It's a wonderful life. Most of the time.

And that's me, done for another year.

Thanks very much for reading and I do hope you have a Happy and Peaceful Christmas. Look after yourselves.

A new competitor to YouTube launches.

Vessel is coming to take on YouTube and Vimeo.

Although ad-supported, they will also charge 2.99 us dollars a month to be able to watch your "favourite" YouTube stars first. In other words, they'll have video before anyone else (by at least 3 days).

What makes it a serious contender is that it is being founded by Jason Kilar, the former Hulu CEO. 

Video creators will get a cut of the ad and subscription revenue by holding off on posting their content until it has been shown on Vessel. They currently get 55% from Google's YouTube although it's generally poor and they will be encouraged by Vessel's promised revenue.

Although one wonders will subscribers be prepared to pay for content they'll probably see free some days later?

Not sure. But having said that it's a new model that very much highlights online video as now being 'programming' and having value.

So in every sense, it's to be encouraged.

And anyway, do like the logo.....