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This week's idea is inspired by the French Canadian service Soustitreur.com created by @daige. I've stumbled on his website and got interested in the subtitle business. I wondered who the players were and if there was an opportunity for indie makers.

There are 2 major players in the subtitle productized service business: rev.com and 3playmedia.com. Both are focused on English-speaking markets. They offer foreign languages but charge a premium.

I think the opportunity is doing a focused service on one specific language/market similar to soustitreur.com

🔥 Problem

Automatic subtitles are hit or miss, even more so in languages other than English. Yet, SEO, as well as engagement for human-generated subtitles, is far superior.

🧯 Solution

A productized service for generating subtitles in a local market.

👍 What are the benefit

• Better SEO
• Better video engagement
• Guaranteed quality (as opposed to Fiverr or other gig-based services)
• Simple pricing

🤑 Are people currently spending money on this?

• There are large competitors such as rev.com or 3playmedia.com 
• The service I have in mind is closer to soustitreur.com 
• In both cases prices range from $1.25 to $7 per minute

💵 Possible Monetization Stream

• Monetize on a per-minute basis
• Charge $2, pay $1 to the subtitle creator, keep $1

✅ What do I need to validate?

• Can you reach local youtube creators?
• Can you convince them of the benefits of human-generated subtitles?
• Can you charge $2/m?
• Can you find people willing to write subtitles for $1/m?

🧰 How I'd validate?

This has to be a super locally targeted service. You need to tell people the 2 main benefits of human-generated subtitles: SEO & Engagement.

• Create an educational sales page explaining the 2 main benefits of subtitles
• Embed a simple order form
• Reach out to local youtube creators. Here it's important to not start with a cold sell. Try first creating a warm relationship by engaging with them in the comments or on Twitter. Pitch your service only after you have made a few 1:1 exchanges.

🤔 How will I get first 10 customers?

• Local YouTube creators
• Local Facebook video & ad creators
• Local Instagram creators

📈 Will it be sustainable?

This is probably not a lifelong business. AI will eventually get much better in all languages. But for the time being, with all the languages, accents, audio issues, etc. human-generated subtitles are still very relevant.

👉 My Score

• Usefulness: 💪💪 (Medium)
• Complexity: 👩‍💻 (Easy)
• Excitement: 🔥🔥 (Medium)

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