TVOD (transactional VOD) is the pay-per-title model: instead of a subscription or ads, the viewer pays for a specific piece of content. It comes in two flavors — rental (time-limited access, e.g. 48 hours after first play) and electronic sell-through (a permanent purchase) — plus pay-per-view for one-off live events such as sports or concerts.
TVOD puts transactions and entitlement at the center. The platform must handle one-off payments, issue a precise, often time-boxed entitlement, and enforce it at playback — including offline downloads governed by a DRM license that expires when the rental does. Because each title is a separate purchase decision, merchandising, pricing, and a frictionless checkout matter more than catalog depth.
TVOD is frequently the premium layer of a hybrid: a new release available to rent before it enters the SVOD catalog, or a marquee live event sold à la carte on top of a subscription.
The handbook · 7 volumes
Fora Soft Video Engineering Handbook
TVOD sells rentals, purchases, and pay-per-view events one at a time, so entitlement rules and license expiry must match each transaction. The seven volumes cover the video stack; for TVOD start with Volume 3 on DRM, license policy, and the economics of streaming, then Volume 2 on delivery, with encoding in Volume 1. Written by Nikolay Sapunov, CEO at Fora Soft.
Adding rentals and purchases next to your subscription catalog?
We will review your billing and DRM setup and send a TVOD design with rental windows, license rules, and checkout flow. 250+ video products shipped since 2005.
