Introducing Sator: The Blockchain Solution for Network Television

SATOR
4 min readMay 5, 2021

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Netflix, Disney, HBO, Hulu, and Amazon Prime are just a few of the popular streaming services out there today. Many people dish out serious money every month just to fulfill all of their binging needs across multiple platforms. While these streaming services are generating massive revenue, you might think the value of these platforms comes from the shows they provide. But there is something much more valuable that these streaming services rely on: you.

Despite being the most valuable part of the streaming ecosystem, the viewer has no direct input on, nor receives any compensation for the time spent watching shows. This is where Sator changes the paradigm.

Sator is a blockchain solution for broadcast television. It empowers the viewer to have direct influence on and interaction with content while receiving rewards for their participation. It also alleviates major corporations from static, artificial roles as middle-men to instead become unifying drivers of value in the community of content creators and viewers. Here’s how it works.

For those unfamiliar with blockchain technology, blockchains are the backbone behind cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Blockchains remove single, centralized entities from typical processes such as maintaining transaction logs or voting. This decentralization gives a level of democracy in online applications not previously obtainable while also providing a significantly higher level of security. These perks do come at a cost: cryptocurrency is the fuel that pays for these costs by rewarding users for participating in the blockchain network.

SAO is the cryptocurrency that fuels the Sator network. At a high level, television creators and distributors need SAO to have their product (e.g. network series) activated on the Sator platform and are rewarded by gaining engagement and growth of their viewership. At the same time, viewers that hold SAO are rewarded for interacting with the series content. In essence, this democratizes the typical television paradigm in which viewers generate the value of a show, yet centralized entities exclusively receive the payout. SAO tokens are distributed to viewers and content creators depending on their engagement with the system.

The goal of the Sator Network is to directly grow and maintain viewership of series by rewarding both viewers and content creators. How is this possible? Through the power of decentralization.

Individuals will need to stake SAO tokens in order to participate in the network. The more tokens an individual has staked and the more they interact with content on Sator, the more rewards they will receive. Not only does this staking mechanism drive demand for the token, but it also protects the network from malicious attacks such as spinning up thousands of “fake” accounts to watch and interact with a show at the same time (i.e., a Sybil attack).

Content creators/providers also need to stake tokens to have their content shared on the Sator platform. The Sator Network will prioritize suggesting series to viewers if the provider locks up more tokens. This incentivizes providers to lock up enough tokens to gain a large viewership. More exciting: content providers can initiate specific reward mechanisms for viewers that can distribute tokens to their own viewers. This is one of the best features of the network — providers must use tokens to activate their content no matter what; this simply allows them to determine how these tokens distribute rewards to their viewers and how much impact they create as they change hands throughout the network.

For example, a content creator may put a QR code hidden somewhere in their show. If this QR code is scanned (through the Sator App) at a specific time, it will initiate a smart contract to distribute rewards to that viewer.

Besides viewers and content creators, the Sator platform is specifically built to handle custom transactions with smart contracts that allow for unique utilization by third parties (e.g., advertisers or sponsors).

As an example of the network, you may expect:

  1. Content providers buy and stake a large amount of tokens to initially activate their content on the Sator Network. This will attract more viewers by offering them more rewards and simply by being a highly prioritized show on the network.
  2. Viewers enjoy the content, and participate, blog, and share the content, hoping to receive rewards and while generating hype around the show.
  3. Content creators receive rewards for the engagement their content receives.
  4. Third parties (e.g. advertisers) see the popularity of the show and offer the creators tokens to have their product associated with the show.

This cycle then starts over, effectively acting as a positive feedback loop, aligning all stakeholders in content creation, consumption and monetization for a healthy and growing ecosystem.

We are very excited to get the Sator ecosystem running! So far, there is one partner producer prepared to launch a full length series along with the launch of the Sator network. Stay tuned for more details about the upcoming show, as well as more details on blockchain intricacies in articles to come.
Until then!

Sign up for beta launch: www.Sator.io

Join Sator Telegram community: https://t.me/SatorSAO

Join Sator Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/mqcpTKngx7

Twitter, TikTok, Instagram: @SatorSAO

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SATOR

Sator is a Web3 media technology company that builds Web3 television infrastructure and open world metaverse games. Download Sator app!