Over the last few weeks a number of news stories have broken about websites using their visitors computer power to 'mine' cryptocurrencies. The latest being Pulitzer Winning website politifact. Some of the websites did it deliberately, others like politifact were hacked and the code placed there maliciously. This raised the question, could this be the new e-business model for content creators? With ad spend being squeezed for as many eyeballs as possible could this create a new revenue stream for content creators?

Content creators have a few well established streams of revenue; syndication to TV networks, Subscription services, Pay per view and online advertising. With the rise of piracy and the ease of which persons can access created content, creators are facing a real problem. How do we make content more profitable?

TV shows that only run on TV are getting harder to find these days, simply because it's becoming more and more profitable to feature content online rather than only at a set time-slot. With that comes the issue that this content is pirated and the producer is unable to monetize it further. In come services like Netflix which try to bridge the gap by offering high quality content syndicated from your favourite producers for a low monthly fee. It however still hasn't stopped freeloaders from watching shows for free via any number of content streaming sites or downloading them via torrents. It gets easier everyday for persons to access paid content for free.

As it stands as a content creator you can go the route of Netflix and Spotify and try to monetize your content via some hybrid freemium model or subscription fee. But you run the risk if your content is good enough, to be pirated and lose a fair portion of potential income from these pirates. This Mine to Watch model could be the middle ground creators and viewers are looking for.

It would allow creators/distributors to host their content relatively easily while generating income from their viewers. The viewers receive the content they desire with little upfront cost. The cost comes to the consumer when their CPU is working a little bit harder for an hour or so which would be reflected in their energy costs at the end of the month.

If you were given the option, $9.99/month for Netflix or allowing Netflix to use 10% of your computing power while you're watching the show which would you choose?