“Viber encouraged us to build the bot, but never discussed the price and there’s no price in the website documentation,” he said. Having spent eight months developing its Viber bot, Eddy Travels plans to double down on its efforts with Facebook Messenger and Telegram, where its bot-based service runs without charge and has seen multiples more users and engagement. Balčikonis said his startup was attracted to the Viber platform because it provided all the necessary documentation and APIs to build a chatbot upfront and in public. “For an early-stage startup, this isn’t going to work,” Edmundas Balčikonis, co-founder of Eddy Travels - a travel assistant service that’s currently part of the Techstars Toronto program - told TechCrunch by phone. These costs have come out of the blue, much to the surprise of startups that spent time developing chatbots for the Viber platform. This is a risky strategy that is likely to alienate companies that operate chatbots on Viber, as well a brands that bought into a bot strategy. A key aim with this move is to ensure that users are presented with a steady stream of highly relevant and relatable content and a commercial commitment is one key tool for ensuring a quality experience for users,” Debbi Dougherty, head of B2B Marketing & Communications for Viber, explained. “Bots can be published for free however, to ensure the highest discoverability and quality of content for bots, we will be introducing a commercial commitment in the coming months. The new fees are being communicated to companies that operate Viber chatbots, but Viber hinted at its new monetization plans in an email to TechCrunch. Those that exceed that range will be eligible to send up to one million messages per month for $6,500. Starting April 1, Viber will charge chatbot operators $4,500 per month for the ability to send up to 500,000 messages to users. The conventional wisdom is to work with content companies to help bring users to messaging platforms and keep them engaged, but Viber, which has struggled to keep up with rivals like WhatsApp and Line, is turning that on its head. Viber, the messaging app owned by Japanese e-commerce firm Rakuten, is poised to implement a controversial new strategy that will see it charge companies that run chatbots on its platform.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |