In the last few years, marketers have increasingly turned to visual storytelling through online video platforms, like Vimeo and YouTube, to get their brand’s message across to consumers. As a result, the competitive landscape for online video went into overdrive in 2012.
With new kids on the block like VooPlayer, LeadPlayer and Wistia, established companies such as Vimeo and YouTube have had their work cut out to differentiate themselves and retain their lead in the marketplace. These players are offering features that marketers can tap into. According to Business2Community, these sites allow creators to brand their content, conduct data analysis, create call-to-action overlays and automatic video sitemaps, as well as offer a more intuitive interface. The options for uploading and sharing high quality video online are endless these days.
So, how is Vimeo, the IAC-owned video platform, handling this uptick in competition? CEO Kerry Trainor is more focused on generating revenue for the user than increasing functionality.
Trainor tells Fox Business, “It’s always been part of the vision to not just provide that great environment to showcase this content, but to start to empower these creators as they build businesses.” Last fall, Vimeo launched a new feature, a virtual “tip jar.” Take for example an amateur filmmaker who posts a timelapse video of the breathtaking Aurora Borealis in Alaska on Vimeo. Say a viewer is wowed by that video. At the click of a button that person could tip the content creator anywhere between $0.99 and $500. When you consider the fact that Vimeo attracts about 41 million unique viewers each month, that’s a tremendous audience to potentially reach.
Vimeo does pocket 15% on every donation. And only creators who subscribe to Vimeo’s premium services can participate. Trainor, however, alludes to an option down the road where content developers and brands will be able to bypass cable companies and offer their unique video content directly to their audiences on their own terms and pricing.
Regardless of how the fast-moving video industry continues to evolve, Trainor is confident that bolstering Vimeo’s top-line is the best course of action in the short-term – perhaps to seed future innovations in features and usability.
See Mr. Trainor speak about the changing role of online video in brand strategies at the BRITE ’13 Conference (March 4-5).