Vimeo planning subscription service to go against YouTube and Netflix
Vimeo are planning to launch a new paid subscription service for the video sharing site to offer a new service and new features to viewers.
Vimeo is one of the biggest video hosting sites in the world, behind YouTube of course, but despite their popularity and massive selection of videos Vimeo haven’t really monetised viewership yet, making it hard to fund new projects. With no advertisements and revenues coming from creators, video sales and sales of their software tools Vimeo are looking to transform their platform with a monthly subscription.
Vimeo CEO Joey Levin revealed the service in an earnings report this week but didn’t speak on any potential features or a release period. So at the moment it’s unclear whether Vimeo plan to redesign themselves as a subscription only service like Netflix or whether they just want to offer exclusive content and extra features whilst retaining their free platform, like YouTube.
Levin did mention that they are in the process of redesigning their interface to bring together Vimeo Originals, their user library and the creator marketplace. With a collection of high quality content including Vimeo Original funded videos there is definitely the space to create exclusive content for paying members. The problem with free platforms moving to subscriptions is that many existing fans will be turned off by the change, whether it’s important for the company or not.
Vimeo don’t seem to be struggling, rather wanting to expand and make it possible to venture into new areas and produce new content. Levin even said that as the company already has a source of income it won’t have to spend as much on funding, meaning that if their subscription service doesn’t kick off at least it’s not the end of the world.