Over the years, Vimeo has provided a platform for artsy creatives to distribute high-quality video clips and films to viewers. Now the company is finally allowing the creatives who contribute to its site to also begin charging for access to their videos. Vimeo first dipped its toes into payment infrastructure with its Tip Jar product, which would allow creators to accept donations for their work. Later it ran a limited trial of the on demand service with just a few films.
But now a new product, called Vimeo On Demand, will be available to anyone — anyone, that is, with a Vimeo Pro account. The product allows creators on the site to set their own prices and provides geo-fencing and other tools to control which areas their content is available in. They can also create custom landing pages for their projects, and the ability to provide clips or trailers as a way to entice viewers to purchase their longer-form version of their content.
But the most important part is that Vimeo will provide a pretty unprecedented revenue split, keeping just 10 percent of sales made on the platform. Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor told me that Vimeo is trying to be as creator-friendly as possible in helping the people who use the site to sell their content. That also means distribution across a number of devices, including PCs, mobile phones and tablets, and a wide range of connected TV devices, platforms and game consoles.
Vimeo is launching the product today at SXSW Interactive and Film, along with a screening of “It’s Such a Beautiful Day,” an animated film that will be available on the platform. This is Vimeo’s third year at SXSW, showcasing the best of the content that users submit to the site.
In a video interview (see above), Trainor discussed the importance of being part of SXSW, as well as the launch of the new product. You can watch the entire video — and should! — but in short, the company is looking to provide better tools for creators to reach their audience and monetize the video assets they’ve created.