A Review of the Hideout.tv Website & Android App: Earn Free Rewards

Written by Jason Michaels Last Updated: May 8, 2024

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Some of us enjoy watching different YouTube videos in a variety of different content.

The problem is you can’t really make money watching these videos, except with Paid2YouTube, and you get paid 0.005¢ for each video you watch.

But, there’s a new site for creators to start a channel and post all their videos and for their viewers to earn points for watching them.

This site is called Hideout.tv.

Hideout.tv is owned & operated by Adscend Media and was started in 2009 out of Austin, Texas.

This video platforms features videos from creators and users earn rewards for watching them.

They claim – “No more boring content. No more poor-quality uploads. No more guessing games. At Hideout.tv, we hand-pick all creators and curate all videos, allowing you to have access to a massive library of videos that are always entertaining.”

Currently, there’s only a website, an “early access” Android app, and soon there’ll be an Amazon Fire version.

Table of Contents

What is Hideout.tv?

Hideout.tv is a video viewing platform where viewers can check out cooking demos, music videos, eSports highlights, and other favorites, as well as earn rewards from trusted loyalty partners.

On Hideout.tv you can:

Browse – Check channels and videos and chooses a video to watch
Engage – Give likes, feedback, subscribing, and social shares
React – Pick an emoji to match how you felt about the video
Earn – Get points from watching videos and advertisements

It’s pretty similar to YouTube, but they’re more selective on what creators are accepted into the program.

You do need to be 13 years old or older to sign up for this program.

What Kinds of Video Channels are Offered?

There are all kinds of different video categories you can choose to watch.

The different categories you can find videos include:

Adventure
Celebrity
Food
Gaming
Laughs
Movies
Tech Talk
Music
And many more

Some of their feature favorites content creators include:

deannatroytravels – A woman’s travel adventures
amaetv – how-tos on cameras, vlogging and more
natedoesart – how-tos for drawing, art, art supply reviews and more
uinterview – interviews with various people, stars, athletes, etc.

As the website impresses, they only pick quality videos and content creators for Hideout.tv so they’ll be a more enjoyable viewing experience than some material that YouTube pumps out.

How Do I Get Started?

As I mentioned, they currently only have the website and the basic Android app.

Here’s how to sign up:

Download the app from Google Play
When you open the app, a pop-up asks permission for Hideout TV to access photos, media and files on your device – Click Allow
It opens the Dashboard, you’ll need to click “My Account” in the lower right corner
It’ll ask for you to sign in or create an account – click “create an account”
You’ll be directed to the Hideout.tv website
You have the option to sign up with Facebook, Google, or filling in the boxes
To fill in the boxes, you pick a username, enter your email, and a password, accept the captcha, and agree to the terms.
You’re now signed up, but you’re still on the website.
Close your browser and open Hideout.tv again
Enter your new account information into the app
You’re now signed up and can start earning loyalty points.

How Do I Earn?

There are a few ways to earn loyalty points on Hideout.tv

These are by:

Watching Videos

All Hideout.tv videos give you rewards points, so no matter which video you choose to watch you’ll get points.

The amount rewarded depends on the video, but the most common I’ve seen is 3.3 points.

Entering Promo Codes

Hideout.tv offers a Daily Promo Code every day.

Start watching videos and every day click the “Rewards” button under a video to see a filled-in, one-time code in the “Code” box.

Simply click “Add” and you’ll be rewarded up to 9 points.

Referring Friends

There’s a tier reward system when you refer friends to Hideout.tv.

The tier reward system is:

Refer 1 – 20 friends: 5% of their earnings
Refer 21 – 100 friends: 7.5% of their earnings
Refer 101 – 500 friends: 10% of their earnings
Refer 500+ friends: 15% of their earnings

These rewards are separate from your viewing points and need to be added to your balance manually.

Can I Become a Content Creator?

At Hideout.tv, creators are highly valued for their content where they can get larger “discovery and engagement opportunities”, as well as get higher and unique payouts.

Adscend Media staff reviews everything from creator approval, to content quality screenings to ensure adherence to “brand-safety standards”.

The benefits of joining Hideout.tv include:

Earn revenue for every view that your videos receives
Access to a large global audience
Custom channel to post videos, add bio, and promote your other links
Feedback reviews to improve your content
More coming soon

Hideout.tv doesn’t allow nudity, pornography, sexual content, violence, hate speech and the types of content that typically isn’t allowed on most social or video-sharing platforms.

Some profanity in small doses is allowed but is discouraged and you need to “bleep” or censor your words.

It’s free to join and you just need to sign up to become a creator.

How Much Can I Make as a Content Creator?

As a content creator with your own page on Hideout.tv you may wonder how much can you make.

First, they have a tier program and which tier you belong in depends on past performance on other video platforms (YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram); and your potential for creating engaging material (determined by hideout.tv managers).

The different tiers and their rewards are:

Classic Creator – Custom channel with vanity URL, eligible for “Weekly Top Spot” drawing, 75,000 views earns next tier.
Classic Creator Plus – same benefits as classic, email interview by staff, announcement of your channel, 5 video placements in relevant categories, 75,000 more views earns next tier.
Featured Creator – same benefits as classic plus, earn revenue based on views, feature placement on home page, 15 video placements in relevant categories, custom traffic generation promotion paid by hideout.tv.

You’re able to climb tiers by passing certain thresholds – views, likes, shares, etc.

To receive payments you’ll need to be a Featured Creator and you’re paid using a CPM (Cost Per Mile) model based on video views.

This means you earn a fixed amount for every 1,000 views.

You receive payments through PayPal only and must have a minimum of $50 earned first.

How Do I Get Paid?

First off, to be able to receive your payouts, you’ll first need to link with one of their loyalty rewards partners.

These partners include:

It’s free to sign up with any of their Loyalty Partners.

Once signed up with a loyalty partner you then can choose your payout option from them.

For instance, if you chose InstaGC, your payout options are:

A large number of free Gift cards from:
- Amazon
- Apple Store
- Netflix
- Spotify
- Walmart
Direct Deposit
BitCoin
USD Prepaid Visa Card
eCheck
PayPal

Once you link a Loyalty partner and refresh your rewards page, you now can click “Start Redeem Process” under your points.

Your accumulated earnings will be converted to your linked partner’s currency type (Points, Credits, Coins, etc.).

This conversion will vary from partner to partner and you can see your total credited amount to your linked partner will be before you decide to cash out.

In the case of InstaGC, the conversion was 9 Hideout.tv points = 0.7 InstaGC points.

You cash out on your Loyalty Rewards Site and not through the Hideout.tv site.

My User Experience

I signed up with my Google account and it went right to “choose username” and no option for a password.

So, after returning to the dashboard and my account saying I’m signed up, I returned to my Android app but could not sign in due to not knowing the password.

First, I tried copying and pasting the password from the website into the app, but was unsuccessful.

I quickly resolved it by just choosing “forgot your password” and made a new one – problem solved.

I watched my first video from deannatroytravels and earned 3.3 loyalty points.

I watched my second video from natedoesart and earned 6.6 loyalty points.

I realized two things right off the bat when watching videos.

First, you cannot play these videos on mute on Android, a pop-up will tell you to turn some sound on, I turned it up one “notch” and on the website you cannot mute the beginning advertisements but can mute the videos.

Secondly, there are no captions available for any of the videos, so Deaf and hard of hearing are left out, also trying to watch quietly at work is not feasible.

I searched their support page for “captions” and “subtitles” which returned no results.

I mainly watched food and animal videos as they didn’t really require dialogue to understand and racked up 74 Hideout.tv points in two hours, which I transferred to my InstaGC account.

Without captions, this app is pretty useless as an enjoyment, learning experience for me.

Finally, I just started clicking videos and let them run while I was working online – basically, I ignored them.

User Reviews

The Google Play store did not have any reviews listed as it’s still an early version release.

I went on Trust Momma which is a review site for all types of businesses.

On that site Hideout.tv has 42 reviews with an overall 2.0 rating out of 5.

Their positive reviews on Hideout.tv include:

“Awesome content, growing collection of interesting creators! Love that they are launching mobile soon!”

“I think it’s awesome so far…. I uploaded a few videos and getting lots of views.”

“Really great site, the music section is really great because I find songs that are really good + I’m getting rewards for it.”

But the majority of the reviews were 1-stars, including these:

“Got banned for no apparent reason. GPT sites need to use another platform for videos. Hideout.tv is terrible.”

“I did get 60 coins if that makes you feel any better, but after that i got banned, i emailed them the first email i got they tried to say that i was not in one of the countries they support, i said i lived in the US they go quiet on me for the next 6 days until i gave an email asking if they’re still alive.”

“I got banned they revoked my $20. No one can tell me why I got banned. I spent months watching videos. I feel they should at least give me a reason on why I was banned.”

Many of the reviewers reported either being banned, or reversal of points earned.

My Pros and Cons of Hideout.tv

After using the Hideout.tv website and Android app for a few days here are my pros and cons.

Pros:

Unique Video content and topics
Earn points per video viewed
Short videos – most videos are 3 – 4 minutes long

Cons:

Cannot Mute Ads (on-site) or Videos (on Android)
Lack of Captions make it hard to watch quietly or at work (without headphones)
Low earnings – 3.3 points per video, but conversion depends on loyalty program chosen

Final Thoughts

After using the website and the app for a few days and from reading the 42 customer reviews (or complaints), I personally wouldn’t use Hideout.tv.

The lack of captions or subtitle options irritated me, as a Deaf consumer I’d like equal access to content just like anyone else.

YouTube has user-provided captions and “auto-generated captions” which are typically not perfect, but at least I get the “gist” of the video – a little access is better than no access.

But for the Hearing community (what the Deaf call those who can hear), this money-making website would suit those who love watching videos.

Do pay heed to the reviews warnings of being banned or losing points without explanation.

I would counter this by redeeming my points to the loyalty program often.

I cannot legitimately say one way or the other if Hideout.tv is a Scam or Legit site to use.