ad-share, no policy surprises
✅ Why the time to act is now, not someday
The time to own your content isn't someday. It's now.
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
If TikTok disappeared tomorrow or your YouTube channel changed the algorithm again, again
0:10
what would you actually have left? Stick around. We've got some great information for you
0:17
so i am thrilled to be here with a colleague of mine and i'm going to bring him in right now
0:34
so we can say hello this is jan kreidenberg he is from open video he is like the guy that
0:42
that does all the partnerships and stuff and he makes sure that that we're doing what we're
0:45
supposed to be doing. But most of all, Jan understands us. And that's what's important
0:50
about this. So we're going to be talking about why we should be doing this. Most creators have
0:55
actually built their entire businesses on property they don't own, right? YouTube. Literally
1:01
people are being shut down every day. And that's because of AI, because YouTube doesn't want a
1:07
bunch of AI slop all over the place. And so they're shutting people down. If that's you
1:11
you're kind of lost. If your entire company was there, you're gone. We're going to be talking
1:16
about why you should be doing something different. Renting an audience means that somebody else
1:21
controls them. Don't you want to own your own audience? I know I do. Owning your own audience
1:26
your own channel means you own the list, you own the channel, you own the content, everything. And
1:31
more importantly, you can monetize without having to share it with somebody else. So I'd like to
1:37
introduce you to my friend Jan Kreidenberg. He is the head of video growth and strategy with Open
1:42
Video. Did I say that right? That is like the biggest title ever. And when I first met Jan
1:50
what really sold me was the way this was all explained was that I'm going to own this and
1:55
that this is mine. And more importantly, I was never going to be able to monetize on YouTube
1:59
ever, ever, ever. I mean, I may have enough viewers, but I certainly don't have enough views
2:04
but I know it's important to have YouTube. And we're not talking about instead of YouTube
2:08
at all. We're talking about in addition to YouTube. So Jan, let's talk a little bit about
2:14
why we should be making the shift. Yeah, definitely. And thanks for having me on
2:21
Karen. I've loved working with you so far. But yeah, I think the big issue with building on
2:29
these platforms is kind of what you alluded to. You're kind of beholden to the algorithm
2:34
And they're kind of determining what videos are coming up next, what users are seeing
2:40
And it's really kind of a competitive, crowded space. And I think on top of that, for years, you could make a really good living on YouTube
2:50
There's a lot of creators that the discovery, the distribution of YouTube is amazing
2:55
And I'm not saying stop doing that. That's great for what it is
2:59
But people need to be thinking more about like, how do I make this a foolproof business
3:07
Which when you're on these platforms and we've seen it time and time again on Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, everything, you know, it takes one change and you're you're done for
3:18
You'll see, you know, channels that have three, five million subscribers. You look at their videos and they're getting, you know, 5000 views
3:26
And that's that's because they have no way to connect directly with their audience
3:31
They're basically just beholden to, you know, YouTube's going to hopefully show my videos
3:36
And that's how I make it. They're helping YouTube. They're literally all of these millions of people that are putting videos on YouTube are literally a marketing plan for YouTube
3:46
Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And so I think that, you know, what we kind of say over here internally is, you know, use YouTube for what it's good for, which is the discovery, the distribution, finding your audience
4:00
But then once you have that audience, what do you what do you do with it? You know, if they're subscribed to your YouTube channel, you don't know who they are
4:06
You don't get any way to connect with them directly. So it's and I think you're seeing it a lot out there right now
4:12
Like, OK, but how do we how do we get to that next level? have those connections. And then once you have that first party connection with them through
4:20
email or through them coming to your website, there's just so much more you can do to grow the
4:25
business and turn them into longtime fans, longtime followers, not just if they happen to see your
4:32
video on one of the platforms. So let's talk reality. If you want to share your screen
4:38
let's tell people what it actually means to control their own property, their own land
4:43
so that they actually do it all. They're not sharing. So we'll have you bring it up
4:50
Yeah, so let me share my screen. And I'm going to reiterate what you said. This is not about switching platforms, guys
4:55
This is an addition to YouTube. And it's so user-friendly. Oh, that's not good
5:04
How's that? Is that better? That's much better. Okay, there we go. Yeah, so, and this is just an example
5:10
You know, Karen's website is obviously one we work with. quite a few, but this is actually our CMO's website. It's called nottyler.org
5:18
And so what you'll see, you know, he has, let me just go to
5:24
he has kind of his general business He runs mainly you know he has a lot of projects He big into the AI space builds the projects everything on on his his website And he actually has a lot of video content as well So you know he has a lot of projects He big into the AI space builds the projects everything on his website And he actually has a lot of video content as well So you know he can still put it on YouTube
5:39
He can have it discovered there. But what's cool about OpenVideo is it is bringing your video channel to your domain, to your website as part of yours
5:50
So I'll go back to it. Which makes it indexable and crawlable and all of that stuff that you need. It's SEO
5:56
Exactly. Yeah. So you'll see, I don't know if you can see the search bar, but it's videos.nottyler.org. So this is, you know, it looks similar to a YouTube channel, right? You know, he's got all his content, playlists, everything, but this is on his website. So what that means is, you know, when people land on it, they're, you know, they have native navigation to other parts of your website
6:17
So if you're selling courses, if you have articles, you want them to read all that
6:21
It's it's all within your controlled website. It's not. Oh, here's my video on YouTube
6:26
Asking them to link away from YouTube to go to another to your website is, you know, it's really hard as far as like a funnel
6:33
People are going to be on the app. They're going to stay there versus having it here
6:37
And I think you kind of touched on it. But with these videos being on your website, you do get that SEO juice
6:43
you get the videos index for you, which I think, you know, a lot of people don't know this, but even
6:48
if you are embedding your YouTube videos on your website, you know, the way the search engines work
6:54
they look at where the host is for that video, and then they index that. So you may be adding
6:59
videos that are helping a specific page for SEO, but those videos, you know, if they show up in
7:05
search, it's sending people back to YouTube. It's not sending them to your website. And then, yeah
7:10
then you're going back into this competitive space. I know that one of the challenges that people have is, well
7:15
if I put something on YouTube, how do I get them to come over to open video or to my channel that's on open
7:21
video? And there's some little hacks and little tricks that we can do. And I'm, I like to share those things
7:25
And we'll do that maybe a little bit later, maybe, maybe not. So this is, this is not Tyler, which is very cool site, by the way
7:34
I see the subscribe button there. So what does that mean? So when you're clicking, you know, and OK, so they're basically when they subscribe, it's similar to subscribing to a YouTube channel
7:46
But the difference is they're subscribing to your channel and then you get their email as part of to use as part of your business
7:55
And then on top of that, when you're pushing out new videos, they will end up getting emails about, you know, new videos that are being released
8:03
Again, not something that YouTube would ever do. Exactly. You can't even see their emails. I mean, sometimes you can. And you can import your own list if you have a list already
8:15
That's right. And the reason why you might want to consider that is for what you just said, Jan, every time you put a new video in here, they're going to get a notification
8:24
That's right. And that's a good thing. Yeah. So, and I see so many conversations of stuff. People, you know, on YouTube, they're like, oh, I'm subscribed to this channel. I don't even know when their new videos are coming out
8:34
Like they have to actively look for it or hope that YouTube is going to put those videos on the homepage
8:39
Hope is not a strategy. Exactly. Exactly. So, okay. So I'm looking at this and what we visually are saying it, look, it's, it's not Tyler's website that's connected to this
8:51
You can see he has a Spotify. It's his website up there. And mine does the same thing
8:56
Mine is videos.karenglasser.com. It's the same kind of thing. It's, it is branded to you
9:02
it, you own it, you own it. So what else, what else, what other reasons should we be talking
9:09
about that they should be doing this? Yeah. So I, yeah, I was going to say, I think another thing
9:13
and this website doesn't do any monetization, but I think, you know, you see all these people
9:19
and recently the YouTube partner program, they increased the number of subscribers you need
9:23
the number of, you know, the amount of watch time that you get just to be eligible to monetize
9:27
And if you're not in that program, you're not making any money. And guess what? There's still ads running on your channel. Viewers are still seeing ads. You're not getting a cut of it. And then when you are getting the cut, you're splitting, you're splitting it. Rev share 45%
9:42
45%. So yeah. Talk to us about how this works and a little bit about Ezoic and how this works
9:49
Yeah, definitely. So, so yeah, with, you know, I think the main thing that we've seen and say is
9:56
you know, it's, it's not that YouTube couldn't allow monetize everyone to monetize. It's that
10:01
they just don't want to. So a little background, open video is part of, it's a kind of a product
10:08
within our parent company, Ezoic, and we've been in the display and video ad monetization space for
10:14
15, 16 years at this point. So we have a lot of relationships with, we work closely with Google
10:21
we work with other partners like TripleLift and Magnite and the Trade Desk, Amazon, so on and so
10:28
forth. So we've kind of our core business for years was monetizing websites with display ads
10:35
and video ad revenue. And so we kind of realized, you know, there's the, we have these relationships
10:42
already, we can provide monetization to creators that are setting up their own channel on their
10:48
website. And so, yeah, so basically, it's just about signing up and then getting approved by
10:55
these partners. And then you can monetize pretty much from from day one. It's cool. I mean, it's
11:01
cool so I mean I have videos obviously sitting on open video and in the ad part of it I able to go in and say I would like a pre before my video starts If it a short video I tend not to do any ads because you know it a short video
11:15
But it will show you all the different places you can put it in. And it works
11:21
I mean, it works. But there's some other things that I want to chat about that's kind of brand new is the product thing that you can add products to your videos
11:31
Yeah. So, and I'm not sure if he has it set up. I have it set up. If you need me to open mine, I'll, I can go to
11:38
so we can, you know, we can go to Karen's channel. So here's, you know, again, it's
11:44
we've got a few different templates, but this is Karen's channel. And do you know which video
11:50
Oh, that would, that would have been too easy, right? Yeah, right. Yeah, that would have been
11:54
too easy. It has to, I honestly have no idea. Actually, I think it's on my intro video. You
12:01
have to go into the small little videos. It's my, my website video. Okay. That one, this one right
12:09
here. Yeah. So that one hasn't, that has an ad connected to it at the end. And actually, you
12:16
know what? I think it's a tool. I'm all over the place on this. No, you're good. But here, this is
12:20
embedded. So here, let's just talk about this. So I uploaded it into OpenVideo. Actually, I grabbed
12:26
it from YouTube into OpenVideo. I took the embed code and then we embedded it onto my website
12:31
Every time somebody watches this video on my website, which is the first thing they see
12:37
and it automatically turns on, I get paid. Right. And I think that's another, yeah
12:42
that's another distinction. Embeds from YouTube, even if you're in the partner program, you can't
12:47
embed on your own website and get paid. It's only within the YouTube ecosystem. So this is
12:51
really, you know, we think of it as, you know, video on the open web versus these
12:56
these closed off platforms. Right. So, I mean, okay, so let's, I'm just want to make sure I don't
13:03
miss anything. So when somebody monetizes and they get approved, which is not difficult to do
13:09
they get approved and it's connected to their website. So they're getting the juice, they're
13:14
getting the juice um they're getting paid um and nobody else is taking stuff from you right you
13:22
that you're not going to get shut down you're not going to get shut down and i think that is
13:26
you know that that is probably the most important thing that i want people to understand
13:33
exactly yeah yeah you're not having to you're not having to play by rules and you see stories
13:39
every single day of like you know legit creators that have been on youtube for years and years
13:44
that are getting an email that their account has been canceled and there's no way to talk to them
13:48
There's no way to get support or really reinstate it. There's a few here and there, but the number of people that end up just losing their channel
13:57
and we see this on all the platforms, right? Like their account is deactivated and there's just no way to get it back
14:06
There is no way to get it back. I mean, even if it makes me sad
14:10
I mean, I see people all over social media. Does anybody know anyone at Facebook that can help me
14:15
Does anybody know anybody at YouTube that can help me? I got shut down. You're not going to get shut down with this, guys, at all
14:22
All right. So I'm going to put up a QR code right now because I can, and I love the technology of it
14:28
And Jan, why don't you come into the screen, unshare yourself. Unshare myself
14:32
Give me a second. All right. Here we go. All right. One of the things that, and we talked a little bit about this before we went on camera, that people don't understand why right now there is no fee for this
14:50
Yeah. Yeah. So, and I think it is a common question we get
14:54
It's kind of like, you know, I can't believe this is all free. You know, video hosting can be expensive and running everything
15:00
but you know especially right now we're we're kind of in the phase of like we really want to
15:06
grow the platform grow the number of creators that are able to use this and you know as an
15:12
integral part of their business and you know we mentioned it before but having being part of Ezoic
15:19
as a larger company you know we do have you know we're venture backed we're profitable we have
15:24
the revenue to be able to you know grow this thing not have to you know bootstrap it or you
15:30
know, charge from, from day one, like others may have to. So I think, yeah, sometimes even I'm like
15:37
I can't believe this is all free, but it's, it's, you know, free for right now. We'll, we'll likely have some paid features. Yeah. And here's the other resistance to
15:45
you know, coming in. So I want to address it. And that is, oh my God, how I'm going to bring all my videos in, how am I going to do this? Right. Well, one of the things that open video
15:52
has, and again, this is not all about the functionality right now, but I want to make
15:56
this easy because I know in your head, you guys are saying, well, wait a second. I have a hundred
16:01
videos sitting on YouTube. How am I going to bring them over? Right. Oh, well, open video made it easy
16:06
right? Yeah. Yeah. So we have a, we basically set up a YouTube importer where you just connect
16:12
your YouTube account and then you can bring in whichever videos you want. You can set it up on
16:18
auto import. So really everything that's being posted on YouTube will be brought into your own
16:23
and open video channel as well. So we try and make it as easy as possible
16:28
You don't need to go post five different places. You can continue to post on YouTube and pull it in
16:34
or vice versa you can post on open video and just automatically schedule it to go into YouTube as well Right And I always say when you going to make that when you start bringing them in automatically you should have a game plan in mind
16:47
You should have your routine. I always upload to YouTube first and have it automatically sent to open video because I want the YouTube visibility
16:55
Even though I've seen images that you've shared, the same person who has both YouTube and open video, they're literally side by side up at the top on a search
17:04
So we know even the visibility, I think, from YouTube possibly is helping the visibility from open video
17:10
Right. Yeah, I think that's that's important. And especially with, you know, with video content, written content is a little different
17:16
They don't want duplicate content. But with video, it's OK to have a video on YouTube as well as on your website
17:22
And so, yeah, we've routinely seen, you know, in the search results, people will have, you know, they'll have their YouTube video as well as their open video video right there
17:34
and then you get two of the top 10 spots. That's really important as far as
17:38
And one of the other questions, well, how do I get people to come to my open video
17:43
So I'm gonna give you guys a hack right now. If you ever do shorts on YouTube
17:48
the whole purpose behind shorts is to do these little facetal videos
17:52
and then it points normally to the bigger video. So what we're telling people right now
17:56
and I haven't told you this, John, I'm telling people right now, they go and do their short on YouTube
18:00
and then in the description, the link to the open video. So that literally, it's not linking to the YouTube video
18:08
It's literally going to link back to open video. And if you have any traction at all
18:13
or any visibility at all on YouTube, that's a really easy way to bring your audience
18:19
over to open video. Because once they see everything else, right? Right
18:24
And I think another thing, and I think this is maybe somewhere
18:28
where creators don't fully understand on their end, but we've talked to a lot of like, oh, I get all my views from YouTube. And then if
18:35
you actually go in and look at the ytics, you know, the reality is a lot of it is actually being
18:40
driven by work that you're doing. So, you know, posting on other platforms, sending emails out
18:47
you know, sending links to friends and whatnot, you know, that's not the algorithm. That's
18:51
that's you doing the work and then you're sending them all to a platform that you don't own
18:56
So why not, you know, why not skip that step? And, you know
19:00
you just share your videos on your website. And then, like we said before
19:04
still take the discovery, the distribution from YouTube, but it's in reality
19:09
it's right. You know, we're not all Mr. Beast where, you know, we're getting all of our views through people just going to YouTube. You know
19:15
we are sharing our content other places and doing the legwork to
19:20
to get them. So, so yeah, absolutely. And, And one other thing, you guys are keeping up with AI, obviously, and I know you are in something called MCPs, where you can literally connect open video to your AI platform of choice
19:35
I happen to use Claude. And so just so you guys know, I mean, this is all automatic
19:40
You can set this up to be automatic. Every single video that gets uploaded into open video, even though I do optimize on YouTube, it's a different kind of optimization
19:49
and so I have clawed optimized via the title it sends over to open video it sends over the
19:55
keywords and the categories and the description and the title everything that's seo I obviously
20:01
love this platform I mean there's no doubt if you're listening to this I'm like I'm a fanning
20:05
fangirl over this but truly again we didn't even go through features this is this is more the why
20:12
if you have questions guys reach out to me I'm happy to answer questions I love this platform
20:18
I think you will love this platform as well. Don't forget to scan the QR code
20:22
It will take you over to open video. And again, it is free. It is free
20:26
Sign up. And if you have trouble connecting things, Jan and the team, I mean, they're all over this
20:32
They see when people are opting in and people are signing up. So I encourage you to do that
20:37
But if you have questions, just email Karen at Karen Glasser dot com. I would love to help you
20:43
And any last thoughts, Jan? No, I just think, you know, in general, I'm glad you brought up the MCP
20:51
I know we're wrapping up soon, but I just I do want to say, like, I think the future is people are going to be using these AI clients
20:58
They want to be able to just control things from there. And so we've made open video to where you if you don't want to, you don't have to log into the dashboard ever to do anything
21:06
You can literally just have a conversation with Claude or with Grok or ChatGPT
21:12
Tell them, hey, I want you to do X, Y and Z and it'll just go do it. I think it's something that a lot of these platforms, again, they're not going to be exposing all of their features to these clients
21:22
So setting up workflows, building in these processes that it's just going to save you time as well
21:29
let alone the adding subscribers, monetizing everything like that, but just making your processes really AI
21:36
Yeah, and much easier. And in many respects, does it a little bit better than you can because it already is built in what it should be optimizing
21:44
And that was an eye opener for me. I didn't realize that optimizing it this way was different than the way I was optimizing on YouTube
21:51
Different titles, different descriptors, everything is different. And maybe that's because of the discoverability and tapping into everybody else over there
21:59
But great platform, guys. Check it out. Again, if you have questions, hit me up
22:04
And we'll see you next time on the next training. Thanks, Jan. Thanks, Karen
22:09
Bye-bye
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