Vimeo Preparing for Monetization

Vimeo is the best site out there to find high-quality, creative video content. A couple months ago, we reported Vimeo was in the Escalation Phase of its New Media Life Cycle.

The channel continues to evolve, and while it’s too early to declare that Vimeo is in full monetization, it is showing signs of maturing.

From the beginning, Vimeo has taken a long-term view. They will make a smooth transition to monetization.

Consolidation of functionality is a key monetization indicator

In July, Vimeo announced that they’ll no longer indefinitely store the original files for free accounts. With increased traffic and usage comes increased bandwidth costs, and Vimeo obviously can’t grow financially if they’re being used as a free hard drive for videophiles. The announcement explains:

Original file storage of every file for every user is a massive cost, and we have noticed that only a very small set of users actually ever download their own files. We want to keep original file storage around as a feature for people who use it, but we can’t continue to do it for everybody.

Technically, this is a reduction in the overall functionality of the channel, but it’s also an indicator that Vimeo is consolidating their user base, hoping to get more out of their established users who find great value in it.

Overall traffic for the month of June was down, yet user interaction time with the content was up nearly 8% from the previous month, according to Compete.com. It’s another key indicator that the channel users are ripe to consume high-quality content.

The core audience of Vimeo is taking hold, and the increase in time per visit indicates that viewers appreciate and are engaged with what the channel offers. Vimeo has a very strong focus on community. It has attracted an audience with a well-earned reputation for offering constructive comments relevant to the content, rather than the critical, nonsensical or downright offensive feedback sometimes found on YouTube, Vimeo’s main competition.

A great channel for branded video content

Honda really knocked it out of the park with their Insight homepage takeover. I could definitely see Toyota doing something similar with their artistic 3rd Generation Prius “Harmony” video. It’s the kind of inventive video art that thrives on Vimeo.

This year, manufacturer Hewlett Packard sponsored a brief in the 2009 D&AD Student Awards. The mission was simple yet vague:

Present an idea which promotes HP Workstations’ ability to bring to life anything the creative mind can conceive.

The HP brief was not primarily a marketing tool, but a goal to bring out the best in students from around the world. The submission from Matt Robinson and Tom Wrigglesworth of Kingston University in the UK really looks great:

Now, it’s not primarily a marketing tool created by HP, and it wasn’t a project limited to distribution on Vimeo. And yet, a number of submissions for the D&AD contests ended up there. The producers valued the Vimeo community enough to present their work there and gained better feedback on Vimeo than they would elsewhere.

Vimeo offers what YouTube can’t: high-quality features, great presentation, and a supportive community more interested in content analysis and improvement than anything else. A brand could very well build a strong reputation and gain valuable insight from video content distributed to the Vimeo community.

The takeaway

Without engagement, your video can end up as noise. Vimeo is not a showcase for low-quality content in bulk, nor a magnet for nonsensical comments that devalue the channel (see: YouTube).

Video distributed on Vimeo will be consumed by an audience that expects high quality and is eager to engage with it.

My question to you

Are you distributing branded video? On YouTube? Anywhere else? What kind of feedback do you get?

About the author

Brad Schwarzenbach -

As an analyst on the Tippingpoint Strategy team, Brad explores new opportunities for clients to build relationships with their customers. He’s always testing new social media channels, poring over analytic data, and identifying emerging trends. He also speaks at conferences & events about uncovering powerful messages hidden within brands' unique values.

Brad’s research has contributed to the development of content & contributor strategies for such clients as Breville, Rodale, Long’s Jewelers, and Fusionapps, as well as being a frequent contributor to the Tippingpoint blog. He’s been “listening” to the way we communicate online since the old AOL People Connection days and watched the way that digital communication has evolved.

An English and Creative Writing major at the University of Connecticut, Brad’s spent most of his career creating web content and becoming intimately familiar with web theory for Bayard, Inc. and TomTom Inc., giving Brad keen ears and eyes to what, exactly, makes web content valuable.

Outside the office, Brad feels most at home with his beautiful wife-to-be Kristina, or on the golf course. “There’s a distinct pace and rhythm to the way people communicate online.  Understanding and taking part in them yields amazing opportunities for my clients to not only grow but to improve their business. I’m constantly looking for those opportunities.”