Crossing Borders, Payments And Media For The Smallest B2Bs

Mention B2B and the images that spring to mind doubtless run down a traditional supply chain, with manufacturers, perhaps, and machines working overtime on a factory floor.

But increasingly, the B2B arena is marked by services. In an age where content is created on the fly and shared instantly and globally, sole practitioners are often at least one of the Bs in B2B.

Media is a prime example of this shifting B2B landscape. Video is now no longer the purview of media teams at large conglomerates or slick studios. Now, an enterprising soul, tech-savvy and resolute, can create content that is compelling enough to be viewed and shared by millions, and YouTube is only, arguably, the most visible example.

The increasing availability and accessibility of multichannel networks give conduits to this democratized media movement. With advertising and new revenue-sharing models, even the most homegrown auteur can get paid for her efforts.

The issue lies with getting paid.

“There’s been an explosion of creativity and content,” Paladin Software Chief Executive Officer James Creech told PYMNTS in a recent interview, adding that now the content model has become one where people “produce, distribute, merchandize and monetize” what they create. The avenues to do this, he continued, lie with YouTube and any number of other sites. Much of that content crosses borders — created in one locale, taken through a site that may be in, say, the United States and subscribed to in any number of other places.

Paladin has teamed up with Tipalti in an effort to make such supplier payments a bit more streamlined, with an eye on cross-border transactions that extend across 30 multichannel networks (or MCNs). “The model used to be, with traditional media companies,” said the executive, “that this was a push model, for content, via from one to many … But now, it’s a two-way street, with a many-to-many model.” With the many-to-many model, said Creech, the earnings that accrue to the creator or MCN, via advertising, subscriptions or percentages of revenues, need to be properly accounted for. In reference to security concerns, the joint efforts between Paladin and Tipalti track customers and, for example, verify that PayPal accounts are legitimate and that recipients are not on a watch list.

The collaboration between Paladin and Tipalti helps to automate the payment information, via rails that range from PayPal to ACH, at the content creator’s choice — with the additional value add of tax information collection and reporting. The advantage for the media company or platform itself is that, through a “white-label” partnership with the pair, payments can be distributed through to thousands of content creators and tracked in real time.